‘A Time 2 Mend’ is a unique project which provides focussed mediation and support to young people and their families to help reduce youth homelessness. It also helps young new tenants to maintain family support when moving in to their first home. The project is a result of effective partnership working, and could be easily replicated in other local authorities with the same positive results. This proactive approach to tackling and preventing homelessness has delivered the ambitious outcomes we set out to achieve, and the focus on early intervention and homeless prevention is helping to reduce the long term demand and costs for services.
PLANNING / · a clear rationale, defined processes and focus on stakeholder needs· contributes to organisation’s goals and addresses current or emerging challenges
Our commitment to tackling homelessness is outlined in the Renfrewshire Community Plan, which states that we will “Work with vulnerable people to minimise the risk of them becoming homeless”. As one strand amongst many to help achieve this, we have taken a proactive approach to tacking and preventing youth homelessness.
Over 25% of our homeless applications are from those under 25 years of age. Many of these applicants are young people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, as a result of being asked to leave the family home.
In response to this, we developed ‘A Time 2 Mend’ as an early intervention initiative which has three, easily measured objectives:
· Reduce the number of young people becoming homeless, by offering mediation and support to help them restore relationships with their parents/ carers/ relatives.
· Improve the tenancy sustainment rate within Renfrewshire for young new tenants
· Offer effective, targeted mediation and support to young people so they can maintain links with their family after moving out.
The key outcome of the ‘A Time 2 Mend’ initiative is for young people in Renfrewshire who are in housing need to receive the help, advice and support to allow them to make the most appropriate housing choice for them.
As well as helping the young person to be better informed, prepared and supported when they decide that they want their own home – even a degree of support from their family can be really effective in making the young person’s first tenancy a success - this will in turn benefit their neighbours and the wider communities.
DELIVERING / · implemented in all relevant areas and across all the required stakeholders· carried out in a structured and logical way , using robust and sustainable methods
From the outset of ‘A Time 2 Mend’, we have worked in close partnership with internal and external partners such as local schools, Social Work, Youth Employability Service and the Police, and developed the framework/ approach to be adopted in consultation with them. Clear objectives were agreed at the outset, and robust procedures established to ensure young people would be treated fairly, and be safe at all times
The implementation of ‘A Time 2 Mend’ was then agreed by the Senior Management Team of Housing and Property Services and was launched in 2010. This involved the reprioritising of some of the existing mediation skills within our Community Safety service to focus on homeless prevention. There were no additional costs involved.
A communications plan was developed to ensure all relevant partners and other organisations were aware of the new service, and all our Housing Options Advisers in particular were fully briefed on the need to refer all young homeless (and potentially homeless) applicants from across Renfrewshire to the A Time 2 Mend team.
We are continually developing as a service, and from the very beginning, we have placed the input and feedback from clients who have used it at the centre of how the service is actually delivered, and how it is improved. For example we have now introduced a furnished ‘breathing space’ flat where a young person can stay for up to two nights when there has been a ‘flashpoint’ within the family home and they have either left home, or been asked to do so. This allows the A Time 2 Mend team the opportunity to quickly seek to help resolve matters and navigate a way for the young person to safely return home.
INNOVATION + LEADING PRACTICE / · Demonstrates leading practice, and is capable of replication elsewhere· Achieves genuine innovation or new ways of working
‘A Time 2 Mend’ is an innovative and person centred approach to youth homelessness, where the needs of the young people and their families are put at the centre of service delivery. There has been a tendency throughout Scotland for many young people to use homeless services as a solution to their (often short-term) strained family relationships. We wanted to turn that around and help young people to either safely return home, and/or find a more planned housing solution to their needs.
We now offer mediation to all young people, and by proactively engaging with them at an early stage, we can ensure the mediation process is appropriate, confidential, impartial and voluntary. We offer 1-2-1 meetings to ensure they do not feel intimidated or overwhelmed by the process, and importantly ‘A Time 2 Mend’ offers a fresh, positive response to addressing the young person’s immediate housing need as an alternative to the traditional homeless service response, which tends to involve being placed in temporary accommodation, then provided with a tenancy - often far away from the family home.
This has contributed to the number of homeless applicants in Renfrewshire who return to their previous accommodation rather than be re-housed in a tenancy of their own, more than doubling in the last two years.
Whilst we aim to reduce homelessness, we are also keen to reduce the subsequent tenancy ‘failure’ rate within Renfrewshire for young new tenants. A number of young new tenants whose tenancies have been recorded as having ‘failed’ within 12 months had actually just returned to stay with their families again. We therefore ensure ‘A Time 2 Mend’ is offered to all young people who are accessing housing for the first time, so that the young prospective tenants can take time to make sure they want and require housing on their own, and where appropriate can have the benefit of support from their relatives to help them set up and sustain their own tenancy.
We work in close partnership with a range of partners - for example close links with Education Services have lead to secondary pupils being referred to the service by guidance teachers, and the Police similarly referring young people who have been caught up in family disputes - and feel that our service could be fairly easily replicated in other authorities, and deliver the same positive outcomes for young people.
RESULTS + IMPACT / · a convincing mix of customer and internal performance measures· demonstrates how better outcomes are being achieved
· a full range of relevant results– either already achieved or with potential to deliver over time
Since our launch, the service has had 388 referrals of young people, many of whom would have previously been admitted to temporary accommodation such as B&B, and subsequently provided with a tenancy of their own.
In April 2012 we measured how many of our A Time 2 Mend clients subsequently became homeless and required accommodation after being helped:
No. of cases ‘closed’ / No. of those young people who presented as homeless during the subsequent 6 month period :Oct 2011 / 18 / Nil
Nov 2011 / 8 / Nil
Dec 2011 / 16 / Nil
Jan 2012 / 8 / Nil
This trend has continued throughout 2012.
The success to date of the initiative has also lead to a significant reduction in the number of 16 -25 year olds who have had to be dealt with by our mainstream Homeless Services as a result of being asked to leave / dispute within household - the rate fell by 34% between June 2011 and June 2012.
Similarly the number of homeless applicants who return to their previous accommodation rather than being provided with a tenancy has increased by 122% between 2009/10 and 2011/12.
The evidence suggests that A Time 2 Mend will continue to have an impact and further reduce the volume of young people who need assistance from mainstream homeless services in order to resolve their housing difficulties, as well as reduce the cost of providing temporary accommodation and new tenancies.
We feel that our service has shown the impact and benefit of mediation as a tool for early homeless prevention. We have found that our service users are happy with the service offered, and quite often it can result in long term positive outcomes for families. Young people are often unaware of the responsibilities that a tenancy brings, and A Time 2 Mend we can now help them access other support services to help prepare them for independent living as well as clearly explain the range of obligations they can expect as a new tenant.
Reducing the volume of young people who become homeless has other less obvious benefits, such as the impact a homeless crisis has on a young person emotionally and on their employability, as well as the impact on their wider family and community if they move into housing they are ill prepared for.
By helping young people resolve conflict and prevent homelessness, we believe A Time 2 Mend is playing an important part in developing confident and assured citizens in Renfrewshire, who will be better prepared to become good tenants and neighbours in the future, and have positive relationships with their families.
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