Published: 25 February 2005
More Than a Roof
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, has reported that the Government has achieved some success on some of its key homelessness targets.
The report says that there have been large falls in the numbers of people sleeping rough and families with children living in Bed & Breakfast accommodation as an emergency response to homelessness.
However, it goes on to say that more work remains to be done, as reflected the ODPM's recent 5 Year Plan, to address the number of households seeking help and the rising numbers placed in temporary accommodation.
In order to reverse this trend, more effective ways are needed to deal with the wider causes of homelessness and to prevent it wherever possible.
The report says that rough sleeping, use of Bed & Breakfast hotels to accommodate families and, more recently, new cases of homelessness have been falling.
But that there are currently around 100,000 households who have been placed in temporary accommodation by local authorities under the homelessness legislation, although over 80% of these are in self-contained homes.
Since March 2002, when a formal target was set, the number of families with children in Bed & Breakfast accommodation has fallen by 80%, and the number residing for more than six weeks has fallen by 96%.
It is now enshrined in legislation that families with children should only be in Bed & Breakfast accommodation as an emergency measure, and even then for no longer than six weeks.
The report points out that such accommodation is an expensive option and many local authorities have saved money by switching to other forms of temporary accommodation.
It goes on to say that the Homelessness and Housing Support Directorate should help local authorities build on this experience so that, where appropriate, other homeless people can be moved out of Bed & Breakfast accommodation.
It adds that this should be accompanied by guidance to address the variable quality of temporary accommodation.
The recorded number of rough sleepers has fallen by over 70% since 1998, the target exceeded in 2002 and reductions have been sustained in subsequent years.
It points out that having a target had clearly helped to stimulate new local approaches to the problem and vulnerable adults are now better identified and supported by homelessness services.
However, it qualifies this by saying that there needs to be better information about "move on" arrangements for ex-rough sleepers.
It concludes that the requirement for local authorities to have a homelessness strategy has raised the priority given to homelessness services and that it has also improved the liaison between local authorities, the voluntary and community sector, and other agencies.
However, the Directorate needs to do more to identify the cost benefits of successful initiatives and spread good practice.
It says that bringing together a number of units into a single Directorate dealing with homelessness issues has led to a more coordinated approach to the problem, and the Directorate is sponsoring a number of promising initiatives in collaboration with other government departments.
However, there is still a need for more hard data to inform the development of policy, particularly on programmes to prevent homelessness.
Sir John Bourn said:
"I am pleased that efforts to improve the lives of homeless families with children and of rough sleepers have been successful, and that new cases of homelessness started to fall in 2004.
But it remains a real concern that homelessness applications are high, and that such large numbers of people are living in temporary accommodation.
The Government's targets for families and rough sleepers may have been met but further efforts are required to improve the lives of other homeless groups.
It is particularly important that the Homelessness and Housing Support Directorate continues its work to identify the most effective types of intervention and share good practice with those working on the front line."
Front-line responsibility for helping homeless people falls to local authorities, as set out in the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977, the Housing Act 1996 and the Homelessness Act 2002. They have a duty to house those who are homeless and in "priority need" of housing.
Priority need groups include households with children, 16 and 17-year olds, those who are vulnerable as a result of their age, people fleeing violence and those at risk because of institutionalisation or poor health.
Further information
More than a roof: Progress in tackling homelessness
Full Report (1.7Mb)
Executive Summary
ODPM Homelessness website
Contacting the Homelessness and Housing Support Directorate
The Homelessness Directorate within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) was established in March 2002. It brought together the former Rough Sleepers Unit, the Bed & Breakfast Unit and a new team responsible for implementing the new legislation and helping local authorities to develop their homelessness strategies.
In January 2004, the Homelessness Directorate merged with ODPM's Housing Care and Support Division, to form the Homelessness and Housing Support Directorate.
The Directorate has worked towards two key targets, that:
- by March 2004, local authorities will ensure that no homeless family with children has to live in a Bed & Breakfast hotel, except in an emergency, and even then for no longer than six weeks;
- levels of rough sleeping are two-thirds below the levels recorded in 1998, or lower.
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