Places of Change Improving Hostel Accommodation 28 June 2011 Jon Bright Director of Homelessness & Support, Building Standards and Climate Change Department for Communities and Local Government UK

2 Rough Sleeping- the policy UK Government is committed to ending rough sleeping. Improving hostel accommodation is vital to success Investment has transformed accommodation for rough sleepers. Large institutions (places of stagnation) are being replaced with smaller hostels (places of change) Key outcome: number of people who make a positive move from a hostel or homelessness service. So hostel residents need activity, education, training & support into work, as well as accommodation

3 Rough Sleeping – recent developments New investment for of £37.5m A Ministerial Working Group brings together 8 Government Departments to tackle homelessness & rough sleeping New methodology to measure rough sleeping using data from every local authority (street count or robust estimate) London Mayor committed to ending Rough Sleeping in London by the end of Prevention, prevention, prevention – we have good rough sleeping services but need to stop people ending up on the streets in the first place.

4 Rough Sleeping - trends 1850 rough sleepers in England on any single night in rough sleepers in England on any single night in 2009 – 75% decrease New System introduced in 2010 to give a more accurate national picture. Latest street counts and estimates published in Feb 2011 show 1,768 rough sleepers in England.

5 Improving Hostels - “Places of Change” Invested £170 million into 289 projects in England since % increase in the number of individuals moving on positively from services (2010/11 compared to 2007/8 baseline) Ending the revolving door of homelessness – a fall in exclusions from hostels reduced by around 60% Around 5800 people entered further education. & 2500 involved in volunteering And perhaps most impressively, over 1,000 service users have gained employment since our investment.

6 Improving Hostels – Personalisation Shared ambition across Government to give individuals more control over services Aim is to strengthen sense of independence, well being and dignity Local Authorities, government departments and voluntary organisations will all play a role in reforming services, Example: the Look Ahead Hostel in Bayswater, London which helps vulnerable rough sleepers…..

7 Improving hostels – example (1) Look Ahead, Bayswater Hostel, London “Personalisation Project” Client spent almost a year sleeping rough on the streets Used customer cash allocation to participate in a web design / computer maintenance courses “Personalisation Programme has given him an opportunity to be in control of his future and have more options available ”

8 Improving hostels – example (2) Tyneside Cyrenians, “Self Build” project in Newcastle Involved a group of young homeless men constructing a building in the grounds of their own hostel. Since completion of the project all seven self builders have gained full time employment and live independently.