Impact case study database
Homelessness in Wales
1. Summary of the impact
This case study reflects on engagement in academic, political, public and policy debate, around homelessness and in particular how the housing needs of those involved in the criminal justice system are addressed. The underpinning aims of the research focus has been to highlight the experiences of those who find themselves homeless/homeless and involved in the justice system, explore how needs are met within current systems; contribute to the debate regarding the social costs of homelessness; stimulate debate on how needs associated with homelessness are currently, and might in future be better, addressed. The impact has been in relation to Welsh Government policy and practice in relation to addressing homelessness especially, but not exclusively, as it relates to prison leavers.
2. Underpinning research
The case study draws on a long standing interest in issues of homelessness within the team, given form initially as a result of Hughes’s research into homelessness in Wrexham. Publications from this project provided the platform in 2016 for Madoc-Jones to collaborate with University of Salford in a Welsh Government funded Post-implementation evaluation of Part 2 of the Housing Act (Wales) 2014 (dealing with homelessness) ( reference 3.1). Subsequently there was a successful team bid to Evaluate Homelessness Services to Adults leaving the Secure Estate (Wales) ( reference 3.2). More recently, members of the team were part of a Cardiff University/Herriot-Watt University led, Welsh Government funded review of Priority Need (for housing) in Wales ( reference 3.3).
The underpinning research has largely been of a qualitative nature, involving co-ordinating and conducting large numbers of interviews and focus groups with stakeholders (service providers and potential beneficiaries) in the field of housing and homelessness across Wales. The research has often involved: engaging with hard to reach groups e.g. homeless people ( reference 3.1) and offenders inside and outside of prison establishments ( reference 3.2); policy makers and practitioners in the field of housing and homelessness in Wales ( references 3.2;3.3 ) and translating the findings into policy recommendations for Welsh Government ministers ( references 3.1;3.2 and 3.3).
Key insights from our work relate to the experience of homelessness and the efficacy of social policy to address homelessness (especially amongst prison leavers) in the context of new ‘preventative’ duties having been placed on local authorities to address homelessness in Wales. Key insights from our work relate to the experience of homelessness and the efficacy of social policy to address homelessness (especially amongst prison leavers) in the context of new ‘preventative’ duties having been placed on local authorities to address homelessness in Wales. our research found a group of prison leavers were caught in a revolving door of serving short prison sentences followed by relatively brief periods in the community before they reoffend or are recalled and are imprisoned again. They presented as having multiple needs and likely to be difficult to house because they had a history of substance misuse, tenancy failures and exclusions. The research found shortcomings in practice regarding housing advice on reception, pre-release assessment of housing needs and the timing of housing referrals (largely made in the last 2-6 weeks before release, rather than 12 weeks before release as stipulated in the National Pathway, leaving insufficient time for responsible officers to provide risk assessment information and for local authority housing staff to engage with a prison leaver to help them find accommodation before they were released). In the time available they prioritised assessing eligibility for priority need as opposed to helping prison leavers to secure accommodation. In that regard, the eligibility bar for being assessed as vulnerable and potentially in priority need was too high. Key recommendations for specific stakeholders were made as outlined below. In our testimonials we provide information in relation to whether the recommendations as accepted and actioned.
The Welsh Government should:
Continue to evaluate and promote implementation of the National Pathway.
Review Prison Link Cymru delivery contracts to ensure they adequately reflect workload demands and contain contingencies in relation to staff absences.
Remove ‘intentional homelessness’ as a disqualification criterion for housing.
The Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service should:
Review Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC) contract compliance and how the needs of prison leavers are being managed under the Transforming Rehabilitation agenda.
Ensure that housing referrals are completed only by professional staff.
Review the inclusion criteria for Integrated Offender Management (IOM) to ensure ‘revolving door’ offenders, who move quickly into and out of prisons are provided with the most intensive and potentially most supportive access to services.
Develop Approved Premises facilities for High Risk females.
The Wales CRC and NPS Wales should
Develop auditing processes that include a timeliness and quality assessment of housing risk assessment (Annex 9) practices.
Link with local women centres to ensure access to gender specific services that can contribute to addressing the complex and multiple needs that most female prison leavers have.
Explore the advantages of having dedicated staff (SPOC) to work with prison leavers as per the ‘throughcare’ team model.
Local Authorities should:
Develop individualised plans (PHPs) for all prison leavers which link them into meaningful housing options in the community prior to release.
Review the thresholds and evidential requirements associated with conferring priority need status paying particular attention to the relevance of the harm attendant on repeat prison sentences.
Train staff in principle of good offender motivation and engagement.
The research has been disseminated in reports published on the Welsh Government website ( references 3.1;3.2;3.3). Madoc-Jones has co-edited a themed section in the Journal of Social Policy and Society- an international academic journal sponsored by the UK Social Policy Association, which was devoted to the findings and implications of the team’s research into homelessness) to the international audience of the journal ( indicative reference 3.4); and, in total, ten separate articles focusing on homelessness and policy responses to this issue have been published by the research team in peer reviewed national and international academic journals ( exemplar reference 3.5). Members of the team were also invited to discuss their research about the housing experience of prison leavers’ when giving evidence to the Commission on Justice in Wales and Welsh Affairs Committee Inquiry into Prison Provision in Wales. Finally, results of our research into homelessness have been disseminated at a number of national and international academic, policy and practitioner led conferences to which the research team have been formally invited ( indicative reference 3.6).
3. References to the research
3.1 (2018) An evaluation of the Welsh Assembly Government Housing (Wales) Act 2016. Contract Number C091/2015/2015. Contract holder Anya Ahmed: University of Salford
3.2 (2018) Evaluation of Homelessness Services Provided to Adults Leaving the Secure Estate. Welsh Government Research Contract Number: C200/2016/2017. Contract holder Professor Iolo Madoc-Jones Wrexham Glyndwr University
3.3 (2020) Review into the use and future of ‘Priority Needs’ Assessments in Wales. Welsh Government Research Contract Number. Contract holder Dr Peter MacKie Cardiff University. Research Contract number GSR 70/2020
3.4 Madoc-Jones,I and Ahmed, A (2020) Themed Section: Homelessness Prevention in an International Policy Context. Social Policy and Society, 19(1) pp 89-184 (8 separate papers- co-authored by Madoc-Jones)
3.5 Gorden, C., Lockwood, K., Madoc-Jones, I., Dubberley, D., Hughes, C., and Washington-Dyer, K., Wilding, M. and Ahmed, A. Preventing Homelessness among Women Prison Leavers in Wales: addressing the multiple and complex needs of women in an age of austerity. European Journal of Criminology, published online 16 December 2020. doi: 10.1177/1477370820980433.
3.6 Dubberely,S., Hughes,C., Madoc-Jones,I., Gorden,C., Washington-Dyer,K., Ahmed, A. Lockwood,K., Wilding, M. (2019), Shelter: People and Homes Conference 2018
4. Details of the impact
One aspect of the impact relates to increasing the profile of the issue of homelessness and the challenges of addressing it to a national and international practitioner and academic audience. Our work has been cited in national and international publications ( references 1; 2) and has informed a number of subsequent reports and reviews of arrangements to address homelessness ( reference 3). It has been used in local and regional training programmes ( reference 4) and by the groups campaigning to end homelessness ( reference 5) Media reporting can be influential in shaping the views and priorities of decision makers and members of the public. Our engagement with the media has therefore also had the potential to impact on how homelessness is perceived and addressed ( reference 6).
In terms of the impact, the majority of our recommendations in our evaluation of “The National Pathway for Homelessness Services to Adults leaving the Secure Estate (Wales)” were accepted by the Welsh Government. In response to our report, three regional resettlement meetings were established in order to look to rebuild relationships between housing and criminal sector officers ( references 7; 8). Funding was then allocated to recruit a series of six co-ordinators who work within the National Probation Service Local Delivery Units across Wales to address the barriers to implementation of the National Pathway indicated in our report. As of 01.06.19 – all officers were in place ( references 7; 8).
As per our recommendations, the Welsh Government developed new systems for monitoring housing outcomes for prison leavers and have instigated a review of Prison Link Cymru delivery contracts to ensure they adequately reflect workload demands and contain contingencies in relation to staff absences. In the latter regard, additional funding was allocated to both the North and South projects to increase capacity in the project, which in turn, will help to overcome issues around implementation of the Pathway ( reference 7).
In terms of wider impact, and as a result of our report, Welsh Government have jointly funded an Accommodation Officer who is working with the criminal justice sector to examine the practicalities of implementing the recommendations from our report which fall outside the powers of Welsh Government. Welsh Government have also recruited a secondee into the Homelessness Prevention team to focus and lead on this key issue ( reference 8).
In terms of local authority recommendations, our report, alongside the larger report into Homelessness with colleagues at Salford, has provided evidence for a review of the Statutory Code of Guidance associated with the Housing (Wales) Act. ( reference 7).
As a result of our work, there has been additional investment in activities to address homelessness from Welsh Government and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). The evaluation informed a number of pieces of work in HMPPS in Wales – one of these was the creation of the role of Senior Project Officer for prisoner resettlement- who is leading on how the service implement the recommendations from the evaluation. Beneficiaries of this and the research will be Welsh Government ministers and staff in Government and HMPPS (Probation/prison) contexts with responsibility for policy development and implementation. Ultimately this feeds through in terms of an impact of service beneficiaries- in this case, in particular, prison leavers ( references 7;8).
The specific and wider impact of our research on Welsh Government and HMPPS policy was cited and reported in the Welsh Affairs committee report on prison provision in Wales, where it was stated HMPPS in Wales is working with partners to take the recommendations forward and ensure that those leaving custody are given the best opportunities to secure suitable housing on release. Reference is made to jointly funding a post with Welsh Government to drive this work forward, and to the fact HMPPS in Wales are also working closely with Welsh Government to develop and implement Housing First and Housing Led pilots in Wales, specifically targeting offenders leaving custody. ( reference 9)
In the academic literature there have been suggestions that governments worldwide could learn from the Welsh homelessness prevention model, with Mackie (2015: 41) proposing that it ‘might offer a replicable solution to the challenges of preventing homelessness across the rest of the developed world’. In that context, our research is likely to have international implications albeit the idiosyncrasies of the policy transfer and development process make that hard to quantify.
At present Madoc-Jones is involved with colleagues at Cardiff University; The Institute for Social Policy, Housing, Equalities Research (I-SPHERE) at Heriot-Watt University; The Centre for Homelessness Impact in London; along with a team of International Expert Advisors at York University (Canada); University of Ottawa (Canada); University of Chicago (USA); University of Girona (Spain); and The Danish National Centre for Social Research (Denmark) in drawing up an ESRC bid in relation to establishing a research centre to explore and advance the UK evidence base to prevent and end homelessness.
5. Sources to corroborate the impact
1
Dej, E., Gaetz, S. and Schwan, K., 2020. Turning Off the Tap: A Typology for Homelessness Prevention. The Journal of Primary Prevention, pp.1-16. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10935-020-00607-y
(example of wider influence)
2
Peterie M, Bielefeld S, Marston G, et al. Compulsory income management: Combatting or compounding the underlying causes of homelessness? Australian Journal of Social Issues. 2020;55:61–72. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajs4.79
(example of wider influence)
3
Pierpoint, H and Hoolachan, J (2019) Evaluation of homelessness services to young people in the secure estate. Welsh Government Social Research number 30/2019
Preventing rough sleeping in Wales and reducing it in the short-term First report by the Homelessness Action Group for the Welsh Government, October 2019
(examples of wider influence)
4
Local Government Association (2018) Duty to refer: An opportunity to co-operate to tackle homelessness: Advice for Local Housing Authorities.
(p.46, refers to the evaluation of Part 2 of the Housing Act (Wales) 2014)
5
Crisis (2018) Preventing Homelessness: it’s everybody’s business
(p.27, example of influence of this research)
6
(example of media publicity)
7
Testimonial Email from: Carl Spiller, Housing Policy Division Welsh Government
(corroboration of Welsh Government acceptance of research report recommendations)
8
Testimonial E-mail from Paul Baker, Senior Project Officer, National Probation Service
(corroboration of appointment of six co-ordinators and a project officer resulting from the National pathway research)
9
Prison provision in Wales: Government Response to the Committee’s Fourth Report
(corroboration of Government response to recommendations arising from the research)
Additional contextual information
Grant funding
Grant number | Value of grant |
---|---|
C091/2015/2015 | £3,525 |
C200/2016/2017 | £69,799 |
C284/2018/2019 | £5,454 |