WIDER POLICIES
Overview
This section provides a review of the policies of England, Scotland and Wales that are outside of those directly driven by the needs to meet the legislative requirements related to homelessness, but which are nevertheless relevant to homeless people. These policies are divided into three broad groups:
-
Areas where Government needs policies which respond to the specific needs of homeless people: work; education and skills; and advice and support.
-
Areas where current Government policy effectively discriminates against some homeless people: income; housing benefit; and housing policy.
-
Areas where the voluntary sector needs to be taking advantage of recent developments in Government policy: health.
Some of these policies are UK-wide (income, housing benefit, work) whilst others are largely devolved (education and skills, advice and support, housing, and health).
The overall conclusions drawn are summarised in the table below.
| Subject area | Major policies and initiatives relevant to homelessness | Conclusion |
| Work (UK) | Current New Deals Progress to Work/Link Up Pathways to Work |
Government policy development towards helping homeless people into work needs to start from the perspective of the homeless people themselves rather than by taking existing policies and focusing them on particular groups of homeless people |
| Income (UK) | Working Tax Credit | There would be substantial benefits to many single homeless people if the eligibility criteria for the Working Tax Credit were made the same for single people as for families, namely by removing the restrictions relating to hours worked and age. |
| Education and skills (England and Scotland) | Skills Strategy | Initiate projects which alleviate low education and skill levels among homeless people and develop a policy response to address these problems. |
| Advice and support (UK) | Connexions etc | Consider the development of a comprehensive national framework for the provision of advice and support to older adults to complement the framework for young adults already in place. |
| Housing Benefit (UK) | A variety of specific rules regarding eligibility and amount | Organisations working with the homeless should take advantage of this opportunity to (once again) press the Government to ensure that the Housing Benefit system fully meets the needs of single homeless people and people who are at risk of homelessness. Particular issues within this relate to: Removing the single rent restriction for people under the age of 25. Modifying the rules regarding payment of benefit in arrears, benefit extensions, 16 hour study restriction, and non-dependent deductions. |
| Housing (England and Wales) | Overall housing strategy, including plans for affordable rented housing | Review the existing suite of policies from the specific perspective of homelessness, either to demonstrate how they will be sufficient to address the problems of the shortage of suitable housing for homeless people or to complement existing policies with some additional initiatives relating to the supply of suitable social housing. |
| Health (England and Wales) | Personalised Medical Services National enhanced service for homeless people Alternative Provider Medical Services |
The major national voluntary organisations working with the homeless should put together some authoritative material on the health needs of the homeless and how these best be met, for circulation to all Primary Care Trusts (England) and Health Boards (Wales). The major national voluntary organisations working with the homeless should take a lead in this, raising awareness of the initiative amongst the voluntary sector and developing guidelines to help such organisations both initiate and run Alternative Provider Medical Services schemes |
Page last modified on 07/07/2006 at 15:50
