The 3^rd April 2018 marked the most fundamental change to our English homelessness legislation in forty years – the Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA). Crisis were heavily involved from the initial conception to the enactment of the legislation through our No One Turned Away campaign.

In summary, the HRA will now require local councils to: 

1. Improve advice and information available about homelessness and the prevention of homelessness 
2. Extend the period someone is ‘threatened with homelessness’ from 28 days to 56 days 
3. Introduce new duties to prevent and relieve homelessness for all eligible people, regardless of priority need, intentionality and local connection 
4. Introduce assessments and personalised housing plans, setting out the actions housing authorities and individuals will take to keep or secure accommodation 
5. Encourage public bodies to work together to prevent and relieve homelessness through a duty to refer

Our work did not stop when the Act was passed last year and we have secured funding from the Oak Foundation to support and monitor the successful implementation of the HRA. This will involve: ​

• ​working alongside 5 local councils to help implement the HRA, and more broadly with other councils and stakeholders to share the learning and our expertise​.
• challenging cases where legal duties are being flouted or wilfully misinterpreted​.
• researching and monitoring the impact of the HRA on 6 local councils.

This work provides an excellent opportunity to trial the practical application of the new obligations under the HRA, and how to make them work in practice. It also provides an opportunity to gather evidence to respond to the government's review of the legislation in two years time. We want to present a united front with local councils about what is and isn't working and where more support is required.

There have been a number of consistent themes from the councils we have met. The most prevalent is the culture shift required and the need to support frontline staff to work differently with clients. Councils have been interested in our Crisis Skylights Centres and the coaching style used. We are in the process of working out how to transfer our coaching expertise into tools and training so that we can disseminate this more widely to those interested in this approach.

Gaining access to accommodation will be important to effectively implement the HRA and many councils are challenged by the limited availability of truly affordable housing. Multiple strategies will need to be considered to tackle this issue and accessing the private rented sector (PRS) is an important consideration. Councils have indicated a strong interest in understanding and learning from the work Crisis have undertaken via our PRS advisory service which has worked to make the PRS a housing option for homeless people since 1997.

Probably the most positive aspect that has emerged is the expression of good will and intention. All councils have been very clear that they want to implement the HRA in a way that leads to positive change and enduring outcomes for their clients. They have also been clear that responsibility for ending homelessness extends beyond them and are hopeful that the upcoming 'duty to refer’ in October will go some way to achieve this.

We know that homelessness is often more than just putting a roof over someone’s head and a whole service system approach is essential to tackle the issue.  We need other agencies to identify people before they become homeless or when they are already homeless. We also need other agencies, charities and service providers to respond to the various needs or issues people might be experiencing that are jeopardising them from successfully sustaining their tenancies. Councils cannot do this alone and to achieve real success, a whole government and service system response is crucial.

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) made £20 million available to local councils in 2016 to trial trailblazer projects that test many of the changes needed ahead of the HRA implementation. A key feature in some of the trailblazers is to embed preventative approaches where people who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness are identified early by government agencies. Crisis are involved in a number of these trailblazers and we hope to share the learnings from this work before the 'duty to refer' comes into force in October.

If you would like further information and resources about the Homelessness Reduction Act please visit our Housing Resource Centre. The learning and materials from our HRA implementation work will be made publicly available so please check our website for regular updates. If you have any questions about this work or the Homelessness Reduction Act please contact our Housing Team (housing@crisis.org.uk).