Welsh lessons on halting homelessness

In terms of general outcomes in Wales during the past three years, the picture is mixed. Section 66 seems to have made a positive difference on its own terms: according to the Welsh Government, Welsh councils prevented 65% of people threatened with homelessness in 2015/16 from becoming homeless.

That said, the caseloads of Welsh homelessness departments have continued to increase consistently since the act was introduced, says Jennie Bibbings, campaigns manager for Shelter Cymru. “It hasn’t had that positive impact we would have hoped for,” she says, adding that since the legislation came into force councils have been more active dealing with homelessness rather than preventing it. “The opposite of what you would hope,” says Ms Bibbings.

"It has made local authorities respond more effectively to people who present as homeless," Cheryl Emery, Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council

That too could be a consequence of the legislation. Councils have told Shelter Cymru that this is because of the increase in demand for their services. According to figures from the Welsh Government, Welsh councils’ homelessness departments dealt with about 17,913 households in 2015/6, an increase of 26.5% on the previous year (before the new legislation had taken effect), while their use of temporary accommodation fell by 8.5%.

An interim report on the effects of the act published by the Welsh Government last August found that councils do believe the new prevention duty has had a positive impact. “Overall, the findings from the 22 local authorities suggest that the preventative approach is working, although local authorities believe that there has been an increase in demand, cases are open for longer, and there are more administrative duties,” the report states. “On the whole, local authorities appear to be in favour of the changes and believe that they have had positive effects.”

Cheryl Emery, housing advice centre manager at Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) County Borough Council, broadly agrees. “It has made local authorities respond more effectively to people who present as homeless, and it has raised the profile of homelessness,” she says. “It is no longer a little back-office team that you don’t fund very well; all of a sudden [homelessness] has shot up the agenda and there is a will now to reduce homelessness.”

“[The act] is not a panacea in any way,” says Arwel Owen, senior housing manager at Gwynedd Council, a largely rural area in north-west Wales. “But it gives us the opportunity to try something different.”

Clearly councils have had to work differently, and that has not always gone smoothly.

Bringing prevention under the law has brought a sharp increase in bureaucracy – and this, Mr Owen says, is something his staff have found a challenge.

“I know it provides a more structured approach to the way we operate, but [the extra paperwork] is a bane for some workers,” he says. “They believe there are so many stages within the process now, which means more correspondence and records. The notes and details they have to go through are at times challenging… It is rather too cumbersome, I think.”

Data is fundamental to the success of the legislation, says Ms Emery. “We wouldn’t be able to tell people how well we are doing or how the legislation is working without it,” she says.

“But it’s not without its challenges. It is a complicated process… Before, we may have recorded everyone who came through the door and just put an outcome of advice or assistance. Now we have to be able to track a client’s journey, and that is far more complicated to do than under the previous system.”

The Welsh Government provided training in this regard for each of the country’s 22 local authorities. RCT provided its own in-house training as well, and although Ms Emery believes most of the operational changes are now embedded, she says data is still “a bit of an issue”.

Jim McKirdle, housing policy officer at the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA), says he now believes more attention should have been paid to this issue early on.

“One of the things we wish we had invested more in was system support around data gathering and data presentation,” he says. “That has struck a chord with colleagues in England because they thought they have had no time [to prepare] because of the pace of legislation. Some of that is down to system changes regarding data capture, and achieving consistency around practice and recording is difficult.”

It is also perhaps one of the issues behind what Mr McKirdle says was a “significant turnover of homelessness officers” in Welsh local authorities following the act’s introduction. “Some staff who had been working with the old system had difficulty adjusting to the new way of working, so we needed to provide training for people who were going to be on point six months after implementation, rather than just ahead of it,” he says.

Councils have been able to build on existing foundations as well as embrace new ways of working. The act’s implementation has worked partly thanks to the relationships that already existed across the sectors – and not just between councils and third-sector organisations, but with the private rented sector as well, argues Harry McKeown, an assistant director at 16,000-home Pobl Group and, until last year, an area manager at The Wallich, one of Wales’ largest homelessness charities.