Homelessness charity Crisis recently ran some research based on detailed interviews with people with experience of homelessness to find out more about how they were forced to leave their home. We wanted to talk to them about what led to their housing instability and what help was available in the lead-up to the pivotal event which led them to make a homelessness application with their local authority.

Why is this important?

Scotland is the only nation in Great Britain not to have a clear and comprehensive legal duty requiring local authorities to prevent homelessness. It means that there is currently no legal duty on public bodies to prevent someone from becoming homeless.

However, with the recent introduction of a new bill to the Scottish Parliament this should all change. The Housing (Scotland) Bill will not only shift the dial by allowing people to access local authority help up to 6 months before a housing crisis occurs, it will also make preventing homelessness a shared responsibility across the public sector, shifting the focus from intervening once a household is already at crisis point to offering support earlier. That way, households would get targeted support to either help them keep their homes, when possible, or sustainably move if not.

The public bodies involved will include health boards, police, prisons, and social landlords. The intention is to make sure that people can access coordinated help much earlier to ensure that people are not forced into homelessness because the right help wasn’t available when they needed it.

What did Crisis find out?

Each person taking part in our research completed a short checklist prior to a full interview exploring the services that they had been in touch with in the six months before making a formal homeless application. They told us:

• They had been in contact with at least three services and on average had been in contact with five.
• Almost all had been in touch with local authority housing services in the six months prior to becoming homeless.
• 80% had contact with health services during that period.
• Almost a third had reached out to domestic abuse services/helplines.
• Two thirds were in touch with jobcentre work coaches.
• More than 50% had received help from money advice services in that period before homelessness.
• Although almost two thirds had contacted their landlord or mortgage provider in the months prior to becoming homeless – at least a third hadn’t felt able to do so.

What does this tell us?

Our research showed there are opportunities to reach people earlier to stabilise their housing situation as often people are already in contact with essential services at the key points when homelessness prevention is most effective. That might be doctors, work coaches, or other specialist services – even if that person may not have contacted them to talk specifically about housing. However, it was clear that housing rarely came up in those conversations – even though it was impacting on the key areas discussed such as health, employment, or relationships.

Occasionally, these conversations with non-housing staff did lead to referrals onto specialist help which directly improved their housing situation. Unfortunately, this was not common – in other cases the need for help was acknowledged, but not offered. Or else it was received too late to prevent homelessness.

Why?

Lack of confidence amongst frontline staff (housing & non-housing roles) in talking about and identifying risk factors which can lead to home loss.

Difficulties in accessing or coordinating help which can stabilise a housing situation (and early enough to be impactful)

What could be done to help someone keep their home, or move to another secure home and avoid having to become homeless?

The people interviewed talked about what support could have made a real difference them in avoiding the trauma and uncertainty of homelessness.

• Mediation services which provide early support around relationship breakdown.
• Help and funding to explore private rented options and home ownership where affordable.
• Early assistance to budget and address financial issues and priority debts.
• Coordinated assistance for victim/survivors of domestic abuse.
• Quality advice and assistance for private renters facing housing instability or risk of home loss.
• Critical to these “reasonable steps” being effective is making sure they are taken early enough to make a difference.

Making the most of these windows of opportunity

Scotland has some of the best protections in the world for those who lose their home but with around 1 in 12 people having experienced homelessness - and potentially experiencing the high emotional, physical and practical costs of the homelessness system – we urgently need to reform the system so that preventative support is there much earlier on, support which tackles the root causes of homelessness.

This report illustrates that some of this work is already happening, or at least is there for the taking. We need to get smarter about how and when we offer help to people as soon as they need it. We need to reflect on existing practices and break down the barriers that are stopping our public services from doing prevention well.

This is why the new Housing (Scotland) Bill has so much potential. If legal and practical changes can build on and leverage the amazing work that is already done by many frontline staff across the country then we can identify housing instability earlier and make sure that people get the help they need, when they need it.

Crisis will also run a short webinar on Thursday 26th September (11:00 – 12:00) to explore the report’s findings. Click here to register your place.