Blog by Andrew Redfern, Chief Executive of Framework.
Right now, with supported housing in a state of financial crisis and with spiralling levels of homelessness, we find ourselves without a homelessness minister. Over my 30-year career in supported housing, I’ve seen many ups and downs, but the challenges and uncertainties we face now are some of the worst I’ve seen. Whilst funding for housing-related support has been slashed, the people we serve have increasingly more complex needs, exacerbated by rising cost of living challenges and ever-shrinking funding for vital public services, including supported housing.
In 2009, the then government removed ringfenced funding for supported homes. This disastrous decision put the people who need help the most in our communities at risk of homelessness and poverty. Since 2010, funding has been cut repeatedly – going from £1.3bn in 2010-11 to just £320m by 2019-20, a decrease of 75%. Many of us working on the frontline predicted the situation would deteriorate, and it did. We’ve seen homelessness and rough sleeping records continuously broken over the years, as services providing a lifeline of support stretched to the point of breaking.
What we need now, is strong leadership and action from the government and new minister. Whoever takes on the role of minister for homelessness has a crucial opportunity to save vital public services at risk. To do this, they must acknowledge the gravity of the situation and the central role supported housing plays in ending homelessness. And they must also convince the Treasury to invest in it – this will be a huge task, but it is vital.
The new minister must change the plans for how the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act is implemented. Unfortunately, the Ministerial Forward to the recent consultation on the Act made no mention of the wider crisis, rooted in the fact that no-one pays for housing-related support.
This funding problem is grave – and urgent. Not just for its impacts on single and family homelessness but those on health, social care, criminal justice, employment and other public services that are trying to stay afloat. So, an extensive consultation on how to improve supported housing without a single word on how it’s paid for, is not to be celebrated. The government should have understood that.
The new minister for homelessness – whose brief includes supported housing, will inherit a huge challenge with an even bigger opportunity. This is to revive supported housing in its various forms, to take its place in a modernised public service offer. The first step is to change the narrative and focus on the strategy, resourcing and commissioning of better services that will wipe out the market for rogue landlords.
As part of this, the need for a national, ring-fenced programme to fund the provision of support can’t just be ignored as if it didn’t exist. Even if the government rescues those good services that are now in peril, it will take time to secure the resources for a more effective long-term offer. Many will make representations to the new minister on what their priorities should be. The NHF ‘Starts at Home’ campaign points clearly to one of the highest and most urgent. To whomever the new minister is, I say: put supported housing at the top of your list.