In April 2019 ClwydAlyn committed not to evict anyone into homelessness with a longer-term goal of zero evictions overall. Clare Budden reports on its experience so far.
Ending homelessness can happen this decade and a zero evictions approach will be a catalyst. In April 2019, ClwydAlyn set out a new mission based on ending poverty. One of its first acts was a commitment to not evict anyone into homelessness, with an aim for zero evictions overall. In October, Welsh Government called for a pact between all social housing providers to end evictions into homelessness.
A shift towards zero evictions is bold, ambitious but ultimately achievable. If we are serious about ending homelessness in Wales, then as housing providers we must consider where we can have the most significant impact and what we can do better for people and communities.
That might mean tearing up the rule books and getting rid of traditional approaches which are now outdated.
Some evictions are, of course, unavoidable. But in the majority of cases they simply move the problem down the road. Another provider or agency picks up the tenant and the cost, and the underlying issue is rarely addressed.
In cases where people are evicted into homelessness we exchange a short-term challenge for a long-term calamity. Individuals and families come back into the system as a more complex and expensive case. Operationally and financially the approach makes little sense. And that’s without considering the emotional and mental health impact.
A new approach
In April 2019 we launched our new mission for ClwydAlyn that centres on ending poverty. One of our first acts was to set a new target of working towards no evictions.
In October, Welsh Government set out its own strategy with the aim that homelessness is rare, brief and unrepeated. It was good to see the call for a pact between providers to ensure no evictions from social housing into homelessness.
Our experience of moving towards a zero evictions approach has been a positive one. Overall evictions are down 85 per cent on last year with only had three evictions for rent arrears this year.
Where possible we’ve looked for positive solutions. For example, we recently had to take possession proceedings for a tenant in a four-bedroom property where we faced a number of issues including non-payment of rent.
The property was much bigger than the tenant needed so we found him another smaller and more suitable property which we know will also help him to alleviate some of his issues with family members.
A focus on prevention
Operationally, we’ve switched our approach so that it is now much more focused on prevention and acting quickly to address low level arrears.
We have appointed an early intervention officer who focuses on all new tenancies and who works with tenants who have low level arrears to prevent them escalating. Our welfare rights team has been refocused on providing priority referrals for people who are in arrears.
Our crisis fund enables housing officers and other frontline staff to use this money for any tenant who is in financial hardship. This can be used for a multitude of needs, from repairing a vehicle to enable the tenant to get to work, to travel cards, carpets or white goods.
Income collection
We’ve also reviewed our income collection approach, with new case management software and a project with Voicescape that will contact all tenants with low level arrears and missed payments.
Income officers now run arrears meetings where they discuss all cases where we are not getting engagement from a tenant. We work together with teams across the business to share knowledge of the tenant, make enquiries about other agencies and look for ways that we can understand an individual’s circumstances.
We have had a high rate of initial success with this approach and are also nearing the end of a pilot project where income officers have reversed the way that they work and are now focusing on those with low level arrears instead of those with the highest debt.
Final interventions
Prior to any eviction being authorised, a final face to face visit between the tenant and the income team manager or the head of service is arranged to see what we can do to avoid possession proceedings.
If we reach the end of our options and we are at the point of making a warrant application, we identify an alternative housing option for the tenant, should the eviction go ahead.
When a tenancy ends with an eviction, a review of the case takes place to look at what we could have done differently and whether there were options to provide support at a much earlier stage that would have enabled us to resolve issues.
Looking to the future
We want to take three evictions this year to zero next year.
The reduction this year shows that our approach is working. We believe that longer term any additional resources needed will be more than covered by savings on void properties, lost rent, repairs and reletting costs and legal costs.
Now we are starting to look at how we can end evictions from temporary accommodation; where some of the most vulnerable in our communities live.
We know that in these properties, behaviours can be challenging and the threshold for evictions is much lower. However, the same issues apply. We can’t keep moving people down the road and making them someone else’s problem.
While there was more money for housing delivery in the latest budget, calls for an increase to the Housing Support Grant to enable local authorities to commission more housing-related support services have not yet been met. This must be reviewed in the future.
Homelessness is one of the shameful challenges facing our generation. At ClwydAlyn we think we are developing a credible plan to show leadership in tackling it.
Clare Budden is chief executive of ClwydAlyn
No evictions into homeless
In October 2019 the Homelessness Action Group[1] recommended that a pact should be agreed to ensure no evictions from social housing (or housing supported by the public purse) into homelessness and increased allocations to homeless households.
As part of the pact, the group called for:
- the collection and publication of data on allocations and evictions
- a new approach to Social Housing Grant requiring a commitment from social landlords to contribute to ending homelessness
- social landlords to ensure a person-centred approach to allocating housing and remove any barriers to homeless households accessing social housing
- a psychologically-informed approach to housing management functions
- measures for managed move-on (a case conference approach with local authorities) where it is in a person’s best interests to move on from housing they were previously allocated, ensuring they are not at risk of homelessness.
- use of Housing Support Grant funds to deliver specific support needs and an increased HSG budget.
- Social landlords to accept a duty to prevent homelessness if partnership measures do not reduce evictions into homelessness.
[1] gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2019-10/homelessness-action-group-report-october-2019.pdf