Blog Underfunded statutory services and more: Current barriers to ending homelessness Welcome to our fourth Quarterly Frontline Snapshot – spotlighting the current barriers our Casework colleagues are facing when supporting guests facing homelessness into safe and stable accommodation. Glass Door Homeless Charity’s year-round casework service operates out of partnering day centres in West and South West London, providing expert advice and support to people experiencing or at risk of homelessness in London. Our open access policy means that no matter who you are or where you are from, you can turn to us for support. What are some of the biggest barriers our guests and caseworkers currently face? Earlier this year, we had in-depth conversations with our wonderful caseworkers, asking them about the current challenges they face when it comes to supporting guests in one-to-one support sessions. While our March snapshot focused on our women guests, this blog discusses some of the more overarching barriers that make it difficult to end homelessness for our guests. Overwhelmed and underfunded statutory services When someone is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, if eligible, they are entitled to statutory support from the local council. What this support looks like depends on the person’s eligibility, but everyone is entitled to housing advice. Additionally, the council has a duty to find emergency housing for those in “priority need”. People are classified as priority need by the council when they fulfil certain criteria that add significant risk to experiencing homelessness. For example, they might be pregnant, have children, or be considered vulnerable in some way by the council. However, our caseworkers are increasingly finding that the local authorities are overstretched and underfunded, and this means they are unable to keep up with the demands of the rising homelessness crisis in London. While our caseworkers will make homeless applications for our guests where they are eligible, there is a large backlog, and this means that it can take a very long time for people to receive statutory support. You can’t rely solely on a homelessness application anymore. I do it as a baseline, but sometimes you're waiting way longer than you should for a personal housing plan and duty letter. So, we always look at several support options at once. It can be overwhelming for guests, but we have to do everything because we don’t have time to wait around. - Zara, Glass Door caseworker Another issue is that councils don’t offer support to people experiencing homelessness unless they can prove local connection to the borough, which is notoriously tricky for people to do when they don’t have a fixed address. This can lead to homeless applications being pushed back and forth between councils, as they try to figure out who should take responsibility for offering statutory support, and this issue is amplified when resources are overstretched. It’s frustrating bouncing between services and a system that is not set up for people who are transitory and not at one address in one borough. - Neil, Co-head of Casework at Glass Door Challenges with housing under 35s This isn’t the first time we’ve spoken about how difficult it is to house under 35s in the current system. It continues to be one of the biggest problems our caseworkers face, as often there are simply no options for under 35s who need support. One way that our caseworkers describe this problem is as a form of triple discrimination. Under 35s experiencing homelessness are essentially being discriminated against in three separate ways, all of which act as barriers to getting housed. The three barriers of triple discrimination are: Under 35s are subject to the Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR), which is usually not enough to afford even a single room in a shared house in London. Many private landlords will not accept anyone on Universal Credit, leaving any under 35s currently looking for work without any options. Landlords often demand large deposits or rent in advance which many under 35s don’t have. Even if you find a place within your budget, the landlord might reject your application because you're on Universal Credit. And if you do find somewhere affordable that does accept Universal Credit, you may still face a barrier if you don’t have the money for a deposit and rent in advance. - Grace, Glass Door Caseworker The only option left for under 35s is a supported accommodation provider, as it isn’t subject to the Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR). However, these come with a whole host of other issues. One of our caseworkers explains the difficulty: “You can only really do a referral to certain supported accommodation providers if the person you’re housing has specific support needs. But then, once you send them there, they often don't actually give any support. The guests that I sent to certain accommodation providers said that they received no help whatsoever. Even though we had to really try and include as much information as possible in the application about conditions like anxiety, depression and PTSD.” Essentially, the threshold for support needs is high, and many of our guests don’t meet these thresholds and therefore can’t get into supported accommodation. But even if they do meet the requirements, they are often unable to work because supported accommodation costs are too high for them to also hold down a job – instead they have little choice but to remain on Universal Credit. You can read more about challenges with housing under 35s, including how the Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR) works in our blog on the age group slipping through the net. Lack of integration services for new refugees As refugee homelessness has risen across London, we have seen a consistent and significant increase in newly recognised refugees accessing our services. One complexity that our caseworkers spoke to us about is the lack of information given to refugees about housing, benefits, and support services that would offer them a fair and dignified start in the UK. Every situation is almost the same. Someone tells me they’ve been granted refugee leave to remain, but they’ve received no support. Even their expectations are not being managed in any way. "The overwhelming majority of people might come from outside of London, so they have no connection to any borough in London. And they're like, well, I'm here now, what do I do?" - Joe, Glass Door Caseworker Some steps in the right direction include extending the move-on period from asylum accommodation from 28 days to 56 days, which is currently being piloted, and the introduction of Home Office Asylum Move-on Liaison Officers (AMLOs) supporting newly recognised refugees in asylum hotels. You can read more about how the AMLO program is a step in the right direction in our blog by Anna, Migrant Services and Advocacy Manager at Glass Door. Despite these positive changes, the pressures on the casework service are huge; we have supported hundreds of newly recognised refugees who have found themselves homeless in London. Anna explains why integration support for newly recognised refugees is so vital below. Refugees in London evicted from asylum accommodation suffer the same impact from the housing and cost of living crisis as the wider homeless population. Additionally, they face unique challenges, for example navigating new systems and processes, family separation and psychosocial stress and trauma, for which there is little available specialist support. You can read our previous Quarterly Frontline Snapshots from March, December and September if you want to find out more about some of the other barriers our caseworkers regularly face when supporting all of our guests. Manage Cookie Preferences
