aspirations programme quarterly report · aspirations programme quarterly report q3 (1 october - 31...

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Aspirations Programme Quarterly Report

Q3 (1 October - 31 December 2016)

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INDEX

Overview Summary 3

Resident Journey 4

Referral and Moving In 5

Personal Development 6

Complex Needs 7

Health and Wellbeing 8

Education and Training 9

Volunteering 10

Employment 11

Moving Forwards and Moving On 12

Our Residents: Their Stories 13

Community Resilience 14

Highlights 15

Resident Composition 16

Outputs to Date 18

Caritas Anchor House (CAH) is a residential and life-skills centre for single homeless adults in Canning

Town, Newham, and acts as a community empowerment hub in the local area. Our driving mission is to

provide education, guidance and personal rehabilitation to those who walk through our doors to allow

them to grow in confidence and move towards leading independent lives.

CAH works with vulnerable groups including those affected by homelessness, offending, mental health,

substance misuse, domestic abuse and unemployment. We have a holistic approach and use our innovative

Aspirations Programme, developed in collaboration with our residents. The programme addresses all

aspects of their life, including health and wellbeing, recreational and therapeutic activities, maintaining

relationships, financial management, education, volunteering, training, back to work preparation and

support to achieve independent living.

If you would like to find out more about what we do or come to visit our services, please do get in touch by calling us on 0207 476 6062, or by email at [email protected]

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Overview Summary

This quarter has seen us take over our new block of 25 first stage move-on flats and, as a consequence, we

have positively moved 21 residents into them already and a further 19 into the community - bringing our

total to 90 positive outcomes for rehousing this year to date. Our concentration of efforts in the last year

has meant that we have brought down the average length of stay of residents to nine months, a truly

remarkable achievement when put in the context of the housing market in London.

Despite the major movements of people out of Caritas Anchor House, and the consequential refresh of

rooms, we achieved an occupancy rate of 96.7% for the quarter and our annual rate is 98.1% for the year

so far.

We are still experiencing referrals from an ageing population with more complex requirements, and the

phenomena of grandparents being thrown out of their private rented accommodation after tens of years

occupation as landlords try to maximise the rental incomes is becoming an important and disturbing issue.

As the throughput of residents has increased, some of our core performance indicators have suffered as

we have to engage with a large number of new residents at one time and this will take a while to stabilise

and get the residents positively engaged.

We have introduced a revised set of referral criteria this year to try and be more precise as we faced 600

referrals last year, but only had the capacity to take 93 new residents. Our new approach, the emphasis on

move-on and our new flats means that we will offer services to approximately 30 additional homeless

people each year.

The external housing climate, in our part of London and in the UK as a whole, remains quite desperate as

there is still an overwhelming shortage of housing and it is just too expensive, so I expect that the demand

on our services will not see a decline.

We are pleased that our community resilience activities, those open to the residents of Newham, are really

starting to make a difference. Attendances at our counselling service and community centre are on the

rise, and our focus now is to integrate these activities with those provided inside our homeless facility.

Keith Fernett

Chief Executive

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Resident Journey

Caritas Anchor House’s driving mission is to ensure that those who walk through our doors grow in confidence and move towards leading independent lives by providing education, guidance and personal rehabilitation.

Staff and residents work together from the moment of referral to support the resident through their time at CAH - from homelessness to sustainable tenancies. This is done through the Aspirations Programme, outlined here.

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Referral and Moving In

The referrals process marks the start of a resident's journey with Caritas Anchor House.

It is a vital process for ensuring a good fit between individuals and the CAH community. We are keen to work with those who have experienced homelessness and have demonstrated a commitment to take active steps back into independent living. Rather than managing individual referrals directly, we work in partnership with referral agencies, like the London Borough of Newham’s Housing Options Team.

Members of our Referrals Team conduct a referral assessment with an individual, to explore their needs and share the expectations of our service. We are keen to ensure that expectations are understood and agreed regarding engagement and that an individual has a commitment to address the issues that led to their homelessness. These expectations and agreements form the foundation of the contract pack.

The induction focuses on reinforcing and engaging residents in the expectations and service offering, and is

key to welcoming individuals to the community and supporting them to begin setting their future goals and

objectives. With this in mind, the aim is to inform and inspire a resident from their very first day here, to

recognise the support available to them and realise their potential to succeed whilst at CAH and beyond.

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Personal Development

When residents arrive at CAH they are assigned a Lifestyle Architect who meets with that resident on a regular basis during key working sessions. Lifestyle Architects are part of our Personal Development Team (PDT).

A key part of all residents’ journeys is the Personal Development Plan (PDP). Co-developed with a Lifestyle Architect, the PDP acts as a guide to moving on from CAH, through setting goals and supporting residents identify their aspirations. PDPs are reviewed on a quarterly basis and capture many of the ambitions and development steps an individual is keen to achieve.

The PDT work with our resident group to help them reclaim their lives, supporting them through any barriers they may have into independent living and becoming an active member of the community. The team is central to guiding our residents through the CAH journey and nurturing personal development.

Personal development includes ensuring an individual has valid identification (such as a passport), which is key to securing employment. It also involves engaging with development tools such as the Homelessness Outcome Star.

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Complex Needs

The Personal Development Team supports residents with complex needs on a regular basis through key

working sessions. Within the team, specialist leads for complex needs provide extra support for anybody

experiencing enhanced needs as a result of mental health, criminal justice, substance use and domestic

abuse issues. They are referred to appropriate external agencies for further support when necessary.

This dedicated support has led to many successes including residents with historical substance misuse

issues being discharged from treatment services and successfully finding planned long-term

accommodation.

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Health & Wellbeing

CAH aims to improve the health and wellbeing of all our residents as part of our holistic Aspirations Programme. This enables residents to develop their own life skills in order to manage the issues that originally led them into homelessness. Working together with the residents, the Lifestyle Architects help individuals to construct their own healthy futures allowing them to maintain long term tenancies upon move on.

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Education and Training

Education and training are vital stepping stones in both preventing homelessness, and helping those who

have lost their homes. Learning new skills helps our residents and service users to improve their self-

esteem and gain experience so that they can re-enter the workforce.

Every year, we provide residents and local community members with the opportunity to access a wide

range of accredited vocational training courses. Course offerings are tailored to each person in accordance

with their strengths, ambitions and experience. This is done by conducting a Training Needs Analysis with

each resident upon induction to CAH.

This quarter, the Education and Training team have focused on ensuring that all residents have the

essential skills needed to search for and secure long-term employment. Workshops, presentations and

roadshows have been held on-site with partners such as TPP Recruitment, which have focused on

improved job seeking.

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Volunteering

CAH encourages and supports residents and community members into employment. This is done through

the Education, Training and Employment (ETE) offering and volunteering.

Volunteering opportunities are available internally and externally of the CAH buildings. Internal

volunteering might include Catering, Fundraising and Marketing and supporting the Maintenance

department, as well as roles such as Ambassadors and Fire Wardens. External volunteering might include

work with partner organisations such as the Rathbone Market. Volunteering is organised and supported by

CAH for both residents and members of the local community.

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Employment

CAH supports and encourages all residents to move into sustainable employment in order to help them

realise and achieve their ambitions. This support is provided through keyworking, wellbeing projects,

education/training programmes and volunteering.

CAH works in partnership with a number of

organisations such as Learning and Skills Solutions

(LASS) to enable residents to improve their

employability. LASS is a private sector company

that provides tailored, flexible and free training

programmes for young people and adults. Local

community members are also able to attend these

workshops, which are held at CAH.

This quarter, the ETE Team focused on

enabling residents to improve their

job searching skills. Working closely

with residents, the team concentrated

on how to identify the best way of

looking for and applying to the right

job for them. There were 75

individual attendances at a several

events held around this theme.

Enabling residents to seek, apply to and sustain appropriate employment is a priority for CAH. Stable and

sustained income is a key contributor to a successful move on. Thanks to donations and a grant from The

Big Lottery Fund, CAH is able to employ more resources to promote this aim.

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Moving Forwards and Moving On

This quarter saw the opening of the CAH Move On Flats. These Flats provide a transitional stepping-stone

to further support residents in their journey towards sustained independent living. These flats have been

funded through the generous donations received by CAH as part of our Home and Hope Appeal.

Between October and December of 2016, 21 residents have moved forwards into the new Move On Flats.

One resident is a survivor of domestic violence who has continually made positive steps in her journey with

CAH. She actively engages with activities offered through our programme and is grateful for this new

opportunity. She now enjoys cooking for herself and reports an improved diet and better mental wellbeing.

She will continue to be supported by her Lifestyle Architect until she is ready for permanent move on from

CAH.

The Move On Team source accommodation for those who are ready to move on from CAH. As the London

housing crisis deepens and the wealth of local authority housing becomes scarcer this has been

increasingly difficult. As such, the team has focused on building strong relationships with private landlords.

These landlords provide decent, affordable housing options to our residents who are ready to move on and

end their homelessness.

This quarter 19 people successfully moved on from CAH and into independent living.

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Our Residents: Their Stories

At CAH, we are proud of the positive progress made by our residents and the dedication they show to reclaiming their lives. Many have multiple complex needs and their journeys are not always easy. CAH is here to support individuals when the times get tough and to celebrate their successes. Each resident continues to work on their own personal development together with staff to turn their lives around and move out of CAH.

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Community Resilience

As well as our in-house programmes, CAH delivers services to those in our local community through

projects such as Your Space, a community-based therapeutic counselling service, and by managing St

Mark’s Community Centre in Beckton.

Your Space provides discussion groups in a safe and non-judgemental environment, and is currently

investing in building partnerships with women’s empowerment organisations in order to promote and

support members’ wellbeing.

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Highlights

CAH has enjoyed a fun-filled end to 2016. The festive season was celebrated in style with events held by St

Mark’s, Your Space and the Wellbeing Team. Thanks to generous donations from the Police, Lithuanica

Stores and In-Kind Direct, presents were handed out to children in our community and all had an

opportunity to enjoy a hot, festive meal.

This quarter also saw many other achievements including the formation of the CAH Choir and the Annual

Pamper Hamper event. Other highlights include:

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Resident Composition

The London Borough of Newham is one of the most deprived boroughs in England, and CAH is located in

Newham’s second most deprived neighbourhood. The borough is also an identified area of high

homelessness. (Source: The English Indices of Deprivation)

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/465791/English_Indices_of_Deprivation_2015_-_Statistical_Release.pdf

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Outputs to Date

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Outputs

to Date

Last Year’s

Outputs

Target

for Year

First-Stage Move-On - - 21 21 - -

Move-on (planned) 26 24 19 69 66 70

Move-on (un-planned) 10 5 6 21 33 <25

Average length of stay

(months) - - 9

9 - <12

Residents into employment 9 6 11 26 38 50

Residents with PDPs 91% 90% 84% 88% 94% 90%

Residents with CVs 76% 73% 69% 73% 72% 90%

Residents registered with GP 95% 94% 93% 94% 92% 90%

Resident attendances at

community events 68 73 47

188 322 100

Internal volunteering sessions 315 521 495 1331 1583 1500

External volunteering sessions 66 80 56 202 440 400

Referrals received 127 112 95 334 598 n/a

Referral assessments

completed 50 30 31 111 130 n/a

Accepted and booked in 28 32 33 93 93 n/a

Throughput for each quarter 148 143 147 212 213 220

Occupancy rate 98.7% 99% 96.7% 98.1% 98.7% 97%

Complex Needs Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total Individuals

Issues with Substance Misuse 31 24 27 41

Issues with Mental Health 56 48 55 78

Issues with Criminal Justice 11 6 10 20

Issues with Domestic Violence 16 17 18 26

Residents with one or more of

the above needs 68 64 79 107

Attendance at AA/CA meetings >1200 >1200 >970 >3370

aspirations programme quarterly report · aspirations programme quarterly report q3 (1 october - 31...

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