EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES COMMITTEE HAVING AND KEEPING A HOME: STEPS TO PREVENTING HOMELESSNESS AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE FOLLOW-UP SUBMISSION FROM DUNEDIN CANMORE GROUP Dunedin Canmore Group welcomes the opportunity to comment on changes in the field of youth homelessness since the Committee produced its report in September 2012. Our response has been drafted in line with the questions posed in the consultation paper. 1. What is your experience or involvement with youth homelessness? A leading provider of social housing in Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife, we have built and manage more than 5000 homes and offer a wide range of ancillary services to tenants of all ages and circumstances. Over the past year, 18% of new lets have been tenants under 24 years of age. In its original report, the Committee rightly expressed concern that young people were being offered substandard accommodation. At Dunedin Canmore, we firmly believe that tenants are entitled to good quality accommodation. Our properties are 99.43% compliant with SHQS standards. In addition to our main tenancies: We own and manage Dunedin Harbour emergency hostel and supported flats scheme for homeless people aged 16 years + We built and lease Foursquare Stopover emergency hostel for young homeless people aged 16-21 We built and lease CEC Castlecliff emergency hostel for homeless people aged 16+ In partnership with a local charity we manage a group home for homeless men with mental health issues We also have lease management agreements with 30 local support agencies, which provide supported tenancies for a wide range of needs including: Vulnerable Young People Homeless
Physical Disabilities Learning Disabilities Mental Health Issues Domestic Violence Offenders Asylum Seekers Our commitment to helping young homeless people is not restricted to provision of accommodation and housing support. We support local initiatives: we purchase carpets through a local homeless charity we provide funding to a local homeless charity s redecoration project we are a sponsor of the Homeless Football World Cup We are engaged with a range of innovative regeneration projects across the city for young people. This includes the running of two youth cafes, which engage young people in a variety of activities that aid communication, build confidence and seek to enhance life skills and employment opportunities: Slateford Green Community Centre Oxgangs Community Centre 2. What new approaches have been introduced, and how effective have they been? For the purposes of this response we are commenting on two recent projects: (a) Training Flats Scheme It has been the experience of Dunedin Canmore Group and other registered social landlords that a disproportionate number of young people fail with their first tenancy, often in a very short time. Following careful examination of this issue, including consultation with young people, it became clear that a major cause of tenancy failure was the lack of confidence and preparedness on the part of young people for taking up a tenancy.
The Training Flats Scheme is an innovative partnership project with local homeless charity Four Square. It aims to equip young homeless people leaving a Four Square/Dunedin Canmore hostel, with the skills and confidence necessary for sustaining a tenancy and for becoming a contributing member of the community. Dunedin Canmore provides 12 furnished studio flats, 6 unfurnished flats and an on-site office base for 2 Four Square support workers. Young people are helped to gain confidence and life skills such as budgeting, cooking, house cleaning, money management, gate keeping, being a good neighbours, as well as employment training, job seeking, volunteering, further education. Re- engaging with families is an important aspect of the scheme. Following a successful 6-12 months period in their training flat, young people are offered a permanent Dunedin Canmore tenancy in an area of their choice, usually near family, friends or workplace. Average age of young people 18.5 years Percentage with care backgrounds 42.5% Effectiveness of Training Flats Scheme 75% in employment/training/education/volunteering 100% sustainment of permanent tenancy (27 young people) (b) Early Intervention Support Services Project (EISSP) This tenancy support project has been formed through a partnership with CHAI, a local housing support charity. The aim of this project is to identify new tenants at risk of tenancy failure through lack of tenancy sustainment skills and, to provide housing support at pre-tenancy stage. Thereafter support is provided on a short term intervention basis. During the past 12 months, Dunedin Canmore Housing had 478 new lets, of which 18% were tenants under 24 years of age. The risk assessment tool identified 31% of this group as not having adequate support in place, to address tenancy failure. This group were referred to the EISS project for tenancy support. Of the 31% (147 individuals), 25% (37 individuals) were under 24 years of age.
One quarter of the group identified as having a high risk of tenancy failure was under 24 years of age. The vulnerabilities highlighted in the under 24 years of age group were: First tenancy no tenancy or life skills No family or agency support Relationship breakdown Single parents with young children (2) Substance misuse Lack of Income (addressed by stringent budgeting advice and support) All of the young people received furniture assistance for tenancy set up, to make a house a home. This was achieved through a combination of applications to Social Welfare fund, Bethany Homestart, CHAI furniture initiative and free furniture websites. All of the young people received employability advice. A significant number were working with employability agencies; Ingus, Working Links and Remploy. Effectiveness of intervention The reports to date identify the following for the group: Engagement with the project support workers 98% Tenancy Sustainment to date 98% 3. Is there more support available, for instance mediation, counselling, supported accommodation or funding? See answer to question 8. 4. How have things changed for young people experiencing homelessness since 2012? Local authorities are working closely with RSL s and partners in the voluntary sector to minimise homelessness, in particular youth homelessness but are hampered due to amongst other things lack of housing stock. This is particularly the case with single bedroom properties, as existing tenants transfer due to the bedroom tax situation, reducing the (limited) number of properties available.
There has been general discussion in the housing field about creating shared tenancies in two bedroom properties for young people, partly due to benefit capping for this age group and partly due to housing stock restrictions. Whilst there is merit at looking at shared accommodation for young people, this needs to be carefully considered, as there are some difficulties attached to such arrangements including stranger sharing issues, type of tenure, liability for rent, anti-social behaviour etc. Pressures on council budgets mean that young homeless people can no longer be admitted to homeless facilities if they do not have a local connection with the particular authority. Welfare reform has had a significant impact on young people, particularly in relation to Benefit Sanctions and Capped LHA rate for those under 35 years of age. It is extremely difficult and often impossible for a rehoused young homeless person to continue with or embark upon further education due to Housing Benefit/Income Support rules. They are often faced with the choice of giving up either their education or their accommodation. 5. Are there additional issues for young people who are leaving care? Young people leaving care can often find the transition period from leaving a residential unit a difficult and confusing time. Some 33% of young people in homeless accommodation have care backgrounds, which at times can have an impact on their stay. Considerable testing out and acting out can take place, which can present management issues for accommodation providers. Local authorities and local young people services are now working together more closely, including jointly managed accommodation placement panels. 6. How well is the Housing Options approach working towards reducing instances of youth homelessness? The abolition of Priority Need has improved the housing prospects of homeless applicants who would previously have been assessed as non-pn. However, due to the increase in volume of applicants being assessed as statutory homeless, there are more applicants with Silver Priority award, which is having an impact on the length of time to secure permanent social housing. Subsequently the length of time homeless applicants are spending in temporary accommodation is increasing, adding extra pressure to availability of temporary accommodation.
A few years ago, a Silver Priority applicant could expect to wait 6-9 months with SP to get an offer of permanent housing. Now it is well over a year before applicants are likely to be successful. It is hoped that the new duties for local authorities under Section 32B of The Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (inserted by The Housing (Scotland) Act 2010) will ensure that vulnerable young housing applicants will be picked up at an early stage and appropriate housing support arranged. 7. Has the number of young people presenting as homeless changed? We have seen an increase in applications to our mainstream housing from young people, although not all of them have come through the statutory homeless route. Those who have presented have tended to have a range of support needs. 8. Has there been any changes to funding for voluntary organisations? Finding and keeping funding for current and new services has become very difficult, mainly due to cuts in funding from traditional funders e.g. local authorities. Due to its own substantial funding pressures, Edinburgh Council has imposed 15% cut to funding of homeless services by voluntary agencies over the next 3 years. The huge increase in applications to charitable trusts and other sources such as Big Lottery, has made this a very complex and competitive arena, which smaller voluntary organisations very difficult. We are aware that some local services for young people have had to close through lack of continuation funding. 9. How might the implementation of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill help to tackle youth homelessness? We welcome the fact that this Act raises the age where young care leavers have the right to remain in their placement and also to request aftercare support from their respective local authority. We believe that this could have a positive impact upon preventing homelessness amongst young care leavers. 10. Is the Getting it Right for Every Child helping schools and local authorities to tackle youth homelessness? GIRFEC rightly places a strong emphasis on early intervention. There are opportunities for closer and cooperative working arrangements between schools and relevant departmental and Health partners to identify young people at risk and set in motion arrangements to address these risks. This is particularly the case with homelessness, as it is well recognised that the main reason for young people becoming homeless is family relationship breakdown. There is ample scope here for development of family mediation and respite services.
We believe that leaving home should form part of the secondary school curriculum, with practical information and discussion provided by peers who have left home and indeed may have been homeless. Conclusion We would like thank the Equal Opportunities Committee for the opportunity to make the above comments and would congratulate the Committee for highlighting the important issue of Having and Keeping a Home for young people. We would be more than happy to receive a visit from Committee members to our organisation for further discussion, particularly with young people who have used our services. Bob Stewart Homelessness Services Director Dunedin Canmore Group 30 May 2014