Preventing avoidable homelessness for people in prison

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The context

Statistics tell us that in the last reporting year, 1,574 people presented as homeless to Scottish local authorities citing their last settled address as prison (2020-21). Prison is the only category of ‘property type’ from which both the number and proportion of presentations (6%) have increased since 2007-08. But statistics don’t tell us how many people became homeless during and/or because of their imprisonment, much less how frequently that outcome may have been preventable.

Insights from the Scottish Prisoners Survey consistently suggest that around half of prisoners lose their home when they enter custody. Around a third say they don’t know where they’ll stay on release. Of those answering a question on tenure, around 35% tend to be social tenants and between 11-16% private tenants. As most prisoners serve short sentences, the opportunity to prevent homelessness, with the right advice, appears to be present for a high proportion of people.

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The intervention

Ayr Housing Aid Centre provides outreach advice in HMP Kilmarnock, HMP Barlinnie and HMP Greenock. The service is jointly commissioned by South and East Ayrshire Councils. It is especially well embedded at HMP Kilmarnock where strong relationships with prison officers and links centre staff have been forged. Housing advisers attend prisoner inductions, ensuring their faces are seen and their names known. Housing is part of core screening for all new people entering prison, with appointments made at the Links Centre (remotely during the pandemic) if they have a housing issue.

Advisers open a case when they meet a prisoner on entry, and don’t close it until that person is liberated. Everyone is automatically booked an appointment two months before release to discuss housing and benefit needs, aspirations and expectations. Many request additional appointments if their circumstances change, or if they have complex issues to sort out. Workers give impartial advice on housing rights, explaining and exploring all possible options. They highlight the pros, cons and impact of different courses of action, with the aim of avoiding homelessness. However, at times, tenants serving long sentences choose to terminate where they have no way to meet their rental charges.

Advisers liaise and advocate with landlords and benefits agencies. They explore assignation, sub-letting and rent payment via grants, help from family/friends or prisoners paying direct from custody. Most people in prison with a tenancy have a social landlord, but advisers also liaise with private landlords where relevant. If a person will be homeless on release, workers ensure housing and homelessness applications are made, with onward housing arranged in advance if needed. This tends to be temporary accommodation in South Ayrshire. In East Ayrshire, release straight to a settled tenancy is at times possible. Advisers also refer direct into rent deposit schemes and external housing support services.

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The outcome

Two Ayr Housing Aid advisers supported 439 prisoners in 2019-20 (90% in HMP Kilmarnock) through 935 appointments. 82% of appointments made were attended. Homelessness was prevented for 221 people, from 383 cases closed in 2019-20 (some cases opened the previous year). This gives a 58% prevention rate, bearing in mind some people were already homeless on entry to prison.

Advisers dealt with a wide range of queries, including 369 contacts with landlords and 184 with benefit agencies. By far the majority of tenancies protected were in social housing: a total of 121 last year.

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Key insights

• establishing strong relationships with prison and Links Centre staff and becoming well known within the prison helps maximise the number of people who engage with the service
• more bespoke support (i.e. grants, funds) to address arrears for prisoners could reduce the proportion who feel their only choice is to terminate a tenancy, inevitably leading to homelessness on release
• length of sentence (and lack of other justice disposals i.e. tags, home detention curfews) is one of the main barriers to preventing homelessness, which often leads  to further offending

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Find out more…

Emma Gaughan, Prison Housing Adviser, Ayr Housing Aid Centre
emma.gaughan@ayrhousingaidcentre.com