14 October 2022
Getting everyone in
World Homeless Day 2022
Cheryl Stonehouse
NFA Press and Communications
Housing First and early work to prevent homelessness have become key strategies for NFA members who help their parent councils deliver their duties to the homeless.
The fact is that few other types of housing provider work on so many disparate front lines, and the wraparound quality of NFA members’ work really came to the fore during the pandemic. Their often ground-breaking work has continued as we all grapple with the cost of living crisis.
On World Homeless Day, we showcase the frontline homelessness work of three NFA members in Derby, Wolverhampton and the London Borough of Barnet.
Derby Homes
“If we didn’t have Tracy, we’d be dead.”
It’s quite a testimonial. Tracy Cunningham is Derby’s first Community Paramedic for Rough Sleepers. In partnership with Derby Homes, GPs, ambulance staff, Derby City Council and the ‘SafeSpace’ venue run by Derby City Mission, her work has transformed the health and lives of many of the city’s homeless people.
Originally a Clinical Navigator in Primary Care, she moved into the Community/SafeSpace Paramedic post in 2019 when funding was won from the government’s Rough Sleeper Initiative through a successful application by the City Council and Derby Homes.
The Multi-Agency Rough Sleeper Hub (MARSH) that grew out of this initiative has been shortlisted for Homelessness Project of the Year in the imminent 2022 UK Housing Awards.
By the time the pandemic was finally in retreat, Tracy’s work was estimated to have contributed to annual savings of around £335,000. She also made sure that hundreds of individuals at risk of dropping out of sight of formal health services have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Most importantly, Tracy has become the human face of the multi-agency partnership that is working to end homelessness in the city, based in the unique SafeSpace building which is a 24/7 recovery and support venue on the edge of the city centre. She doesn’t sit in an office, however; she patrols the streets, offering face-to-face health advice and on-street medical care to anyone who needs it.
When she first began to walk around the city centre, she recalls, no-one would speak to her.
“Then I helped one person suffering from an overdose and I brought that person back round. Word spread, so I’m kind of ‘in-with-the-gang’ now. And if anyone new comes into the city with no-where to stay, they say ‘Go and find Tracy. She’ll sort you out.’”
It’s a tricky and even tough job at times, but Tracy’s patience, compassion and perseverance built trust and good relationships with the homeless community. In turn, the partnership approach makes it possible for her to turn those relationships into constructive help, including setting them on the pathway to a stable home with support from Derby Homes’ specialist officers.
Tracy is the human face of the multi-agency partnership working to end homelessness in the city.
Barnet Homes
Barnet Homes won a place on the 2022 LGC award shortlist for its homelessness strategy, launched two years ago in response to a sharp rise in the number of homeless households it had placed in temporary accommodation.
The strategy includes:
- dedicated tenancy sustainment officers to help households threatened with homelessness get legal advice on debt;
- BOOST, an employability and financial advice service that helps Barnet residents improve their income and prospects;
- Let2Barnet which establishes sound relationships with private landlords letting good quality properties on stable tenancies;
- new data and insight work designed to identify tenants at risk of homelessness early.
The number of households in temporary accommodation in Barnet dropped by around 30% in the two years after the strategy was launched – at a time when across London the numbers rose by 70%. Barnet’s temporary accommodation figures are now their lowest since 2011.
One resident is now secure in his own home after 10 years of sleeping rough and refusing help.
Wolverhampton Homes
More than 300 people with a history of rough sleeping have been helped off the streets and into their own accommodation thanks to the West Midlands Housing First pilot, which includes the ALMOs owned by Solihull and Wolverhampton Councils.
The approach, which helps people with a long history of rough sleeping first establish a home and then get the wrap-around support they need to stay in it, has so far supported more than 400 individuals into stable tenancies in the region.
By mid-2021, six months after launch, Wolverhampton Homes and the city’s multi agency team had reached its target of 44 tenancies. One resident had slept rough for a decade 10 years and historically refused to engage with any services – but is now secure in his own tenancy.