No Second Night Out
The Liverpool Experience
Anne Doyle
Liverpool City Council
Overview:
• Brief history of tackling rough sleeping in Liverpool
• What we did to change things
• How we have expanded this across Merseyside
• Outcomes
• What we have learned
• Continuing challenges
History of tackling rough sleeping
in Liverpool
•
•
•
•
Rough sleeping at its highest was 31 (back in 1999 / 2000).
No one seemed to know the facts
Rough sleepers were not being given real options to move away from
the street lifestyle
Negative impacts upon rough sleepers physical and mental health and
negative impact upon businesses and the perception of the city centre
Now, rough sleeping has reduced:
in April 2008
in April 2009
in March 2010
in Dec 2010
in Nov 2011
13
6
3
3 (estimate)
9
How we achieved NSNO in Liverpool
Establish who main
partners are
Identify the tools / services
required to achieve the vision
Implement Offer
Identify scale of problem
with Partners
Establish Vision
Review Success / Challenges
The key approaches that have worked
•
the council taking a clear strategic lead
•
the voluntary and faith sectors signing up to ending rough
sleeping
•
having the solutions available
•
a much more focused approach to addressing the needs of each
individual rough sleeper
•
a “whatever it takes” approach
•
the funding behind this to facilitate solutions for individuals
Examples of solutions
Outreach
Personalised
solutions
The Big Issue
Emergency
Accommodation
Residential
Programmes
Homeless
health teams
Ring Fenced
Beds
Enablement
Service
Cold weather
provision
Rent deposits
with support
Reconnections
Hub / Sit Up
Service
Hospital
discharge
worker
Complex
needs panel
Enforcement
The Liverpool Hub
What is the project about?
A new Hub & Homelessness Resolution Team: This team delivers
housing and welfare advice to resolve or prevent homelessness for new
clients who are rough sleeping or are at risk of rough sleeping. Solutions
may include access to supported accommodation, homeless prevention,
reconnection and other options.
Who is the project for?
Any new rough sleeper arriving on the streets for the first time and people
who are at risk of rough sleeping within the Liverpool City Council boundary.
Location & Opening Hours:
Monday – Friday:
8am – 3pm at The Whitechapel Centre
3pm – 9pm at The Basement
Saturday & Sunday:
8am – 12pm at The Whitechapel Centre
The Liverpool Sit Up
Service
•
The Sit Up Service is basically a large room with kitchen
/ bathroom facilities in an existing 24 hour supported
accommodation with a member of staff and a volunteer
•
It can only be accessed via the hub and is used as a last
resort
•
Aim is to be used for a maximum of 3 nights
•
If a reasonable solution is refused, then access to the sit
up service will be withdrawn
•
The sit up service is not publicised
No Second Night Out Merseyside
What does this mean:
•
One point for reporting rough sleepers
•
Outreach to respond to the calls and locate individuals
•
Media campaign to promote NSNO
•
Mechanisms / pathways to get people in doors
•
Funding for personalised solutions, i.e: reconnections,
B&B, extra support, cleaning etc
Outcomes
The phone line and extended outreach:
276 calls received to date (since 2nd Feb)
Of these we have been able to identify 182 rough sleepers
Only seven of these continue to sleep rough – all of these are entrenched rough
sleepers
The Liverpool Hub and Sit Up Service:
350 people have accessed the hub (since 26th Jan)
Less than 1% of the people who accessed the hub slept rough for a second night
(3 people)
Future subregional plans and
possibilities
Plans:
Extending the life of NSNO
City Region Gateway
Possibilities:
Developing service standards for HOS across the 6 councils using the
SDTK developed by DCLG
Developing / improving satellite sit up services in some of the LA’s
Shared Housing Pilot
What we have learned:
People (the public, voluntary sector, faith groups etc) want to help
Rough sleepers generally want the help that’s offered
A more personalised approach works
Many more calls than expected are from agencies looking for help resolving client
issues because they are unable to find solutions
Comparatively small numbers of calls actually relate to sightings of rough sleepers
Agencies in other boroughs struggle to find solutions for non-priority/intentional
rough sleepers
Working across boroughs demonstrates that some HOS are routinely using Liverpool
to place clients
Individual boroughs have not yet got streamlined day time (e.g Hub) and night time
(e.g Sit up ) provision
Continuing challenges
There is so much more to be done
Authorities providing poor advice and assistance
Lack of a strategic approach within authorities between the council and the
voluntary sector
Street lifestyle (rough sleeping, street drinking, begging) as a whole needs
to be tackled together rather than rough sleeping on its own
Achieving the balance of meeting local priorities while working across
authorities
Questions
Contact details: Anne Doyle
Tel: 07739 538 081
Email: anne.doyle@liverpool.gov.uk