Preventative use of Housing First support

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The context

To date, in the UK and internationally, Housing First projects have almost exclusively targeted people with the most complex needs who are currently, as well as often chronically or long-term, homeless, and who experience the worse homelessness situations, such as rough sleeping and/or a cycle of evictions from hostels and B&Bs, for example. And it is right that in localities with high levels of rough sleeping, large amounts of congregate temporary accommodation and significant entrenched homelessness, Housing First is primarily targeted at those households.

But there’s also a case to explore preventative use of Housing First. Indeed, the second round of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group (HARSAG) recommended this as a next step in upscaling the programme in Scotland. Aberdeenshire Council has been an early adopter of this approach, offering Housing First support to a small number of tenants at high risk of repeat homelessness, before they became homeless.

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The intervention

Aberdeenshire Council successfully piloted an in-house rural Housing First service from 2017. In 2018, the Council became one of the consortium partners in the Aberdeen City/Shire Housing First Pathfinder, which ran until 2021, when the Council ‘mainstreamed’ the service. By this point, 41 Housing First tenancies had been created in Aberdeenshire, with an 88% sustainment rate.

Whilst the great majority of Aberdeenshire Housing First tenants came from a situation of long-term homelessness, cyclical use of temporary accommodation and/or institutional settings such as prison, a small number were current tenants of the local authority. In each case, a referral to Housing First support by Council housing management or housing support teams was seen as a ‘last ditch’ attempt to prevent eviction, or a tenancy otherwise failing. In all cases, the tenant concerned met Housing First service criteria, and was imminently facing repeat homelessness.

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The outcome

Five tenants have been supported by preventative Housing First so far. One young tenant, homeless since 16 with many stays in temporary accommodation, had tenancy support, but was struggling to keep it in good order and settle into the area. The tenant received neighbour complaints, then an Antisocial Behaviour Order (ASBO), and was facing eviction. Housing First supported the tenant with a managed move to an area where people had no preconceived ideas about them. The person’s now making good use of support, taking pride in their home and ‘has completely turned things around’.

Another tenant, who has alcohol problems and frequent prison stays, had very high rent arrears. Other agencies hadn’t managed to engage them in sorting out a claim for housing costs, and they were facing eviction. A Housing First worker succeeded in creating a positive ongoing relationship with the tenant, enabling their rent to be paid, arrears halved, and a threat of homelessness averted.

In each case where Aberdeenshire’s Housing First team has offered support to a tenant referred at high risk of repeat homelessness, they’ve succeeded in engaging the person and creating an ongoing supportive relationship. None of those tenants has gone on to become homeless.

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Key insights

• person-centred, assertive engagement using Housing First support can work with people in tenancies, as well as those who are homeless: averting tenancy failure before it happens
• an ‘in-house’ Housing First service closely linked to other support teams can help stop people falling through gaps in support
• Aberdeenshire has very low levels of rough sleeping and congregate temporary accommodation compared to other parts of Scotland, so preventative Housing First may come more ‘naturally’ here

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Find out more…

Gail Predell, Team Leader (Options and Homelessness), Aberdeenshire Council
gail.predell@aberdeenshire.gov.uk