Offenders and
Unsupported
Temporary
Accommodation
Sheila Spencer, NEHTT / housing
consultant
Bill Davies, IPPR North
NEHTT pledges
• Make it compulsory to find settled
accommodation for offenders leaving prison
or who are homeless within the community.
• To ensure all Houses in Multiple Occupation
and B&BS which cater for homeless people
are inspected on a 6 monthly basis, and
provide a safe environment and good quality
facilities to meet the basic needs of all
residents.
Why link the 2 pledges?
• Significant proportion of residents of
Unsupported Temporary Accommodation
(UTA) come from prison, referred by
Probation or prison housing advice
• Or have an offending history alongside drug
or alcohol problems
• But no hard data
Why attention should
focus on UTA
• Numbers:
o Shelter 1997: around 76,000 individuals self-placed
o Crisis & New Policy Institute 2004: 49,000
o NERHG 2013: 114 establishments in NE
• Costs:
o
o
o
o
Crisis / New Policy Institute 2004: £100m in B&Bs
NERHG 2013: at least £2m HB alone for UTA in NE
Cost for society?
Cost for individuals?
Why attention should
focus on UTA
• Conditions are poor, chaotic, and often
unsafe
• Policy coverage to protect inhabitants is
inadequate
• Social environment risks increasing
recidivism
Policy Imperative
- Size of PRS doubled in 12 years (DCLG; 2015), size of
local authority housing departments hasn’t
- One in three PRS properties fails the Decent Homes
Standard (EHS; 2015)
- 700,000+ fail Category One Hazard rating for HHSRS,
meaning unsafe for residents (EHS; 2015)
- Market largely unregulated, and amateur (3/4 landlords
own fewer than 5 properties) (Ball; 2010)
- Higher propensity for low income families to be in
hazardous and non-decent properties.
- Single homeless households are particularly vulnerable,
and less likely to raise issues, and see them addressed
(Shelter; 2011)
Policy Environment
•
•
•
•
•
•
Limited by both coverage and resources (Lucas et al; 2013).
HHSRS covers a range of quality criteria to drive standards, but
only a third of landlords have heard of it (DCLG; 2010), 700,000
homes in serious breach (EHS; 2015).
Less that 1 in 10 homes with serious hazards are dealt with in any
year (Battersby; 2011), inspection teams are usually underresourced (Crisis; 2011)
(Large) HMO regulation more aggressive and proactive about
standards, but still generally poor quality and enforcement action
against landlords is patchy and rare (Shelter; 2013)
Ways around the ‘fit and proper’ challenge, and fines relative to
potential income are low.
Selective Licensing an option, but presumption moving back in
favour of Secretary of State, and scope largely limited.
Resolving offender
housing needs
• 70% of offenders who were homeless before
going into prison were re-convicted with 12
months, compared to 47% who had
accommodation beforehand (MoJ 2010)
• Many professionals and offenders know
people who had offended in order to get a
roof over their head, either in prison or in a
cell (ANEC / NOMS 2013)
• Lots of good practice in recent past between
prisons, Probation, local authorities and
support organisations, but…..
Current position
• Transforming Rehabilitation:
o All offenders leaving prison now have resettlement support
(since Feb 2015)
o Resettlement support: provided by CRC and their subcontractors (low / medium risk), and National Probation
Service (high risk)
o Housing advice: Shelter and Thirteen Group, assessment
at start, but interventions in last 12 weeks only
o Through the Gate – not yet in place throughout the region
• Improving conditions and management in UTA in
parts of NE – Sunderland, North & South Tyneside,
Stockton, Newcastle
Current concerns
•
•
•
•
New resettlement work – is it early enough?
Gap in provision of Through the Gate services
Reduction in number of beds in supported housing
Benefit changes and impact on accessing /
sustaining ordinary accommodation
• Increasing difficulty accessing Housing Assn
housing – rent in advance, selective lettings
• Possible increase in numbers of offenders needing
temp accom?
• Increase in number of UTAs in the region seeing
potential for providing accom for single homeless
and offenders
Over to you - what
needs to happen now?
• Left side – resolving offenders’ housing
needs and preventing homelessness
• Right side – improving UTA across the North
East