1. Hidden Depths Mandy Carlson
Director of Crisis Skylight South Yorkshire

2. Hidden What?
Local Authorities identified a need to provide a Homeless Prevention and Education Programme to year 10 & 11 students.
Tender specification put together by a consortium of the four South Yorkshire Local Authorities.
An innovative approach was required

3. Context
Welfare reforms are expected to increase likelihood of youth homelessness
Youth homelessness increases social and health disadvantage and long term life chances
Low availability of suitable 1 bed general needs housing
High costs of PRS housing against HB shared accommodation rates
Young people who stay at home are more likely to thrive and take advantage of opportunities offered
LA’s recognised the need to work proactively to inform young people of the realities of homelessness and the issues facing young people trying to get on the housing ladder.

4. Aims of the project Three key messages to deliver
Don’t become homeless if you can help it
If you do, there are places to seek help and this is what will happen
Independent living is hard!
Specification had three key messages to deliver but within that it also wanted to educate young people that yes there was support available if they did become homeless, but that this is not an easy route and is not guaranteed to result in housing

5. Objectives Prevent youth homelessness from rising
Signpost young people to available services and support
Educate young people on the issues that can lead to homelessness
Change the attitude of young people towards homelessness
Educate young people in the management of a tenancy and raise financial awareness
Raise awareness of the issues of living independently at a young age
Crisis helped the LA’s to create a set of objectives to get across the aims of the project. these made up the bulk of the LA’s specification.
Company that won the bid was a theatre in education organisation called Collingwood Learning, based in Shepley, outside of Huddersfield.
Large portfolio of work specialising in delivering educational programmes to young people via theatre based learning
Healthy relationships DV
Road Safety

6. The role of Crisis To work in partnership with the chosen provider to:
Educate young people on the issues that can lead to homelessness
Educate young people in the management of a tenancy and raise financial awareness
Raise awareness of the issues of living independently at a young age
Within the specification the LA’s highlighted those areas of the project that Crisis would be able to support the winning bidder with

7. Development of the Programme
Informal focus groups with Crisis members to obtain ‘real’ stories from young people experiencing homelessness
Development of a script detailing three distinct, but common routes into homelessness
Performance piece previewed by contributing young people and critically assessed for authenticity
Final rehearsal in front of the Yps that contributed to the focus groups, they were very vocal about how things should be said and that facts were accurate

8. Development of the Programme
Teachers packs created for follow up learning in schools
Learning resources created that align with national curriculum for PHSE to encourage take up
Abridged version of Crisis’s ‘Renting Ready’ course provided
‘Get Help Fast’ information on credit card flyer for every young person, tailored to the local area services
Collingwood created a resource pack that aligned with curriculum for PHSE and the new subject areas around budgeting and financial capability, using Crisis’s ‘Renting Ready’ course materials and scheme of work
Renting ready – 12 week accredited course aimed at equipping homeless people with the tools to access and sustain a tenancy in the PRS
An abridged version was created especially for this project
Aim to encourage tutors to follow up message delivered in the project and embed more underpinning learning with students
The credit cards were produced so that students could keep information local to them in a wallet / purse so that even if they forgot the key message, they would have access to help in the future.

9. The Finished Product
A live 30 minute ‘Talking Heads’ style theatre piece performed by three actors
A 30 minute workshop facilitated by the actors, discussing the issues raised and possible alternative actions
Teaching resource pack
Get Help Fast information for every young person
each of the 3 actors taking it in turns to deliver their monologue on a very basic set with just background music. Powerful impact
Daniel - violent interactions with mum so told to leave and as his options run out finds himself homeless
Sam - leaves the family home due to the abusive nature of her alcoholic father
Mark – after his mum dies, Mark is thrown out by his step dad as he’s no longer his responsibility
Students are informed that All 3 stories actually happened to people aged who are currently living in supported hostel accommodation
Workshop allowed students to recreate key passages from the dialogue and to think about how the actions of the characters impacted on their situation and what / how they could have done / acted differently to avoid the resulting situations.

10. Did it work? Some results from the student pre /post event evaluations
Do you recognise the term ‘hidden homelessness’?
pre post
no % 6.51%
maybe 27.34% 10.36%
yes 8.62% %
Collingwood designed both pre and post evaluation questionnaires for the students and teachers. These are the headline responses
Yes pre only 8.62% recognised the term hidden homelessness, this rose to 82.25% afterwards
They were also asked what they thought it meant and answers ranged from
‘when you can’t find a homeless person’ to
Where the homeless hide
Showing a clear need for the project

11. Did it work?
If you were homeless, would you know who to turn to for help?
pre post
yes % 86.54%
no % 2.66%
not sure 25.12% 6.95%
Whilst 51.97% said they would know who to turn to - more detailed responses showed that this was primarily family and friends or the police. There was little mention of the Council or named charities other than the Red Cross
Post event the answers were far more specific –
Council
Child line
Crisis
Shelter
Social services

12. Did it work?
If you leave home at 16, are you entitled to a council flat / house?
pre post
yes % 10.50%
no % 63.91%
not sure 65.27% 18.93%
Whilst it appears that the message is starting to get across that its no longer possible to walk into social housing, there was still a large percentage who ticked not sure which could be read as having an underlying belief that if the worst happened they wouldn’t be on the street.
More worrying is the fact that even after the event, there was still a belief among some of the students that they would be housed.

13. Did it work? Did you enjoy the performance and workshop session? post
yes %
no 5.03%
not sure 5.18%

14. Did it work? Tutor Responses:
Did the event explore homelessness issues pertinent to this age group?
yes 90.91% not sure 9.09%
Has the project increased awareness of hidden homelessness amongst this age group?
yes 81.82% not sure 9.09%
Would you have the programme again next year?
yes 100%
Tutors were also asked to provide their comments on the project –
Absolutely fantastic presentation,vry effective and gripping. Would definitely have back again and again
Excellent, at a level appropriate to learners. Got their attention from the start really impressed. We will use this as a way to get learners involved in other projects
Excellent great acting. Good workshop to involve them, no areas for improvement
Our lot were gripped, thank you
Liked the way it was delivered, good acting and good follow-up talk
Learnt a lot myself about this
We also received some follow up s from the schools –
One from Milton Special School –who were really pleased to be able to host an age appropriate dramatic presentation for their upper school pupils
And from Dearne Valley College we were informed that the staff had been approached by a student who felt they needed support with homelessness.
They stated that both staff and students had thoroughly enjoyed the event
Without exception – schools would welcome further performances

15. Next Steps Roll out to other areas?
Investigate funding opportunities from
Local Authorities
Central Government
Grant funding
Develop delivery to other age groups, e.g. primary?
Long term evaluation of the project
We knew this was a great idea and the feedback has confirmed that.
Crisis is really enthusiastic about getting involved in proactive work around preventing homelessness and feels that this is something that as an organisation we need to promote and try and secure future funding for.
We are also looking at the idea of an age appropriate version for younger students in the future
We are working alongside Collingwood to draw up a project brief to make this a reality and looking at how we could assess the longer term impact of the project on the numbers of young people approaching their council as homeless.

16. Further information
Mandy Carlson – Director of Crisis Skylight South Yorkshire
Chris Simes – CEO Collingwood Learning
Chris Hancock – Head of Housing, Crisis