Last Wednesday (25.10.17) the Prime Minister, Theresa May, announced that the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) cap will not apply to supported housing from April 2019. This is fantastic news for the supported housing sector and its residents and is a result of sustained campaigning from Homeless Link and others over the past few years.

Mrs May said: “This is something we have been looking at for the past year. It will look at a wide range of issues. It needs to make sure the funding model is right to ensure providers of supported housing are able to access funding effectively. We will not apply the Local Housing Allowance cap to supported housing. Indeed we will not be implementing it in the wider social rented sector, and the full details will be made available when we publish our response to the consultation.”

Opposition to the use of the LHA, as a basis for a new funding system, has been almost universal since it was first announced. Housing professionals had warned that capping the amount of support available for schemes such as sheltered accommodation, women’s refuges and extra-care facilities would mean they would cease to function.

Supported housing costs more because it relies on far more than simple bricks and mortar: slashing the money available meant many housing associations announced they would have to mothball plans for such schemes.

The lack of relationship between the LHA rate and the costs of supported housing, compounded by the regional disparities in rates, mean that it was never appropriate for our sector.

At this stage, there are no further details available on what alternatives to the LHA rate the Government might be considering, however, the Prime Minister indicated that full details will be published on Tuesday (31st October). This victory on the LHA cap is significant, but we know there are still a number of challenges related to any new model, such as the incompatibility of Universal Credit and short-term accommodation.

Homeless Link’s Chief Executive, Rick Henderson, commented: “The Prime Minister’s announcement marks a significant victory for the supported housing sector and the thousands of vulnerable individuals it supports.”

“Homeless Link, working with our members, has campaigned tirelessly for the Government to drop their highly controversial plans to apply the LHA rate to supported housing, and are pleased that our concerns have been listened to. We must be certain that the revised plans work for the full range of vital supported housing services, and look forward to continued collaboration with our members and with Government to ensure we secure a sustainable future for the supported housing sector.

There are fears that funding to help vulnerable people with housing will be cut, despite promises to protect it.

The £125m Supporting People programme will no longer be ring-fenced in the Welsh Government’s budget in 2019-20, as ministers revealed spending details. Instead, it will be merged with other pots of money, giving councils more flexibility to decide how it is spent.

Plaid Cymru said it wanted “urgent clarification”, as the scheme was central to its deal to back the budget. Earlier in October, ministers announced there would be no cuts to the grants as part of a 2-year agreement with Plaid Cymru.

The Supporting People programme pays for things such as hostels and support workers for vulnerable people, including victims of domestic abuse and people with chronic illnesses. Documents published on Tuesday show that the same amount of money has been included in the draft budget, but it will no longer be protected.

Katie Dalton, director of Cymorth Cymru, which represents services for the homeless, said: “We are extremely concerned that this budget, which specifically focuses on homelessness and housing-related support, has merged with several programmes that have no direct relation to housing or homelessness prevention. This decision is both baffling and dangerous at a time when Welsh Government and third sector statistics show that homelessness and rough sleeping is rapidly increasing across Wales.”

Plaid Cymru finance spokesman, Steffan Lewis, said: “Plaid Cymru is seeking urgent clarification from the Welsh Government on the Supporting People budget, which formed a central part of our Budget agreement between our two parties.”

But Communities Secretary Carl Sargeant insisted there were “no cuts to the Supporting People grant”. He said: “In 2019-20 it will be included in a different budget line, which allows for the creation of a new wider grant but the level of Welsh Government funding will be consistent with 2017-18 levels.”

Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford said the spending plans were limited by UK government policy. “It is inevitable that the impact of austerity is real – we cannot simply wipe it away,” he said. “But we have done our very best to make sure that, at the front line, the impact is as moderated as we can manage it in these difficult circumstances.”

On Tuesday, October 10^th, a number of Merseyside organisations took part in the 10^th Anniversary of Liverpool Homeless FC.

The monthly event takes place on the last Tuesday of every month and has been the foundation for Liverpool Homeless FC’s eleven-a-side team. Ste Barton, organiser of the event, manages to assemble a team of volunteers who help out not only during the tournament but also for other local events around Merseyside throughout the year.

Since establishing the league in 2007, LHFC have helped many of the city’s most vulnerable people access education and help them gain long term accommodation. The monthly tournament currently consists of 18 homelessness organisations that operate across Merseyside. The club also runs a women’s team who train once a week and play in a Futsal League.

Once again the emphasis of the event was on inclusion, fun and moving lives forward. The event also coincided with World Homeless Day which provided the perfect platform to draw attention to homeless people’s needs locally and provide opportunities for the community to get involved in responding to homelessness, while taking advantage of the stage an ‘international day’ provides.

The football kicked off at 10.30am and saw our consortium colleagues New Start’s team play eventual winners Mas in a tightly contested 3-2 loss for New Start. All competitors were awarded with a medal while individual players and referees were recognised for their outstanding performances on the day.

If you are a company and would like to support LHFC or if you are an individual who would like to get involved then contact:

Email: info@liverpoolhomelessfootballclub.com

Telephone: 0151 237 3986

Address: Liverpool Homeless Football Club, 151 Dale Street, Liverpool L2  2AH

Twitter: @LivHomelessFC

Our consortium colleagues at New Start are seeking to employ a Weekend Support Practitioner to provide support to homeless people with some complex needs.

New Start’s Adult Services comprise of a range of supported accommodation projects across the Liverpool area in which structured, housing-related support is facilitated by Keyworkers, running parallel with service user tenancies.

This is a part-time role (14 hours per week) covering the hours of 8am to 10:30pm across a 2-week rota. The salary is £10 per hour (part- time) at Prospect Lodge. The closing date for applications is 25^th of October 2017.

The main duties include:

• To oversee the safety and security of the building, staff and residents working and residing at the service between the hours of 8am and 10pm
• To provide support to residents if situations arise during shift which require support.
• To respond immediately to incidents, accessing the support of the emergency on-call worker if necessary.
• To respond to each incident effectively accessing support from the relevant emergency service if and when required.
• Working within the recording requirements of the Mainstay System, updating relevant case notes and events for residents when necessary.
• To complete nightly health and safety checks including risk assessments and incident reports.
• To carry out clear reporting notes of activities throughout the night relating to security of the building and the welfare of each client.
• To take responsibility for the Health and Safety aspects of the building and residents whilst on shift and report any necessary incidents to the Project Manager as appropriate.
• To carry out administrative tasks as requested by support workers, management and or senior support worker.
• To provide health and safety support to support workers i.e. safe handling/disposing of sharps bins and other equipment.
• To act as Named First Aider and Fire Marshall.
• To participate in a standby rota on rolling basis with other staff members

This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check and registration with the DBS Update Service. If you would like to apply for this job or for further information about the role, please go to https://www.newstarthomes.org.uk/weekend-support-practitioner

A report by the Local Government Association (LGA) found that the demand for help has increased by 130% in eight years and predicts the rate will double by 2025.

People over the age of 60 are now twice as likely to register with local councils as homeless than they were seven years ago, with the figure having risen from 1,210 in 2009 to 2,420 last year. While overall homelessness has increased in the same period (rising by 42% from 41,790 to 59,260) government data shows the figure for elderly people has surged by more than twice as much. The data shows that among the homeless elderly population in 2016, nearly two-thirds (61%) were over the age of 65, and a fifth (21%) were over the age of 75.

Rising rents, illness and bereavement are fuelling the surge. Figures show that between April and June, councils accepted 620 people aged over 60 as homeless. Izzi Seccombe, of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “We are facing a ticking time bomb in older homelessness, with an alarming rise in the number of older people becoming homeless… at the current rate, this will spiral in just a few years. Homelessness is not just a housing issue. Homelessness and ill-health are intrinsically linked, and this is especially evident in elderly people.”

Older homeless people are presenting to councils with a range of complex health conditions, often having suffered physical and mental health problems, alcohol abuse and gambling problems, according to the LGA. Charities and campaigners warned that there is a lack of a “proper safety net” to help elderly people when they fall into housing difficulties, with “drastic” cuts to welfare and a lack of affordable homes leaving hundreds of thousands of people without a secure home of their own.

In light of the figures, Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, told The Independent: “The fact that the number of older people who are homeless has risen by so much is very worrying. To avoid these figures going even further in the wrong direction, we need a proper safety net for when people are unfortunate enough to fall on hard times.

“We all know there’s a housing crisis in this country and unfortunately it is hitting older people hard too. There is a lack of specialist resettlement services and long-term support and advice and information services are being cut. We need a much better choice of good housing options for older people but the supply of affordable council and housing association homes has continued to shrink alongside reductions in home building subsidies. It is outrageous to think that any older person should be homeless – these people are the most vulnerable often with physical and mental health issues.”

Polly Neate, of Shelter, said: “It’s astonishing our housing crisis has got so bad a record number of elderly people are turning up at councils needing help.” She blames drastic cuts to welfare and a lack of affordable homes, adding: “It’s not only our young paying the price of a broken housing system but now the elderly, too.” Shelter wants an end to the freeze on housing benefit in the Budget to help the elderly.