Commitment to Collaborate to Prevent and Relieve Homelessness Toolkit

The session is broken down into four clear stages:

• What is already in place?
• What gaps are there?
• What more could we do and how can we fill those gaps?
• What do we pledge to do following this session?

Incorporate breaks into the session as required.

By working through the practical elements of this toolkit, we will be able to identify what actions can be taken to prevent and relieve homelessness at the earliest opportunity.

There is also an opportunity to consider who else we will need to collaborate with in order to make this happen, taking this as an opportunity to design homelessness prevention into services and systems.

Homelessness can feel like an unsolvable problem, but it isn’t. By working together and focussing on getting help to people before the point of crisis, we can make a real difference. Even small changes can add up, having a substantial and positive impact to prevent and relieve homelessness.

We’ll be basing the session around the positive pathways model.

Positive pathway model

Prevent

• universal prevention
• targeted prevention

Help

• crisis prevention and relief
• recovery

Create pathways

• move on support
• settled home

• The model; adapted for use by the WMCA Homelessness Taskforce and the C2C toolkit, helps to identify what is already being done to prevent homelessness, identify where the gaps are, and what might be done to address those gaps.
• Thus, underpinning a better understanding to enhance the protective factors within the universal prevention space and target homeless prevention at the earliest possible opportunity.
• While it may appear linear, it is recognised that experience of life, especially in the occurrence of something like homelessness, is rarely straightforward. The model could in fact be conveyed as circular, reflecting that it is universal prevention that enables and maintains the status of a settled home.
• Today’s discussions will use the six stages of the pathway highlighted here to underpin the session.

Stages of the pathway

Universal prevention

• This is what prevents homelessness without having any directly perceived relationship to homelessness prevention. Those things in society and life that are protective factors. In health terms universal prevention is having fluoride in water, health advice to eat ‘five a day’, and immunisations; in homelessness terms it is those factors which support and protect – health, income, relationships, secure accommodation, amongst many others.

Targeted prevention

• This is provision or interventions which have a designed purpose in preventing homelessness or related issues. For example, housing advice, leaving care pathway, discretionary housing payments, bond schemes.

Crisis prevention

• This is where homeless crisis is imminent or occurring, requiring emergency accommodation. The objective is for any crisis to be as brief and having as small an impact as possible. For example, the experience of temporary accommodation, hostel accommodation or rough sleeping.

Recovery

• This is the work required in re-establishing the protections against homelessness and often dealing with the causes and impact of homelessness. This may include financial, health, relationship, rebuilding.

Move on support

• This is what is required for the physical, emotional and cognitive moving on from a homelessness experience. For example, it may be very practical matters like the logistics of moving, or the emotional support to deal with change and challenges.

Settled home

• This is attaining the desired state of protection against homelessness, the re-established factors being in place, while also clearly requiring the access to affordable, secure accommodation.

Session 1 - What do we already do, and is currently in place, to prevent and relieve homelessness?

• 30 minutes to discuss what we do now to keep people included – focus on the situation highlighted within the case study
• Use the suggested questions to prompt discussions
• State which category the intervention falls into and mark it on the template (universal, targeted, etc.)
• Give thought to how activity can be moved from the crisis prevention & relief space towards the universal prevention space. Are there things that could be put in place to move things upstream, away from crisis, as much as possible?

Notes

• Use the discussion checklist and example questions from the toolkit to prompt questions and discussions.
• Use the case study to shape your discussions:
• What do we already know is happening?  How has our organisation affected the person in this case study?
• What support are we already providing that came across in the case study?
• Could we be doing MORE of it?
• Who could we collaborate with to improve what is already there?
• What category does each intervention fall into – Universal Prevention through to Settled Home?
• Ensure all of the points are documented.
• Allow time to feed back the key points.
• Keep to the allocated time.

Session 2 – What are the gaps in our provision or service to prevent and relieve homelessness?

• 30 minutes to discuss what are the gaps highlighted within the case study
• Use the suggested questions to start discussions
• State which category the intervention falls into and mark it on the template (universal, targeted, etc)
• Give thought to how activity can be moved from the crisis prevention & relief space towards the universal prevention space.  Are there things that could be put in place to move things upstream, away from crisis, as much as possible?

Notes

• In session 1 we discussed what’s already in place in the case study, and some gaps probably came up during that discussion.  Now is the time to go through them in more detail.
• Use the discussion checklist and example questions from the toolkit to prompt questions and discussions:
• What gaps within our provision are evident in this case study?
• What is missing that would have an effect on this person's situation?
• Who could we collaborate with to help close those gaps?
• What category does each intervention fall into – Universal Prevention through to Settled Home?
• Ensure all of the points are documented.
• Allow time to feed back the key points.
• Keep to the allocated time.

Session 3 – What are the opportunities for us to do more to prevent and relieve homelessness?

• 30 minutes to discuss what are our opportunities to improve provision for the person/people highlighted within the case study
• Use the suggested questions to start discussions
• State which category the intervention falls into and mark it on the template (universal, targeted, etc.)
• Give thought to how activity can be moved from the crisis prevention & relief space towards the universal prevention space.
• Are there things that could be put in place to move things upstream, away from crisis, as much as possible?

Notes

• We’ve now discussed what we already have in place, and the gaps in our provision, so further opportunities for us to do more probably came up during the previous discussion.  Now is the time to go through them in more detail.
• Use the discussion checklist and example questions from the toolkit to prompt questions and discussions:
• What are our opportunities to improve provision for the support of this person?
• What more could we be doing that would have an effect on this person’s situation?
• Who could we collaborate with to maximise the opportunities for improvement?
• What category does each intervention fall into – Universal Prevention through to Settled Home?
• Ensure all of the points are documented.
• Allow time to feed back the key points.
• Keep to the allocated time.

Session 4

• 30 minutes to discuss and finalise our pledges
• Use the template to record the pledges
• How can today’s discussions become pledges?
• What are we going to change?  What are we going to do?
• These pledges will become actions following the session!

Notes

• From the three sessions we’ve gone through, what do we pledge to do from now on?
• What suggestions from Session 1 can we pledge to do more of?
• What gaps from Session 2 can we pledge to fill?
• What opportunities from Session 3 can we pledge to take forward?
• Use the example completed pledges in the toolkit to prompt discussions.