The South Ayrshire Council Youth Housing Support Group (YHSG) is a multi disciplinary team which works collaboratively to prevent and alleviate the effects of homelessness for young people in South Ayrshire. The Group consists of representatives from Housing and Homelessness Management, Housing Support, Family Mediation, Training and Employment support, Housing Policy and Strategy, Social Work and Through-care and Criminal Justice services. It was developed based on the recognition that young people can become homeless as a result of a range of multi-dimensional issues including; leaving home in an unplanned way due to relationship difficulties, having no income or knowledge of the benefits system, no chance of returning home, limited housing options, unrealistic expectations and emotional upset and crisis.
The Group meets fortnightly to review the cases of all young people under the age of 21 who are in housing need, in homeless accommodation or who are leaving Care. The Group monitorsan average of 120 cases at any given time and all members work together to identify the appropriate interventions which are required to assist the young person to maintain, access, and sustain settled accommodation, with a primary focus on assisting the young person to remain in the family home if it is safe and reasonable to do so. The YHSG allows relevant agencies to jointly plan support for the young person and also helps to target resources to meet their needs. Individual support plans are developed with input from all group members and the young person themselves, demonstrating a truly holistic and person centred approach to homelessness prevention.
The group looks beyond the young person’s housing needs and assesses support needs in relation to safety and security, social networks, independent living, physical and mental health, training and employment,legal issues and addiction issues. The group has close links to the South Ayrshire Child Protection Committee, and all support plans are integrated with the GIRFEC agenda and SHANARI outcomes and reflect Good Practice in relation to Child Protection.
PLANNING / · a clear rationale, defined processes and focus on stakeholder needs· contributes to organisation’s goals and addresses current or emerging challenges
Clear Rationale
The group was formed as a response to the increasing problem of youth homelessness in South Ayrshire caused by the breakdown of family relationships. The group aims to assess young people’s support needs, and where it is safe and reasonable to do so, support them to sustain their relationships at home and prevent them from entering the homeless system. The group recognises that once a young person enters temporary accommodation, their experience of this can be detrimental to their personal development in the future. Where a young person is in housing need however, the group aims to provide accommodation that is safe, secure, and suitable to their level of support needs, whilst also facilitating access to health services and putting interventions in place which will assist the person to sustain their own accommodation in the future and resettle within the community.
Defined Processes
Joint interviews are undertaken by the Mediation Coordinator from Through-care and the young person’s Housing Options Officer. All 16-18 year olds are offered a joint interview when they are in housing need. These assessments are then passed to the YHSG, and the team develops the support plan and identifies the services to be put in place in conjunction with the young person. The group then meets fortnightly to review and monitor individual progress against the outcomes identified in the support plans. The group has firm links with mainstream services and key stakeholders involved in securing the welfare of the young person are invited to the support review meetings as required.
Stakeholder Focus
The group has been based on the mutual understanding between stakeholders that the causes of youth homelessness are multi-dimensional, and that it requires input from a range of services to assist young people facing homelessness to achieve their goals. A key aim of the group is to work with young people to develop their own support provision. The group understands that the young people themselves are the key stakeholders. Partners work together to ensure that each young person is treated as an individual and their support plan is developed in partnership with them. The young people are involved in all of their case reviews and work with the group to assess and monitor their own progress towards meeting their objectives through an innovative outcomes framework.
Organisational Goals and Future Challenges
The South Ayrshire Council Single Outcome Agreement outlines the need to ‘Ensure an adequate supply of affordable housing for the people of South Ayrshire’, ‘Tackle poverty and help create employment opportunities’ and ‘Integrate and develop services for young people’. The work of the YHSG contributes to each of these objectives by working to prevent homelessness and support young vulnerable people to reach their potential, and by working to reduce the inequalities and barriers facing young homeless people.There is a high level of need for affordable housing in South Ayrshire. Given the current economic climate and the increasing difficulty young people face entering the property market, the Council is facing a continuing problem of youth homelessness. The pressure to respond to this challenge is even more urgent as the 2012 homelessness target looms, and greater duties are placed on Local Councils to accommodate an increasing number of homeless households.
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
Implemented in all relevant areas and across all required stakeholders
The group monitors the cases of all young people who are homeless or in housing need across the Local Authority. The group consists of stakeholders from the key services involved in the provision of housing and support services for vulnerable young people. Clear referral pathways are in place between the group and mainstream Health and Education services, and the group liaises with representatives from mainstream services who are involved in securing the welfare of the young person as part of the review process. The support assessment framework includes identification of young people who may be at risk, and clear referral pathways are in place with the South Ayrshire Child Protection Committee for reporting concerns regarding a young person’s safety.
Structure and Methods
There is a clear and structured process in place. Joint interviews are held with the young person following presentation to the Homeless Service and the support assessment is then passed to the group for the support plan to be developed and reviewed. This is the process for every young person who approaches the homeless service. It is also the process which is put in place for young people who are due to leave Care. The multi-disciplinary nature of the group and the crucial links to mainstream services ensures that young people facing homelessness have access to the group through a wide range of routes. All young people are assessed against the agreed shared support assessment framework, and are reviewed using an agreed support outcomes monitoring framework which is integrated with the GIRFEC and SHANARI outcomes. Every young person who enters the homeless system has their own homeless application form on the housing IT system, the system identifies all those involved with the YHSG and reports are produced quarterly on the housing and support outcomes of each individual. Innovative methods are used to work with young people to identify their personal aspirations and goals and to assess their own progress.
INNOVATION + LEADING PRACTICE / ·Demonstrates leading practice, and is capable of replication elsewhere·Achieves genuine innovation or new ways of working
Leading Practice and Replication
The YHSG is the only group of its kind which is dedicated to preventing and alleviating homelessness for young people in South Ayrshire. It is unique in that it is truly multi-disciplinary by nature and monitors every single young person in the homeless system on a regular basis. It has been developed from the understanding that youth homelessness is a problem which is interrelated with a range of multi-dimensional issues including addictions issues, relationship breakdown, mental health problems, poor daily living skills, limited education and emotional problems. The Group is evidence of a truly holistic approach to dealing with young people facing homelessness, and recognises that providing the keys to a tenancy is not a sufficient answer to the problems experienced by many young people. This model is clearly replicable in that every Council across Scotland could develop a YHSG which works specifically to address youth homelessness.
Innovation and New Ways of Working
Since its creation, the Group has worked innovatively with young people to assist them to achieve their personal aims, and to reflect on their own progress through self evaluation tasks, exercises to set personal targets and milestones, and group work with the young person and their family to resolve disputes. The Group has also been at the forefront of identifying gaps in current service provision, and has worked to develop new processes which will benefit young people in the homeless system. This has included the development of a new policy which offers priority for re-housing for young care leavers to allow them to bypass the homeless system and avoid temporary accommodation. Since the introduction of this policy 19 young people leaving care have been successfully re-housed by the Council without being placed in temporary accommodation. The work of the group has also led to the Council placing a renewed focus on responsive homelessness prevention services with plans to expand and develop a crisis response family mediation team and support service for young people leaving the family home. The work of the group has identified that family disputes often result in young people leaving home due to a lack of parental awareness of the realities of homelessness and the housing which the Council can provide. This has led to the development of a rolling programme of homelessness education which is delivered by members of the YHSG across all local secondary schools on an annual basis to inform young people about the homeless system and the responsibilities of living alone. This education has also been extended to parents through focus groups and parents evenings within schools.
The group recognises that to tackle the causes of youth homelessness it is necessary to consider the wider support needs of the person’s family, and to address the problems that exist within the household. For example, in many cases the initial homeless presentation made by the young person has been the result of parents with addictions or mental health problems. By providing a dedicated and targeted service, the group is able to identify the support needs of members of the whole family as well as the individual, and base support provision on the needs of the entire household. This has helped to keep families together and facilitated access to support for more people.
RESULTS + IMPACT / · a convincing mix of customer and internal performance measures· clear line of sight to the delivery of better outcomes for communities
· a full range of relevant results– either already achieved or with potential to deliverover time
Performance Management – Individual Progress
The young people themselves play a fundamental role in the development and review of their own support provision, and are involved in the assessment of their support needs, development of support plan and the review of their progress. Progress against individual objectives are reviewed every fortnight by the group and updated on the housing system.
Service Provision
Every quarter the Group produces a service monitoring report which outlines the proportion of young people who have been prevented from entering the homeless system, overall progress against support objectives, the number of young people successfully re-housed, and the numbers who have accessed mainstream services and training and employment opportunities and who have achieved their set objectives.
Impact on Levels of Youth Homelessness
The overall level of youth homelessness in 16, 17 and 18 year olds has decreased by 32% from 129 applicants in 2006 to 88 in 2010 and by 19% for all young applicants under the age of 21. Overall levels of homelessness have also decreased but not to the same extent. The significant reduction in presentations from young people is testimony to the work of the YHSG and this holistic approach to the prevention of youth homelessness.
COSLA EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2012 Page | 1
COSLA EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2012 Page | 1