HOMELESSNES
SCRUTINY
FINAL REPORT TO THE ADULT SOCIAL CARE AND HOUSING OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
JULY 2007
Foreword from the Chairman of the Working Group
The Adults and Community Safety Overview and Scrutiny Committee commissioned a scrutiny review into homelessness with the intention of improving elected Members’ knowledge of the subject and contributing to the Council’s Homelessness Strategy.
With those objectives in mind, a Working Group of Councillor Susan Fowler, Councillor Sylvia Taylor and myself set out to meet with a range of stakeholders, listen to the community, and produce a report, which reflected our endeavours.
The Scrutiny Working Group considered a range of factors, which included Government targets, which a homelessness strategy must achieve, the effectiveness of the previous homelessness strategy, transience, homelessness prevention initiatives and the work of charitable organisations in Blackpool to support homeless people.
I hope that this report fulfils its joint purpose of forming a useful reference point for Councillors to consult, and of shaping the Council’s next homelessness strategy with Members’ experiences.
The Working Group would like to commend this report to the Adult Social Care and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee for onward consideration by the Council’s Executive and to pass on their thanks to all those who gave their time and resources to assist with the enquiry.
Steven Bate
Methodology
Over the course of the Scrutiny, the Working Group, comprised of Councillors Bate, Mrs Fowler and Mrs Taylor, met on five occasions and considered reports at meetings of the Adults and Community Safety Overview and Scrutiny Committee. In addition, they conducted site visits to Blackpool’s Salvation Army Centre and a new shelter for adult homeless people.
The findings of those meetings, in addition to the site visits, have been utilised to inform the content of this report.
The witnesses who gave evidence to the scrutiny review were as follows:
Val Bower
/ Officer (retired), Housing and Social Services Department. / Blackpool Council.Geoffrey Chape / Major. / Salvation Army.
Lee Dribben / Founder. / The Dribben Foundation.
Stuart Gibson
/ Officer, Tourism and Regeneration Services. / Blackpool Council.Maureen Gilding / Volunteer. / North Shore Methodist Church.
Pauline Hulme / Employee. / Five Piers Housing Association.
Ian Macrae / Volunteer. / North Shore Methodist Church.
Timothy Murphy / Employee. / Kensington House.
Roy Power / Officer. / Salvation Army.
Jane Rickett / Officer, Housing and Social Services Department. / Blackpool Council.
Paul Walker / Executive Director of Culture and Communities / Blackpool Council.
Susan Walsh / Officer, Housing and Social Services Department. / Blackpool Council.
The Working Group would like to thank all the participants who contributed to the review.
Discussion
Background
The Adults and Community Safety Overview and Scrutiny Committee commenced a scrutiny review into homelessness in Blackpool with the dual intentions of influencing the Council’s Homelessness Strategy and producing a handy reference document for Councillors.
It has long been accepted in this country that the state should provide support for those elements of the population who are unable to support themselves, whether they be children, the elderly, or those of a working age who are unable to earn a sufficient wage with which to house themselves.
From the Bridewells of the Sixteenth Century which provided housing for homeless children, to the Workhouses which provided free food and accommodation throughout the Victorian age, Britain can demonstrate a long commitment to supporting the needy.
The system of British workhouses was abolished in 1930, and since then there has been a variety of Government approaches designed to support and improve the prospects of homeless people.
Homelessness services are now delivered by local government, and they operate alongside the work of charitable organsiations which provide a host of supportive measures to homeless people.
Blackpool Council has produced a Homelessness Strategy which was written in accordance with the Homelessness Act 2002. The objective of the strategy was to set out how the Council would ensure:
i. the prevention of homelessness;
ii. a sufficiency of temporary accommodation to people who are, or may become homeless; and
iii. that there is sufficient support available to sustain people in society who used to be homeless.
A condition of the Homelessness Act 2002 was that each Council must evaluate and revise their homelessness strategies every five years.
This scrutiny review of homelessness in Blackpool was timed to allow the Working Group to gather its evidence and contribute to the Council’s revised Homlessness Strategy, which will be published later in 2007.
The discrepancies between rough sleeping and begging were a matter which the Working Group sought to clarify from the onset. Officers from the then Housing and Social Services Department were asked to produce a brief report on street culture in Blackpool and its key points are summarised in the section below.
Rough Sleepers and Beggars
The relationship between begging and rough sleeping cannot simply be defined as, ‘all beggars sleep rough and all rough sleepers beg’.
A beggar’s lifestyle dictates that if one were not sleeping rough then one would constantly be at risk of doing so, or may have a history of it. Whilst the vast majority of beggars are not homeless they may live in insecure accommodation or, as a result of their anti-social behaviour, have been evicted from managed hostels or supported housing.
The focus of many homeless people’s anti-social behaviour is linked to the consumption of drugs and alcohol, and manifests itself in street begging as a way of quickly obtaining money to fund the needs of addiction and dependency. Many that engage in this street culture lead very chaotic lifestyles, which impacts on residents and visitors to the town.
The Home Office publication, ‘Drug Use and Begging – A Practice Guide’ (2004) clearly identified a correlation between drug use and begging, and this has been supported by evidence in Blackpool. As a result, the Blackpool Community Safety and Drugs Partnership developed the Town Centre Begging Group in July 2004, with representatives from the Police, Environmental Services, the Homeless Action Team and Community Safety Officers.
The Town Centre Begging Group established an alternative-begging scheme, eradicated the majority of ‘rag-mag’ sellers, and served Anti-Social Behaviour Orders on Blackpool’s three most prolific beggars.
At present, street drinking and begging are having a considerably negative impact on the town. During the day, many people have reported to the Council that they find the presence of beggars and street drinkers invasive and threatening. Such threatening behaviour is often exacerbated during the evening when street drinkers may be comprehensively intoxicated, it is dark, and there are fewer pedestrians out and about on the streets.
Lancashire Constabulary has reported that large groups of people drinking in the street are of major concern to the public, especially in known hotspots around the town such as St John’s Church and Ibbison Court. Such prevalent groupings of drinkers prevent public spaces from being accessible, contribute to social and economic decline in the local area, and act as a catalyst for more serious criminal activity to take hold.
A multi-agency conference held in Blackpool during March 2006 determined that homeless people, and those dwelling within insecure accommodation, presented a serious problem when under the influence of banned substances and alcoholic beverages. Whilst begging was not identified as a serious problem, the activities of homeless people and those living in insecure accommodation when intoxicated was sufficient to trigger the re-alignment of the Town Centre Begging Group’s priorities.
Blackpool Council now boasts a Single Homeless and Rough Sleeping Team, whose task it is to engage with homeless and vulnerable single people across the town in order to reduce their levels of rough sleeping.
In connection with this Scrutiny Review, the Single Homeless and Rough Sleeping Team undertook an audit of beggars in key areas of Blackpool town centre, during the first two weeks of September 2006. Their results are highlighted in the Table below.
Date / Time / Total No. Identified / Gender / No. Identified Rough sleepingMon 4th Sept 2006 / 14:00 / 3 / Male / 2
Tues 5th Sept 2006 / 14:00 / 1 / Male / 0
Wed 6th Sept 2006 / 12:00 noon / 1 / Male / 1
Thurs 7th Sept 2006 / 11:00 / 0 / - / 0
Fri 8th Sept 2006 / 15:00 / 1 / Male / 1
Wed 13th Sept 2006 / 21:30 – 23:30 / 1 / Male / 1
Thurs 14th Sept 2006 / 21:30 – 23:30 / 0 / - / 0
Qualititive evidence from the Single Homeless and Rough Sleepers Team suggested that the vast majority of Blackpool’s beggars were doing so to fund their drug addictions. Most of the people who were questioned were not originally from Blackpool, and a number had come to the town in order to escape from drug-related violence elsewhere in the United Kingdom.
The quantitive results suggest either that the survey was flawed, or that there are very few beggars still operational in Blackpool. As discussed above, this does not necessarily mean that there are very few homeless people living in the town.
Blackpool Council’s Homelessness Strategy 2007-beyond
Based on a report from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister entitled ‘More Than A Roof’, Blackpool’s current Homelessness Strategy is focused on achieving five key objectives:
- developing a more strategic approach to tackling homelessness;
- strengthening the assistance available to homeless people (and those at
greatest risk of becoming homeless);
- encouraging new approaches to tackling homelessness;
- sustaining a two thirds reduction in rough sleeping; and
- ensuring the opportunity of a decent home for all.
In March 2005, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister published its new strategy for tackling homelessness, ‘Sustainable Communities: Settled homes, Changing lives’, which set out in detail its strategy for working across Government with local authorities, voluntary sector agencies and other partners for tackling homelessness.
The strategy aims to halve the number of households living in insecure temporary accommodation by 2010 by:
- Preventing homelessness;
- Providing support for vulnerable people;
- Tackling the wider causes and symptoms of homelessness;
- Helping more people move away from rough sleeping and;
- Providing more settled homes.
Taking the aims of this document into account, the purpose of the Strategy review is to establish the extent of homelessness in Blackpool, assess its likely extent in the future, identify what is currently being done and by whom, and consider the level of resources which are available to prevent and tackle homelessness.
The review would be undertaken in partnership with the Supporting People service which is responsible for undertaking a homelessness option appraisal. The purpose of the appraisal exercise is to consider the best way of providing homelessness support for service users, taking note of the varying levels of housing related need in the town.
The Adults and Community Safety Overview and Scrutiny Committee was invited to contribute to the revision of the Council’s Homelessness Strategy at a Workshop held in March 2007, and the results of that workshop together with the Working Group’s findings have informed the recommendations in this report.
Members’ Recommendations
Recommendation 1
That the Council seeks to provide enhanced training for volunteers who work in support of homeless people in Blackpool.
Such training, potentially provided in partnership with colleagues from Blackpool Primary Care Trust, should enable volunteers to:
i. increase their awareness of the different homelessness services and support available in the town; and
ii. engage with homeless people who have drink, drug, or mental health problems, before referring them on to a more highly specialised person who can help them to overcome their issues.
One of the volunteers who spoke to the Working Group reported that training in how to ‘frame a structure as to how we should help and guide those who use our centre’ would be of great assistance. In addition, it was reported that volunteers required a ‘unified structure that we could use to help us administer a co-ordinated and united service to our client…that would take them off the streets for good’.
Recommendation 2
That officers should liaise with staff from Blackpool Primary Care Trust to ensure that services for homeless people are more readily accessible, especially at times when healthcare facilities in homeless centres are unavailable.
This may include the provision of further incentives for homeless people to use the NHS Walk-in Centre and ensuring that the local NHS has specific policies in place to make sure that access to services for homeless people is as simple as possible.
Figures from Shelter, a registered charity, show that:
- 30-50% of homeless people experience mental health problems;
- about 70% of homeless people misuse drugs;
- rough sleepers have an average life expectancy of 42 years;
- there are high rates of tuberculosis, respiratory problems and skin diseases amongst homeless people.
In spite of this level of poor health, homeless people are still forty times less likely than the general population to be registered with a General Practitioner. 1
The figures shown above are sufficient to demonstrate the advanced health risks, which those who are homeless are exposed to. The Working Group was of the strong view that the responsible Authorities in Blackpool need to take further steps to improve the health of homeless people in Blackpool, thus allowing them to focus on securing permanent housing and improving their chances of gaining employment.
Recommendation 3
That the Council prioritises the provision of fast track mental health services for homeless people.
An academic study of 529 homeless adults led by Gelberg has shown that people with confirmed mental health problems had been homeless for nearly twice as long as those without such issues.2 Furthermore, those with mental health problems had worse drug and alcohol addictions and were the most heavily involved in criminal activity. The majority had not made an outpatient mental health appointment within five years, and Gelberg’s study concluded that more diverse systems of care were needed for homeless people.
The Working Group would like the Council to take a more pro-active role in addressing the mental health problems of homeless people. Also, in conjunction with Recommendation One, Members would like the Council to train volunteers who work with homeless people to spot the mental health problems of their clients at an early stage and report them to the relevant authorities.