SP7 - page 1

ITEM SP7

Draft Oxford City Council Reconnection Protocol

Relevant Oxford City Council Strategies /
  • Rough Sleeper Action Plan
  • Oxford City Council Homelessness Strategy

Oxford City Council Department /
  • Neighbourhood Renewal

Date for implementation /
  • September 2006

Reviews /
  • December 06, April 07 and April 08

Introduction

1.Oxford City Council has to ensure that rough sleeping numbers in Oxford are kept to 8, and as close to zero as possible. This means that available hostel and supported bedspaces have to be prioritised for the people who need them and do not have opportunities to access them outside Oxford.

2.Supportive networks, both formal and informal, have been found to increase opportunities for people to move away from homelessness, to a more settled life. Reconnection policies encourage people to access support, health and accommodation services in areas where they have such networks. They also enable homelessness and related services to focus on addressing the needs of the most vulnerable.

3.Over the past 12 months, Oxford City Council has recognised that the supply of homelessness services far outweighs the demand.

  • From 1st April 2005 to 31st March 2006 there were 218 new arrivals on the streets of Oxford.
  • An analysis of 37 different individuals found on the street counts in February, March and May 06 found that around 50% of these service users became homeless outside Oxford and migrated in.

The purpose of a Reconnection Policy

4.To provide potential and actual Rough Sleepers with support to ‘reconnect’ with housing and support in areas outside Oxford where they have proven support and social networks: family, formal and informal.

Definition of Rough Sleepers

5.Throughout this policy, Rough Sleepers refers to rough sleepers and a range of other vulnerable people at risk of sleeping rough e.g. those who are:

  • Sofa surfing
  • Squatting
  • Staying in the Nightshelter
  • Sleeping in tents, cars and other vehicles
  • Sleeping in abandoned buildings or any other accommodation where there is no tenancy.

Principles

6.The principles underpinning the policy are to enable:

  • A client-centred, assertive yet voluntary resettlement process for rough sleepers arriving in Oxford.
  • Progress in meeting Oxford’s Homelessness strategy priorities
  • The opportunity for local, regional and national stakeholders to develop robust and reciprocal referral arrangements

Aims

7.The aims of the policy are to:

  • Use reconnection to reduce the number of people sleeping rough in Oxford.
  • Ensure that rough sleepers referred to other areas have accommodation and support available to them when they arrive, thus preventing rough sleeping in those areas
  • Make sure that Oxford’s services focus on vulnerable people for whom reconnection is either unavailable or inappropriate.

Costs

8.Current costs are all funded from Crime Reduction Initiatives (CRI) Street Services Team’s current Homelessness and Housing Support Directorate (HHSD) grant, contracted by Oxford City Council. Funds will be made available for a bigger Reconnection budget and initially an extra full time temporary Reconnection worker.

Partners

9.To make this policy effective, it requires support and sign-up from Oxford City Council’s Housing Options and Advices Service, Supporting People Team, DAAT, Social Services and Health Department, Oxfordshire PCT, Thames Valley Police and the voluntary sector agencies.

10.The policy applies equally to accommodation and support services. Oxford City Council expects partner agencies working with single homeless people and rough sleepers to work together with a coordinated approach to reconnect people to accommodation and support in areas where they have networks and access to housing/support

11.The message from all agencies working with rough sleepers in Oxford will be clear and consistent – reconnection will be discussed assertively with all people within the scope of this policy.

12.This policy needs to be developed in line with The Department of Communities and Local Government (formally the ODPM) framework on reconnections (attached at appendix 2) and key local authority partners will need to be advised of Oxford City Council’s policy and invited to comment at the designated review stages. Oxford will seek to persuade other local authorities to adhere to principles similar to those set out in this document.

Putting the Policy Into Practice - Reconnection of Service Users

13.SST will not deny any client a service under any circumstances.

14.The assessment of a client’s reconnection needs will be made by the SST’s Reconnection Worker However, where services are able to reconnect e.g. The Gap they will continue to do so according to this protocol.

15.Assessments will be carried out at the Nightshelter, the Gap or by SST on the streets.

16.If a client accesses over a weekend, project staff will get the assessment process underway.

17.When referred to the SST’s reconnection service an assessment will be completed. This should include the following information:

  • Date of birth
  • Age
  • Gender
  • National Insurance Number
  • Housing history (including area of origin, local connection, location of family and support network, places the individual has stayed successfully before, places the client might consider going to where housing stock availability is higher)
  • Support needs (including assessment of physical health, mental health and substance misuse)
  • Risk assessment

18.Those who have no identifiable area where they can safely access housing, support and social networks will be provided with access to a full range of homelessness and related services in Oxford.

19.Service users not locally connected with Oxford city or Oxfordshire should only be relocated to areas where they have a local connection or to areas where housing supply outstrips demand.

20.The assessment should enable the assessor and client to mutually agree geographic locations and accommodation types for reconnection.

21.Service users should not be reconnected to an area where there is clear evidence that they will be at risk of physical, sexual or psychological harm should they return.

22.It should be made clear to the client that engaging in this process is an opportunity to secure accommodation with a view to creating a stable lifestyle. The opportunity is not to be used as a means of travelling the country.

23.The SST must secure a bed space before offering a ticket for travel.

24.The SST must have direct confirmation from the Housing provider/relative or friend that there is accommodation available to the client on arrival.

25.Tickets should be issued on a one-way basis only.

26.The SST will inform equivalent service providers in the locality that the client is travelling to.

27.Confirmation of arrival should be sought from either the client or the accommodation provider.

28.If the client is accommodated at the Nightshelter, The Bridge or any first stage accommodation including bed and breakfast accommodation, and not locally connected, they will be allowed to stay for a maximum of 10 working days

29.During this time the client will need to engage with SST in order to be appropriately relocated.

30.If the individual cannot be relocated within 10 working days the case will be referred back to the reconnections forum for consideration.

31.If the failure to reconnect is viewed by the reconnections forum to be the result of lack of willingness to engage by the client or refusal of more than one reconnection option then s/he will be asked to leave the Nightshelter or The Bridge Project within 24 hours.

32.Those who do have an identifiable area where they can access housing, support and social networks, but refuse accommodation, will then be provided with a limited range of services:

  • Street Services Team
  • Housing Advice
  • A place on Oxford City Council’s Housing Register
  • Needle exchange
  • Luther Street for primary health care needs.

33.However, s/he will not be able to access

  • Rough sleepers accommodation and support – Nightshelter, the Bridge, 2nd stage hostels and supported housing projects
  • Oxford City Council’s move on scheme
  • The range of other Supporting People funded schemes

34.If failure to reconnect is due to lack of availability of appropriate options, the vulnerability of the client or insufficient action or resource difficulties from Street Services Team the reconnections forum may take the view that the client’s stay at the Nightshelter should be extended by a further 10 working days.

35.If a client is already housed elsewhere access to the Nightshelter should normally be denied unless the individual presents as vulnerable or fleeing violence, in which case they would be allowed to stay for 10 working days pending fuller investigation of their circumstances.

36.2nd stage (and beyond) housing providers (English Churches Housing Group, Stonham, Cherwell Housing Group, Julian Housing) should not have any direct access bed spaces. In cases of self-referral, the reconnection protocol should be applied.

37.A client who is not locally connected will not be allowed to stay at O’Hanlon House for more than 3 months unless the reconnections forum agrees the circumstances are exceptional.

38.Exceptional circumstances would relate to vulnerability only.

39.Service users not locally connected and not deemed sufficiently vulnerable to qualify for an exemption cannot be referred to second stage (and beyond) housing.

40.The Reconnection worker will update other agencies, especially the DIPs team, on all clients involved in the reconnection process in order to avoid any confusion.

41.Oxford City Council should develop a list of named contacts within receiving authorities and these contacts should be sent client need and risk assessment information as the relocation is taking place.

Day Centres

42.Clients accessing day centre services will be assessed for reconnection.

43.If the client is not locally connected they will be immediately referred to the SST to be reconnected and should be issued with temporary day centre membership, which should expire when the client is asked to leave the Nightshelter/Bridge or after 10 working days if they do not access the Nightshelter/Bridge.

44.The case will also need to be monitored at the reconnections forum and any decisions on day centre membership extensions should be consistent with those made about the service users stay at the Nighshelter/Bridge.

45.If the client is not locally connected and not staying at the Nightshelter/Bridge the reconnections forum should agree whether day centre membership needs to be extended beyond 10 working days.

46.If a client is assessed as locally connected by O’Hanlon house day centre or The Gap the case should be referred to the reconnections forum for ratification.

47.f the case is ratified as being locally connected by the reconnections forum iO’Hanlon House can issue a 2-month rolling membership to be reviewed in line with O’Hanlon House’s own membership policies on client engagement.

Returns

48.Those people who are refusing to relocate, have disengaged with the reconnection process, or who have returned to the city after being relocated will be viewed as disengaging from the reconnection process and will continue to be excluded form all services except those listed in paragraph 32.

49.These clients should be referred to the reconnections forum. Any agency can make this referral.

Reconnection Forum

50.A reconnections forum needs to be established to oversee the implementation of the reconnections policy and its on-going operation.

51.The forum will meet fortnightly and will have the following remit:

  • To scrutinise decisions made by frontline agencies on the reconnection of service users
  • Interpret the local connection criteria as defined in Appendix 1
  • Monitor the appropriateness of reconnection placements
  • Determine vulnerability under the Homelessness Act 2002
  • Decide who should be reconnected based on considerations of local connection, vulnerability and availability of appropriate support elsewhere.
  • Refer cases where mental health problems may be an issue to Luther Street to take a view on vulnerability and appropriate support packages
  • To agree extensions to periods of stay at the Nightshelter in exceptional circumstances for non-locally connected service users who have stayed or are approaching 10 working days residence.
  • To agree extensions to periods of stay at the Nightshelter in exceptional circumstances for locally connected service users who have stayed or are approaching 3 months residence.
  • Take a view on the reasonableness of reconnection offers made to service users.
  • Determine whether a client is making an effort to ‘engage’ with services and should continue to receive services on a case-by-case basis
  • For those found to have alternative accommodation the forum should make an assessment of how reasonable it is for them to return to that accommodation and apply the guidelines as set out in 35.
  • Keep a log of cases where services users could not be reconnected due to inadequate services in the local authority area and report on this via the quarterly homelessness report.
  • Refer appeals against decisions made by the reconnections forum to a designated voluntary sector representative from ECHG or Simon House for a decision.

52.Decisions made on vulnerability at the reconnections forum will not represent either an acceptance of a homeless application under the Homelessness Act nor would it represent an official local authority decision on vulnerability that could be referred to in any subsequent application.

53.Cases referred to Luther Street for a mental health assessment as outlined in 51 above will have a target time of 10 working days for completion of the assessment and recommendation.

54.The meeting will be chaired by the City Council’s Street Homelessness Coordinator.

55.The meeting will comprise of the following agencies:

  • SST
  • Nightshelter (O’Hanlon House) – day and night service
  • The Gap/Bridge – day and night service
  • Luther Street Medical Centre
  • Housing Options Team (Oxford City Council)
  • Thames Valley Police

Outcomes

56.Baseline figures will be established for the following areas:

  • Number of rough sleepers found on 6-8 weekly street counts
  • Number of rough sleepers found on weekly morning counts in Oxford
  • Percentage and actual figures of new arrivals, with no local connection amongst the above two counts to be collated on a quarterly basis.
  • Number of approaches for accommodation at the Nightshelter?
  • Number of successful reconnections established
  • Percentage/numbers of clients reconnected who return to Oxford
  • Numbers of cases where reconnection was required but not possible due to lack of provision in another local authority area. (LA to be named)

57.After 6 months of the implementation of this policy targets need to be established in all of the above areas

APPENDIX 1

Local Connection Definition for Oxford City – made with reference to the Homelessness Act 2002

A local connection with Oxford City would include either:

  • Residence – the service user is normally resident within the district. Normal residence is defined as six months of the last 12 months or three of the last 5 years. It was agreed that if someone has been on the Nightshelter resettlement floor, ECHG or Simon House for over 6 months continuously, then this would gain a local connection.
  • Employment – the service use has stable employment within the district
  • Family associations – the service user has parents, adult children, brothers or sisters who have been resident in the district for at least 5 years.
  • Special circumstances

APPENDIX 2

Vulnerability / Exceptions from Reconnection

It was agreed that the following would not be considered a good reason for automatic exception from reconnection: -

  • Fleeing drug dealers or drug scenes. The reconnection will make investigations with the Police and obtain written confirmation that the person is at risk in their area of origin and investigate what was done in that area to resolve the situation and reduce vulnerability.
  • All who have been in treatment and want a new start.
  • Fleeing e.g. family violence i.e. matters that should be dealt with by the authorities in the place of origin.
  • Wanting to access a service that is only available in Oxford.
  • Economic migrants
  • Sleeping rough in Oxford for 6 months.

Exemptions from Reconnection

  • People fleeing Domestic Violence do not need a local connection. People will be assessed for vulnerability on an individual basis.
  • If someone has severe Mental Health issues, then they won’t go through the reconnection process. However, they should, in this case, be assessed to access emergency accommodation/treatment.

SP_SEP2206R06.doc