POLICY FRAMEWORK
Wales

BACKGROUND

 Local authorities decided that a total of 6,802 households were eligible, unitentionaly homeless and in priority need in 2006-07. These households accounted for 46 per cent of the applications local authorities received. These figures show a decrease of around 25% year on year since 2004 (see Wales: trends over time). It is not straightforward to know what has caused the decrease in the number of people recognised as homeless, but they do coincide with the introduction of the new strategy, aimed more at preventing homelessness than just processing statutory duties.

KEY POLICIES

Homelessness appears to have occupied an increasingly high place on the list of the Welsh Assembly's priorities. This is in part a result of the introduction of the England and Wales 2002 Homelessness Act, which expanded the groups of homeless people considered to be 'in priority need', and which placed a statutory duty on local authorities to offer advice and assistance to all those recognised as homeless.

In addition, the Assembly has promoted policies aimed at ending homelessness. For example, in 2000 it set up a Homelessness Commission to report on the homeless situation in Wales, and in 2001 it used its secondary legislative powers to expand the list of priority need groups beyond those which were subsequently to become part of the 2002 Homelessness Act. The additional groups included: a care leaver or person at particular risk of sexual or financial exploitation aged between 18 years and 21; a 16- or 17-year-old; a person fleeing domestic violence or threatened with domestic violence; a person who became homeless after leaving the armed forces; and a former prisoner who became homeless after being released from custody

A report of the Local Government Ombudsman for Wales, entitled Housing Allocations and Homelessness (2006), was critical of the way local authorities implemented the 2002 Homelessness Act. The report came as the result of several complaints received by the ombudsman, and concluded that a number of councils had failed to update their policies in the three years since the Act came into force, so that some of their policies were unlawful. It was also critical of the quality of some of the decisions made.    

The national policy framework is centred on two core documents: Better Homes for People in Wales (2001), and The National Homelessness Strategy (2003). The first document was Wales' first national housing strategy, and states the Assembly's commitments on homelessness and housing advice.  These were to reduce the number of long term homeless households, to eliminate the need for rough sleeping, to promote and ensure access to high quality services in all areas, and to promote access to specialist housing where it is needed. It also recommended the formation of a Homelessness Commission to inform the Assembly's work on homelessness. The Commission produced a report with 91 recommendations, tailored around the explicit acknowledgements that, a) addressing homelessness is not merely a housing issue and, instead, requires a multi-service approach, and b) the approach has to be focused on prevention as well as emergency resolution.  One of the recommendations made in the Commission's report was that a national homelessness strategy should be produced.

The National Homelessness Strategy was first published in 2003 and updated at the end of 2005, and it is based on the principle that everyone in Wales should have access to a decent, affordable, home.  The 2003 strategy set out the definition of homelessness as "any person who lacks accommodation or where the tenure is not secure." This includes "people living temporarily with friends, in bed and breakfast hotels, in hostels and night shelters, or who are unable to remain in or return to their home due to relationship breakdown, harassment, unaffordability, because it is unsuitable for their personal needs or other reasons". The 2005 update sets out a number of targets to be achieved by April 2008, namely:

• To prevent homelessness among 50% of households who considered themselves at risk of homelessness and approached or were referred to their local authority and for whom housing casework intervention resolved their situation;

• To reduce the number of homeless households found to be unintentionally homeless and in priority need by 20% from the 2004/05 level;

• To reduce the numbers of households in bed-and-breakfast accommodation by 20% from the 2004-05 level; and

• To reduce the average length of time spent in temporary accommodation by 20% from the 2004-05 level.

A notable feature of these targets is their modesty. For example, if the 2008 target for the total number of homeless households is achieved, this will still mean that the number is one-and-a-half times the level that it was when the Assembly was established in 1999 (see Trends over Time - Wales ). And if the 2008 target for the number of households in B&Bs is achieved, this will still mean that the number is nine times the level that it was when the Assembly was established in 1999 (see Temporary Accommodation - Wales ). Finally, the B&B target in the 2005 strategy was also more modest than its equivalent in the 2003 strategy which was "to eliminate the need for the use of bed-and-breakfast accommodation for homeless families and minimise it for others."

Key to the success of the strategy is the move towards the prevention of homelessness, rather than processing applications through the statutory duty process. Prevention can take many forms, from advice on housing options to family mediation and supported housing. It is quite explicit in the strategy document that prevention is seen as more cost effective in the longer term, a "spend to save" approach.

One output of this strategy was the report Tackling Homelessness, Key Issues for Consideration by Welsh Local Authorities, which aims to both provide background and be a useful guide for local authorities in tackling homelessness. It makes specific recommendations on homelessness prevention, the most important of which is that each council should have appropriate prevention-based housing advice services available, whether they be provided in-house or by an external partner, such as Shelter Cymru.

In January 2007 the Wales Audit Office published its review of the strategy, Tackling Homelessness in Wales: A Review of the Effectiveness of the National Homelessness Strategy. It argues that, whilst the recent downward trend in homelessness was a positive development, the statistics themselves did not tell the full story as many people do not present themselves to local authorities. It also maintained that, whilst the homelessness strategy identified several key areas for prevention, it did not address housing shortages and supply problems.

In saying this, the report echoed fears about the strategy voiced by independent and statutory bodies. On the other hand, the report also quotes statistics showing recent reductions in homelessness in Wales alongside an unchanged proportion of all those declared homeless in priority need. 

The Supporting People Initiative

Operating in Wales and in England, this programme aims to rationalise existing funding streams, and to improve housing related support services for vulnerable people (including those who might be at risk of homelessness). The key client groups are older people; people with learning difficulties; people with mental health problems or some disabilities; women fleeing domestic violence; young homeless people and vulnerable people struggling with their accommodation. The type of provision offered includes housing management, housing related support (such as independent living skills), home care, meals services, and personal care.

Homelessness Strategy Working Group

This group consists of representatives of voluntary sector organisations, local authorities, and civil servants. Issues from the working group are fed into ministerial discussions, are then considered, and returned to the Working Group for further discussion and comment.

 

Page last modified on 23/04/2008 at 16:03