Claire Cunliffe reports on two more pilot projects testing the new approach to homelessness in the Housing Bill
IN THE LAST EDITION of WHQ, Stephen Convill reported on a pilot project being undertaken in Denbighshire that sets out to redefine the council’s relationship with the private rented sector ahead of the new legislation
This pilot is one of three funded by the Welsh Government to test elements of the new legislation. As Stephen outlined in his article, Denbighshire seeks to engage more landlords as a means of testing the new duty of discharging into the private rented sector. Given the imminent introduction of the Housing Bill, it seems apt to now report on the other two local authorities piloting strands of the new legislation.
Neath Port Talbot is seeking to test the duty of taking ‘all reasonable steps to achieve a suitable housing solution for all households which are homeless or threatened with homelessness’ through the introduction of personal housing plans (PHPs).
PHPs represent a person-centred approach in which plans are developed in line with client comments, feedback and suggestions. Indeed, unmet housing and support needs are at the heart of this pilot. The success of the pilot will rely on effective multi agency involvement and a change in the culture and working practices of the statutory service.
This level of client involvement is not currently feasible due to restricted resources. The aim of the PHPs is to go beyond clients’ immediate housing need and help to achieve their future aspirations. To ensure the project fulfils these aims, a dedicated officer has been appointed to develop the PHPs for households that currently fall outside of the statutory definitions applied to homeless applications.
To provide support when it is needed most, the officer will work to encourage people to approach the housing options service at an early stage in their housing journey. Through focussing on early intervention and prevention it is hoped that the pilot will catch people early before they reach the stage of homelessness. This approach has the potential to reduce the need for many families to go into interim accommodation and ultimately put individuals ‘in control’ of their future housing and support choices.
The second project is in Carmarthenshire and seeks to pilot the proposed removal of the intentionality test for families with children under the age of 18. Through establishing links with social and private landlords, it is hoped this pilot will be able to identify at an early stage those families at risk of being found intentionally homeless.
Once the families have been identified, a number of support mechanisms will be put in place to help maintain their current tenancy or secure them stably in a new tenancy. These include:
• mediation with neighbours/landlords
• debt and money management training
• training to improve parental and social skills, developing life skills
• support and advice
• linking families with different services to reduce offending and anti-social behaviour
• cash incentives for landlords to sustain tenancies
• psychological assessments.
Such mechanisms aim to support tenants in reducing behaviour that may jeopardise their tenancies and equip them with the necessary skills to avoid becoming homeless.
The Homelessness Network and Local Government Data Unit are carrying out staged qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the project to monitor success. The results and lessons learnt will be subsequently shared with all local authorities. It is hoped that this will mean that local authorities are well prepared for the impacts of the new legislation and those authorities taking part in the pilot projects will ‘hit the ground running’ once the new legislation is implemented.