Housing First is essential, but it needs long-term thinking

However, anyone working in the homelessness sector will be aware of the chronic need for more suitable, affordable accommodation for the people we support. More low-cost housing – ideally one-bed accommodation – must be built, at a faster rate, to meet this need.

But, it also has to be said, Housing First (and other homelessness resettlement services) is not just about using properties that no one else wants to live in. For Oasis Community Housing, our 40-year relationship with local authorities and private landlords are a vital part of our service provision, enabling us to offer people the best possible choice of housing.

While properties are front and centre of Housing First’s name and its first principle, people are at the heart of the approach. People who, through no fault of their own, have high needs and histories of entrenched or repeated homelessness. People who will have experienced multiple traumas over a prolonged period. People who require flexible support for as long as it is needed (Housing First principle two).

“While properties are front and centre of Housing First’s name and its first principle, people are at the heart of the approach”

But what happens if that support is needed for three years, or longer still, and funding only enables service delivery for two years? This is the root of why people cycle through the system again and again.

Our research with Northumbria University, which investigated the link between trauma and homelessness, surmised it is futile to try to solve the issue of homelessness without addressing trauma. Forty-five per cent of people reported trauma in their childhood, including rape, child neglect and parental death. The majority of people facing homelessness reported multiple instances of traumas taking place throughout their lives, both before and after homelessness.

As a result, recovery takes time and varies by individual need and experiences.

It is highly unlikely that a lifetime of trauma can be resolved in a couple of years. We desperately need the government to establish a system that delivers longer-term funding, of five years minimum, enabling strategic planning by local delivery partners, so people can access the time-sensitive trauma-informed support they need. In Gateshead and South Tyneside, we are fortunate to be delivering a Housing First project which, if extensions are granted, gives us the five-year framework to do exactly this.

Better still would be the development of dedicated mental health pathways for people experiencing homelessness that acknowledge the challenges posed by the impacts of homelessness and trauma. These pathways would be accountable to local inclusion health strategies as set out by integrated care boards, part of a larger cross-government strategy to holistically tackle homelessness, encompassing health and social care, work and pensions, the Home Office and Ministry of Justice, among others.

Working with people with MCNs and trauma is a special kind of work with people who are often in crisis, likely to have addictions, mental health issues and who struggle to build and maintain relationships. Frontline homelessness work risks vicarious trauma.

Housing First delivery is also intensive and expects a persistent and proactive engagement approach (principle five). Caseloads should be small, so staff can dedicate time to each person as and when needed.

“The government should be funding the development and roll-out of a national trauma-informed training programme in England”

I’ve heard of huge caseloads being delivered by two members of staff – this isn’t high-fidelity Housing First. But I’ve also heard of exceptional people delivering excellent work and becoming burnt out after two years. Our responsibility, as a commissioned service, means ensuring we have the right team of highly skilled individuals to do this job. And staff deserve appropriate training and remuneration.

If commissioned services consistently included budget for competitively priced salaries of highly skilled staff, this would certainly alleviate some of the recruitment challenges felt by charities trying to deliver effective Housing First and other trauma-informed homelessness services.

To go further, the government should be funding the development and roll-out of a national trauma-informed training programme in England, so that charities and other delivery partners are supported to appropriately upskill and protect their staff.

Given the prevalence of trauma and MCNs within the homeless population, demand for Housing First is always going to outstrip supply – unless it can be scaled up across the country.