Wales Action Group: the coronavirus outbreak and ending homelessness

Jon Sparkes, Chief Executive

15.05.2020

This week’s Homelessness Action Group meeting took place at an extraordinary time as the coronavirus public health emergency continues. Before the outbreak, the Action Group presented this report to the Welsh Government and the Minister, Julie James MS, published this written statement from the Welsh Government to members of the newly renamed Senedd/Welsh Parliament. The statement understandably focuses on the virus response, but also endorses the recommendations we made and commits to having a Welsh plan to end homelessness, which is very welcome and shows that even with the ongoing emergency there is still a commitment to ending homelessness for good.

In the early phase of the outbreak it was also good to see the Welsh Government match the scale of the challenge with £10 million committed for partners to work closely to quickly re-accommodate hundreds of people across Wales. People sleeping rough or staying in inadequate temporary accommodation were some of the most exposed in society to the virus, so it was necessary to move quickly and statutory services, housing and homelessness service providers, and volunteers and charities all contributed. While the situation is still precarious, it does give us time to plan for the next phases.

The next phase of the virus response in Wales will be to help the hundreds of people in emergency accommodation across Wales – and a small number of people still sleeping rough – be rehoused and supported. There are steps needed to secure the supply of housing, build and maintain relationships with clients, and put in place the multi-agency support needed for people to be rehoused. The Action Group was keen that we also step up efforts to prevent homelessness, particularly for those groups of people we know are more at risk, such as those experiencing domestic violence, young people leaving care, and people leaving prison.

We also discussed the challenges that have always been there about making sure devolved and non-devolved policy areas are both working to end homelessness. While, for example, the Welsh Government has given clear direction on emergency accommodation for people with no recourse to public funds due to their migration status and increased the emergency funding available, these can only be temporarily solutions and we need UK-wide change from Westminster to take away the legal barriers to ending homelessness for all people.

The final two questions the Minister asked the Action Group were about how to ensure rapid rehousing is the default approach for people experiencing homelessness; and about how to establish local partnerships across Wales to end homelessness. The principles of the Action Group’s report on ending homelessness still apply and these final outputs will build on the work we’ve already completed. They will of course take into account the coronavirus outbreak, particularly its impact on timescales (immediate actions, those we need to take in around 6-12 months, and those for the longer term).

 We had a welcome chance at the meeting to discuss with senior Welsh Government officials the actions needed, particularly for the next 12 months or so and we covered three broad areas from the Action Group’s recommended framework for ending homelessness:

• Rapid rehousing and making sure we deliver housing and support for as many people as possible. Of course, there will need to be a process of moving-on for those currently in emergency accommodation but this applies to anyone facing homelessness. There is a clear need for better access to and greater supply of good quality housing and flexible support, and that we remove all barriers to this happening. We also agreed about the need to continue the approach of assessing people’s needs for support and housing, and make sure we are providing the right support for different cohorts of people while also allowing for flexibility to meet individual people’s needs.
• Preventing homelessness at the different levels the Action Group previously recommended, including crisis support through local councils but also wider public service efforts to prevent homelessness for people more at risk, and through fully implemented housing pathways from public service institutions. There is early evidence that more people are also starting to worry about their housing situation due to the outbreak, so we need to anticipate this need.
• Supporting people – both staff and clients – at what is a very testing time and as we step up the more proactive work to rehouse people and prevent others losing their homes. We also reflected on the very valuable work of volunteers at this time and noted the need for clear communication and calls to action to help people know what actions would be most helpful for them to take.

We’ve one more Action Group meeting coming up, where we will discuss the next steps and start to wrap-up the group itself, not least the best way to resource this work. I’m convinced there’s a need for an ongoing process of involving stakeholders, including people with lived experience, as the Welsh Government agrees its plan to end homelessness.

There are big challenges, not least because the coronavirus outbreak is far from over yet, but we can all agree that we don’t want to go back to the world of early 2020. Instead, we can make sure we take the right steps together at this crucial moment for ending homelessness in Wales.