issue 21

Social Affairs magazine for community/voluntary sectorWebsite: viewdigital.org Issue 21, 2014

To mark our21st issue, weoffer an insightinto the world ofhomelessness

VIEW

Image: Donal McCann, photographer

VIEW, issue 21, 2014 Website: viewdigital.org

EditorialVIEW, the online publicationfor the community/voluntarysector in Northern Ireland.

Something that most ofus take for granted isturning our key andgoing into our ownhome. Some familiar

rituals follow, such as making acup of tea, turning the heatingon and settling down in our living room to watch some television. This is not the realityfor homeless people.

As a way of marking our 21stissue, we decided to devote theentire issue to the problem ofhomelessness in Northern Ireland and further afield. Arange of voices, including thehomeless, are contained withinthe following pages.

One of the most touching isthe story of Kenny and James,two homeless young people, whobetween them, have now lived inhostels for a number of years.They are still waiting to get ahome to call their own.

According to statistics fromthe Northern Ireland Statisticsand Research Agency, 4,623households were presented ashomeless to the NorthernIreland Housing

Executive during April to June2013. The category with thehighest number of presenters(849) was those citing a sharingbreakdown or family dispute asthe reason for homelessness.

It is very difficult to determine how many homelesspeople there are in the worldbecause countries have differentlegal definitions for homelessness. Natural disasters

and sudden civil unrest alsocomplicate the picture. The bestwe have is a conservative esti-mate from the United Nations in2005, which puts the number ofhomeless at 100 million. It is certain that this figure has risen.

In Northern Ireland, a number of statutory agenciesand charities do their best tocope with the problem. This is

despite diminishing budgets andthe prospect of further cuts tocome. The Welform Reform Billis also looming. Based on experiences of hardship in therest of the United Kingdom, ifthis Bill is implemented, manymore people on low incomes anddependant on State benefits willbe adversely affected.

VIEW does not offer a solution to the problem, suffice

to say that more public housingstock and funds are needed totackle the growing problem.VIEW also believes that the private rentedsector is ill-equipped to solvehomelessness.

Talk about breaking up the Housing Executive and moving their work to housing associations will, we believe,only exacerbate the issue.

The ideal solution would beto offer affordable rents to tenants on long-term leases.

The law should bechanged to ensure that evictionsbecome a thing of the past,rather than the current situationwhere occupiers of private rentalaccommodation can be given 30days to leave their homes.

A recent song by US artistSteve Earle on the track ‘Invisible’ has the followinglyrics; Everywhere I Go, Peoplepass me by, They never knowcause I'm invisible, A shadowhangin' low, A footstep just behind, They carry on but I'm invisible.

How many of us walk past

the homeless everyday on ourstreets and rush on, occupied inour own thoughts?

It's time for society to saythat, in the 21st century, nobodyshould live without a roof overtheir head. This is a basic humanright. The 'invisible' problem of homelessness can be defeated.

The question is do we wantto just try and cope with it orend it once and for all?

VIEW editorBrian Pelan

‘Everywhere I go, People pass me by, They never know cause I'm invisible, A shadow hangin' low, a footstep just behind, They carry on but I'm invisible’

SUBCRIBE TO VIEW AND CHECK OUT OUR

MASTERCLASSES AT WWW.VIEWDIGITAL.ORG

YOUNG mother FionnualaKennedy celebrated her four-year-old daughter’s birthday in a hostelin Belfast. They found themselves

homeless after Fionnuala’s relationshipbroke down and they were left without aroof over their heads.

While she was grateful for eventuallyfinding a flat in a hostel, the rules and regulations – including inspections carriedout when she was not present, duringwhich she was criticised for not havingdusted a ceiling fan – led her to rebel.

She and other women sent a letter tothe organisation running the hostel but feltangry that they were not listened to. Theywere even threatened with eviction.

So she wrote a play called ‘Hostel’which has toured around Northern Ireland, including the Grand Opera Housein Belfast and the Playhouse in Derry.

Fionnuala had volunteered with Kabosh Theatre in Belfast while she wasliving in the hostel and staff were supportive of her writing and staging theplay. “The women in the hostel had novoice and no rights so we wrote a letter tochange things but no changes were madeso that’s why I wrote the play – revenge,she said.

“I don’t think my daughter realised wewere homeless. I brought her along to arehearsal of the play. We had to remove allthe bad language as she was there and sheended up trying to direct the actors.

“She celebrated her fourth birthday inthe hostel and remembers some of the

other kids there and the garden out the front.”

Audiences have included staff from organisations who run hostels, tradeunions, social workers as well as homelesspeople living in hostels. Fionnuala hopesthat her play will give an insight as well asstrengthen the voices of those who live inhostels.

“I was in a hostel for women withyoung families and my experience of being

homeless is different to others. I wrote theplay in 2007/2008 and I wondered if itwould be relevant to other people whowere homeless. They didn’t have the luxuryof a nice flat or the support you get whenyou have a child.

“But whether you are a mother orsomeone who has an addiction or otherissues, the situation is the same.

“We were invited by Charlie McGarryto performed the play at RosemountHouse in Belfast where men with alcoholand drug addiction live in a hostel. Themen saw the play and some were veryemotional and started to talk about theirexperiences and the powerlessness ofbeing homeless. They talked about howthey tried to get help but were written offbecause they were seen as drunks or druggies. Charlie who runs RosemontHouse doesn’t write them off,” she said.

Fionnuala said it was a difficult ques-tion to answer when asked about a solu-tion to homelessness. Her experience isthat there is not enough joined up thinkingamong the organisations on the grounddealing with the issue and they are notbeing proactive enough to find solutions.

“There are a number of preventivesteps that could be taken before a personfinds themselves coming close to becominghomeless due to mental or physical illnessor break down of relationships.

“People in the community need to be more aware and we need to know about our human rights and options”, she said.


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causeUna Murphy talks toFionnuala Kennedy abouther decision to write aplay about homelessnessbased on her experiencesof living in a hostel Playwright Fionnuala Kennedy Image: Kevin Cooper


It is 10.30am and the Advice Line hasbeen open for one hour. Our twoDuty Advisers have already receivedseven phone calls and have had one

client call into our office in High Street,Belfast.

Housing Rights Service assistsaround 150 people every week. The families and individuals who contact uscan be homeless, at risk of losing theirhome or living in unsuitable housing.

Increasingly we are seeing peopleunder the threat of eviction. In these situations our advisers’ primary role isto prevent homelessness.

One of our advisers, Edel, picks up acall from a private tenant who lives withher four children. She has received a letter from the Enforcement of Judgements Office (EJO), in the Courtsand Tribunal Service, notifying her of theneed to vacate the property in the firstweek of February.

The client, a foreign national, has difficulty understanding the correspondence. She explains that she is

working and always pays the rent ontime. Edel listens intently, only asking relevant questions to get a better understanding of the situation. She realises that the property is being repossessed by the bank. The landlordhas accrued arrears but neither he, norhis letting agent, has notified the tenant.

In fact a Possession Order has already been granted.

Edel calls the EJO to find out aboutthe stage of enforcement and to explainthe client’s situation. She establishes thatthe eviction will not take place on thedate specified in the letter and couldtake months.

Edel explains this to the client, provides reassurance that she will not bemade homeless within a matter ofweeks, but advises her to prepare tomove. She makes sure the client understands the legal position and thenoutlines her housing options.

These include alternative privaterented housing, likely to incur up frontcosts, and presenting as homeless to the

Housing Executive for temporary housing and access to the social housingwaiting list. The client’s reaction is one ofrelief. She agrees to reflect on her options and may come back if furtherhelp is needed.

Sometimes people only need one-off advice to resolve an issue. However, everyday our legal advice teamis continuously working on behalf ofthose clients who require further advocacy or legal representation ontheir cases. This is just a brief insight intoone call to our service. The calls and‘drop ins’ continued throughout themorning. Demand for housing advice re-mains very high.

• If you need advice, contactwww.housingrights.org.ukor call: 028 90245640 or for online advice visitwww.housingadvicenI.org Follow us on Twitter –@housingrightsNI

Nicola McCrudden, Policy and Communications Manager at Housing Rights Service, provides aglimpse into the work of their helpline

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grim realityof welfare reform!

£750m a year less to be spent in Northern Ireland The real impact on families and business

Members and O�cials from NIPSA held a protest in December by the ‘Grim Reality’ billboard site near College Square East.

grim realityof welfare reform!

£750m a year less to be spent in Northern Ireland The real impact on families and business

Impact on Housing Support

Extra bedroom in your home? You will lose £14 per week

Impact on Working Families £135m less a year for low paid families

165,000 families will lose £810 a year

Impact on Sick and Disabled Incapacity bene�ts reduced by £230m

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Many readers will have heard in December the UK Minister, Mike Penning’s threat that if the Northern Ireland Assembly didn’t implement the NI Welfare Reform Bill, then £5m a month would be removed from the Northern Ireland Block Grant from this month.

Only time will tell how our local politicians will respond to this threat, however, what Mr Penning failed to say that if the Bill is implemented in Northern Ireland, £750m a year would be taken out of the local economy. That equates to £650 per annum [or £55 per month] for every working age adult. This is not scaremongering by NIPSA as some politicians have stated – this is a fact. A fact drawn from a NICVA-commissioned report by

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Over the past few weeks members of the public may have seen a number of billboards and advertisements on buses across Northern Ireland highlighting some of the worst elements of the NI Welfare Reform Bill.

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Since the Con-Lib government came into power there have been 43 cuts – dressed up as reform – which have impacted on low income families, children, disabled people, low income home owners, mothers and babies, tenants, lone parents and the sick. It is clear that it is not the intention of this current government to help the most vulnerable in society and hard working families who are struggling to pay their bills. Many of these groups of people have to supplement their income by taking out payday loans and borrowing from families.

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Before I was pregnant I was living ina rundown flat. There were rats init, it was damp – it was horrible.When I found out I was pregnant I

just moved out. I couldn’t stay there – youcouldn’t bring a baby up there,” Shannensaid.

The flat, which was privately rented,didn’t even have any central heating. Shan-nen moved in with a relative but it was justa temporary measure.

“Then I was homeless and I had tostay in a B&B. It was horrible, especiallywhen you’re pregnant,” she said.

The Housing Executive moved herinto a homeless hostel in Derry, but Shan-nen was unsettled by the experience.

“I didn’t feel safe there at all. Therewere lots of young people and they werealways drunk,” she said.

With Shannen shortly due to givebirth, she was moved into Shepherd’s ViewYoung Parents Project in the Waterside.

“I got in here right before Christmas2012. I love it here. It’s the best place I’veever lived. It’s so cosy, it’s so child friendlyand it’s a quiet area,” she said.

“It’s a three bedroom flat. It’s lovely.It’s private. The heat is always blasting – it’samazing.

“This feels like a proper home forme.”

Shannen said the staff at Shepherd’sView do so much to support her and theother young parents.

“The workers are out for our best in-terests,” she said.

“They come down and talk to meabout my life and about what I’ve done.They are always there to talk to.”

With her life more settled, Shannen isfeeling positive about the future. She hasrekindled her love of art, and was one ofthe young parents who helped to design anew logo for Shepherd’s View in a projectfunded by the Big Lottery Fund’s Culture

for All programme. “It was brilliant. I’ve done art before

but it was great to get back into it,” shesaid.

It’s just a small sign of how life haschanged for Shannen, thanks to the helpand support she receives at Shepherd’sView.

“I moved out of my house at 15 andjust lost all interest in life,” she said.

“Now I have high expectations – Ihave a standard of how I want to live. I’mnever going back to that rat-ridden flat.”

The young mum hopes to take an access course and eventually study law atuniversity.

“I want to get into law and helppeople find out all their rights, and helpthem get out of debt,” she said.

• Shepherd’s View Young ParentsProject is part of First HousingAid and Support Services.

A young woman who became homeless while she was pregnantfound refuge in a sheltered housing unit for young parents.Shannen, 20, now lives in Shepherd’s View in Derry’s Watersidewith her nine-month-old baby daughter. She told Lucy Golloglyher story.

I have a standard of how Iwant to live. I’m never goingback to that rat-ridden flat

Safe haven: A group of young women at the Shepherd’s View Young Parents Project in Derry

“

Edwards & Co. solicitors advises charities and the voluntary sector in Northern Ireland

on a wide range of legal issues including charity creation, charitable status and

constitutional matters, trading and commercial arrangements, employment law,

finance, fundraising and property law, as well as dealing with the Charity Commission

for Northern Ireland.

Our team offers a full range of legal services including mediation, wills,criminal law,

clinical negligence and personal injury claims, as well as family/matrimonial work.

Practical advice and a sensitivepersonal approach. We prideourselves on our unrivalledcommitment to clients’ needs.

Contact Jenny and Teresa: Edwards & Co. Solicitors, 28 Hill Street, Belfast, BT1 2LA.

Tel: (028) 9032 1863 Email: [email protected]

Web: edwardsandcompany.co.uk


On Sunday, January 12, 2014, the ‘100 Help The Homeless’ campaign was launched – a group of more than 100 volunteerswith the common goal of raising awareness, challenging perceptions and raising funds to help tackle the issue of homelessness in Belfast and Northern Ireland.

They are working on the premise of “many hands makelight work” to allow lots of people to make a small commitmentthat goes a long way in making a big difference.

The proceeds of the money raised this year are going toThe Welcome Organisation, Belfast who work daily with someof the city’s most vulnerable adults. Their aim this year is toraise at least £30,000 to provide an Outreach van to The Welcome Organisation to provide support for those sleepingrough in Belfast.

Their motivation stemmed from the huge amount of interest within the general public wanting to help with homelessness but facing multiple barriers; some people aren’tquite sure how to go about it, others can’t commit hugeamounts of time to do so, some may not fully understand theissue – so that’s where they come in.

They want to provide opportunities for people to get involved and contribute to each event in their own way, perhapsthrough direct fundraising or providing key knowledge or contacts they feel are relevant.

As a main aim, aside from raising money, they would like togive homeless service users a voice by providing them with aplatform to allow their stories to be heard.

Their aim is to assist this through providing guidance andtraining to raise awareness of the complicated issues of homelessness. They are engaging with several training organisations and hope to facilitate a homeless service user’snetwork throughout NI in the coming months.

Members of the public wishing to help are encouraged tojoin, and together with homeless service users, a clear messagecan be sent out that ‘Homeless does not mean Hopeless’.

A range of events have been scheduled, including a sleep-out at Belfast’s City Hall on June 1. A similar sleep-out lastyear in the same location raised around £4,000.

Many hands make light workNew group of volunteers launched to help tackle the issue of homelessness

The Trust are working to support the development of a collaborative,

Social FinanceNew forms of investment, finance and support for a more sustainable Community and Voluntary Sector.

Social Innovation

voluntary sector.

Inspiring Impact

Collaboration

Creative Space for Civic Thinking

democracy.

e-news visit our website www.buildingchangetrust.org or follow us on twitter @changetrust


By Lucy Gollogly

Kenny and James don’t fit the stereotypes ofhomeless people. The two young friends fromnorth Belfast are smart, articulate and friendlywhen I meet them in a south Belfast café. But despite appearances, home for them is a Simon

Community hostel. Kenny, 22, left home at 16 because he did not get on

with his mother’s then partner. He lived with friends and relatives for a time but has been in and out of hostels inBelfast for the past two years. He says he had to leave thearea he is from because of his drug-taking.

“I was taking ecstasy, cocaine – pretty much anythingapart from heroin and glue,” Kenny says.

“Due to my involvement with drugs and anti-social behavior I became enemies with some people and had tomove out for my own safety.”

James has been in the same hostel for six months.When he first arrived, he didn’t realise Kenny was also livingthere and says it was a relief to see a friendly face.

“It’s good to get your own freedom but it’s really not aplace to be living,” James says.

The hostel is for young people aged 17-26 but Kennyhas previously lived in other hostels with men of all ages,some of whom were heroin addicts.

“At the start I didn’t know what I was going into. I feltreally scared and alone and confused. I didn’t know what todo,” he says.

“When I first became homeless in February 2012 I livedin another hostel and I had to leave it because I was the victim of a sectarian attack outside it. I had to sleep with thewardrobe pushed up against the door. There was a lock but Ididn’t feel safe. I was scared of the people who had attackedme outside coming in.”

Things improved for Kenny when he moved to his present hostel, stopped taking drugs and started doing OCN qualifications through the Bytes project, which supports young people to get training and jobs.

“Things are a lot different now. I set myself a target ofgetting 10 qualifications by the time I was 22. By the time Igot to 22 I had 13 qualifications and I was off all hard drugsnearly a year. By the time I got to a year off hard drugs I had16 qualifications,” he says.

While James already has experience as a youth worker,Kenny is starting his OCN Level 2 in youth work in a fewweeks. Both would like to go to university.

“I would love to be a support worker in a hostel. I havethe experience because I’ve been through it,” Kenny says.

Both say finding homes for young single men like themis not a priority for the Housing Executive.

“It’s only a one bedroom house you’re allowed andthere aren’t any. They’ll all family homes,” James says.

Kenny says: “The Housing Executive don’t care. It’s thegovernment’s responsibility to make sure everyone hashousing.”

Young andhomeless


Friendship: Kenny, left, and James enjoy the warmth of a cup of tea. Follow the lives of these

two young men over a couple of days with a series of images – pages 12 to 21

Images: Donal McCann, photographer

who we areBryson Charitable Group is Northern Ireland’s leading social enterprise tackling major social and economic challenges. The Group operates through seven Companies all with the aim of Building Better Futures.

Our staffCheck out our new video “a day in the life of Bryson” on our web sitewww.brysongroup.org Follow our CEO on Twitter - @johnatbryson

Supporting children and

families.Deirdre from Bryson Care

Caring for our older people.

Denise from Bryson

CareWest.

Fun activities on the water. Josh from Bryson

LaganSports.

Helping new people settle in.

Sorina from Bryson

Intercultural.

Fighting fuel poverty.

Carol from Bryson Energy.

Protecting our environment.

Jim from Bryson Recycling.

Creating job opportunities.Diane from

Bryson FutureSkills.

Tackling loneliness.

Jonathon who volunteers

with Bryson Care.

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Odense Municipality has for thelast four years focused theirstrategy for homeless peopleon ’Housing First’. We have

now managed to reduce the number ofhomeless people by 47 per cent.

We have also succeeded in findinghousing for homeless people. Formerhomeless people have also stayed in theirnew flats and avoided falling back intohomelessness.

We have also focused efforts on preventive measures to break the self-perpetuating circle that often leads tohomelessness.

Odense supports the homeless inmaintaining the apartment when theymove into their home.

The “Housing First” approach meansthat the individual relevant assistance tothe citizen must be available.

The municipality has together withtenants’ representatives discussed whatare the common challenges. This coordinated approach has led to several projects such as:

• Customer experience: easy access to the municipalityNeighbours, families and people employed

in local shops had the experience that ifthey were worried about a neighbour, family person or something else, then itwas difficult to find the right people tocontact within the municipality. As a response to this, Odense has opened aspecific mail address to which anyone caninquire about their concerns or other issues. The sender receives a receipt, andfeedback about actions to the concernedpeople in question.

• Networking between the housing areasThere are regular network meetings between housing rental employees, thelocal police and municipal workers. Thisenables quicker and better responses toproblems.

• ‘Neighbour’s Fire Brigade’:when neighbours become a problemIn housing areas, people who are ‘different’from the mainstream population often create anxiety. Odense has developed aprofessional advice system, where stafffrom the Municipality will contactneighbours and inform them about how todeal with a mentally challenged person in

the housing complex. The objective of thiskind of ‘housing fire brigade’ is partly tocreate security for all neighbours andpartly to maintain a high level of tolerancefor individuals acting, what is considered,outside of mainstream behaviour.

• Preventing putting people backonto the streetsOdense Municipality, the rental owners andthe Bailiff ’s Court have joined forces andput a focus on reducing the number ofbailiffs.

Bailiffs are costly to both the rentalowners and the municipality. It has beendocumented by national studies that 25per cent of people put onto the streets bybailiffs remain homeless. Putting peopleback onto the street is therefore increasingly seen as the least attractive so-lution, as it has higher social, personal andfinancial costs than almost any other solution.

In Odense we constantly discuss pre-ventive work in a network between housing tenants, shop owners, the policyand the municipality.

This networking is constantly evolvingand central for leveraging new and innovative solutions.

Tom Ronning, strategic consultant of the SocialHousing Department in Odense, Denmark,explains how they tackle the issue of homelessness in their city

Comment


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develops over 120 street paperprojects in 40 countries in 24 lan-guages, with a combined reader-ship of 6 million per edition.

Street papers are independentnewspapers and magazines thatoperate on a social enterprise andself-help model to provide an innovative solution to urbanhomelessness and unemployment.

Street paper vendors purchase

copies of their local street paperat half the cover price and be-come micro entrepreneurs, sellingtheir product on the streets, toearn their own living and supportthemselves and their families. Inaddition to employment, manyINSP street papers offer theirvendors on-going social supportand training opportunities.

The group supports the devel-opment and sustainability of itsmembers. They do this by providing a range of services and

projects, including advice, resources, training, innovationand editorial support through itsonline news service.

They also help local commu-nity groups and non-governmen-tal organisations (NGOs) to startup street papers in their commu-nities, to address the need foremployment and support forhomeless and unemployed people.

• For more information, go towww.street-papers.org

Spreading the word

Soup kitchens, social groceries, food fromthe rubbish outsidethe big supermarkets.

Until 2010, when Greece en-tered the twilight zone of international lending, thosewere unknown words for theGreek society.

Well known for their hospitality and the powerfulfamily bonds Greeks woke upsuddenly in a war zone.

With the real unemployment rate morethan 33 per cent and povertydeepening every single day,the number of homelesspeople in Athens, Salonika, Patras and the other major

towns of Greece is rising dramatically.

More than 40.000 Greekshave ended up on thestreets, most of them inAthens where the problem is more obvious and more acute.

Sleeping on benches,even in the caves where 25centuries ago Socrates usedto live, many Greeks are giv-ing everyday a struggle,counting one more day oftheir personal Golgotha.

The social solidarity net-work is spreading. Small orlarge groups of people, companies, even individualsare helping the disadvan-

taged. Even coffeeshops across the countryoffer free coffee for thosewho cannot afford to buy it.Donation is the word and thevoluntary sector is workingas an excellent coordinatednetwork.

Even in the supermarkets there are trolleys where you can leavegroceries for those who cannot afford to buy them.

Homelessness has soaredby an estimated 30 per centsince 2009 as Greece spiralsfurther into its worst post-war economic crisis.

Greeks now speak of another section of society:

No-one wants to hear the sad story aboutthe new Greek army of homeless, thestory of a country that struggles to survive

Greek journalistStella Theodorouwrites about thegrowing numbersof homeless people in Greecein the midst of anausterity offensive


the new homeless; peoplewho do not have the tradi-tional profile of homeless,they are no drug or alcohol addicts nor illegal migrants. They are the victims of whatis called by the Greek government a “successstory” and by its lenders fiscal adjustment.

The latest data presentedby the Municipality ofAthens and the City ofAthens Homeless Shelter(KYADA) is shocking.

More than 20. 000 resi-dents of the capital rely onsocial structures of the municipality for daily

survival. Of the people who participate in soup kitchens,66 per cent are Greeks. In fact, 44 per cent have ahigh educational level, while7.5 percent has a universitytitle.

But this is one side of thestory of our lives.

The other one does notcount numbers, nor faces…It’s the hidden truth of peo-ple who have lost everything,jobs, home, their lives butthey are nowhere in the statistics.

Banks have taken theirhouses or they cannot affordto pay rent.

They are still well

dressed. They do not go tothe soup kitchens, they arefed by friends and family butthey cannot afford to buy apack of cigarettes.

Dimitra Nousi, directorof Athens food aid facilitytalks about this new kind ofpoverty which is unaccounted in the statistics.

“This is the biggest problem,” she said.

The social fabric is unraveling, thousands ofmiddleclass lives are vanish-ing but no one wants to hearthe sad story of this new‘Greek army’ of homeless,the story of a country thatstruggles to survive.

No-one wants to hear the sad story aboutthe new Greek army of homeless, thestory of a country that struggles to survive

People queuing for foodin Athens


Sandra Moore, Director of Homelessness Servicesat the Welcome Organisation, has justrecently visited USA and Australia to studythe delivery and impact of Housing First's approach to addressing homelessness

Comment

Governmental policymakersand the public may have expected, or hoped, thatthey could end the crisis of

homelessness. The first decade of the‘noughties’ has not fulfilled that expectation and homelessness iscausing increased pressures for successive governments of the ‘developed’ world.

Programmes and services to helphomeless people expanded dramatically in the 1990s, just as theydid in the 1980s.

At the same time, visible homelessness has not diminished.

In many communities this persistence has forced governments to be creative in their solutions and to accept that ‘one fit’ does notsuit all.

Good practice models in addressing needs in one area are notnecessarily appropriate to meeting

the complexity of broader needs presenting.

Answers to the issue are complex, as homelessness itself iscomplex. What is less complex is theconclusion that the policy and practice framework adopted is critical to ending homelessness.

There are currently two primary approaches to addressinghomelessness , the continuum of care(or linear) model or the increasinglyfavoured Housing First model, bothof which have their antagonists.Thecontinuum models that Housing Firstservices are fast replacing also offertreatment and support.

However, continuum models areprincipally founded on a conditionality’ logic whereby accessto housing is contingent on acceptingtreatment and complying with abstinence and sobriety – removingchoice and control in both the nature

of treatment and housing.Evaluation evidence from the

United States suggests that rates ofretention in housing are much higherin the Housing First model comparedto continuum care models, thus substantially reducing the incidenceof homelessness.

However, there are conflicting reports on outcomes in terms of social inclusion and recovery fromsubstance abuse which some claimhave been less impressive, with thecost savings associated with themodel (in terms of reduced hospitali-sation acute treatment and involve-ment with criminal justice) notingmeet the cost of providing support-ive housing.

Statistics provided by significantHousing First led organisations in the USA would dispute these assertions. Across the realms a number of government-led working


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PPR and Simon Community launch housing initiative

The Participation and the Practice of Rights(PPR) organisation, founded in 2006 byrenowned human rights activist and tradeunionist Inez McCormack, is working inpartnership with Simon Community North-ern Ireland on a new project supportingpeople affected by homelessness.

The work has commenced at a timewhen the problem of homelessness, alreadydeeply entrenched and accepted, looks setto grow as a result of government imposedausterity. Enforced repossessions of property have increased almost fivefold inNorthern Ireland during the past threeyears (from 200 in 2008 to just short of1000 in 2011).

The NI Executive’s ‘Welfare ReformBill’, now being progressed through the Assembly, has the potential to push manymore of the most vulnerable to present as

homeless and seek accommodation in hostels.

Simon Community NI is the largestprovider of accommodation and services tohomeless people in Northern Ireland and

Legacy: Inez McCormack, who

founded the PPR organisation


groups have grappled with this com-plex issue developing a series of government strategies to addressgeneric homelessness and rough sleeping.

There is a real drive for change inthe delivery of homelessness servicesin Northern Ireland as outlined in theNI Housing Executive’s HomelessnessStrategy, 2013 which pertains to a shiftfrom the current ‘housing led’ continuum of services to a ‘housingfirst’ focused model.

It is unclear if a ‘Pathways model‘is the preferred option with the adoption of a ‘one-fit for all’ approach.

While the ‘shift’ towards providing direct access to permanenthousing has the potential to enhanceexisting service responses,

In Northern Ireland there hasbeen little critical debate about theHousing First approach in a NI context. The aim of the study trip was

to stimulate critical discussion aboutthe Housing First approach and thepossibilities it offers with respect tochronic homelessness in NorthernIreland’s (ironically in the absence ofan agreed definition of who are thechronic homeless and/ or definiteclient group).

The pivotal question is whetherthe Housing First model is transferrable to Northern Ireland. Inaddressing this question the conclusion is that the principles andprogrammeme elements of a HousingFirst approach are transferrable, andto a certain degree some of the critical elements are already here.

However, the notion of ‘programme drift’ reinforces the pointthat Housing First programmes in theUSA, Australia and elsewhere draw onoperational principles and are delivered under conditions that vary to the Pathways to Housing

programme. Despite the apparent simplicity of the term, what constitutes a Housing First approachhas become increasingly unclear forseveral reasons, including the conflict-ing use of the label and inconsistent definitions of its key operating elements.

The principle of Housing First hasmuch to recommend it for NorthernIreland, but but care should be exercised in applying the model in NI,which faces a different policy environment to both the UnitedStates and Australia.

For example, many of the principles underpinning Housing First(client empowerment, voluntary nature of accessing services) are already present in mainstream servicesprogrammes.

We might not expect the dramatic improvements witnessed inthe United States.

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PPR and Simon Community launch housing initiative

currently provides beds for over 700 newresidents experiencing homelessness eachyear. The partnership between Simon Com-munity NI and PPR is being carried out inaccordance with a clear Terms of Referenceand oversight body, which safeguards the independence of PPR and the emerginggroup, through this process.

The experiences of homeless peoplehave been voiced during the early stages ofthe project. “If you’re skint, that’s it, you’releft to rot,” says a resident who has had torely on a Simon Community NI bed sincebecoming unemployed. “I could be here for-ever at this rate,” declares a long-term hos-tel resident in Belfast. More than 100residents have contributed to the project sofar, their experiences helping to identify theissues causing so many to become homelessand often remain so for years at a time.

A group of residents organised throughthe project, from various Simon CommunityNI hostels, recently met with the organisa-tion’s senior management. They put acrosstheir initial views and ideas about improvingservice delivery and their prospects of mov-ing towards permanent housing solutions.The management team has committed toworking with the group to address issuesand implement changes.

Meanwhile the group will be usingPPR’s human rights based approach to workwith more people affected by homelessness,and working towards developing humanrights indicators and benchmarks toprogress their right to housing.

• For more information contactProject Worker, Michael Moore([email protected]).

WHAT DOES HOUSING FIRST POLICY MEAN?

It’s a shift from using shelters as the predominant solution to homelessnesstowards ‘housing led’ approaches. This means increasing the capacity forboth prevention and the provision of adequate floating support to peoplein their homes according to their needs

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