connect THE MAGAZINE OF THE HOMELESSNESS SECTOR
Migration: the wrong sort of homelessness
UNKNOWN TRANSITIONS
TO BE OR NOT TO BE...
DYING OR DIGNITY
Next year, the 2004 Transitional Arrangements across the EU will cease. What happens next?...
The administrative removals debate - cases for and against. Should the Peterborough pilot be repeated?...
The brutal choice faced by many migrants – stay on the streets and risk dying, or seek help...
14-15
20-21
24-25
CONNECT winter 2010, issue 41 | WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
welcome
CONNECT | winter 2010
Upfront No one in recent weeks can ignore
expenditure is focused on protecting the quality of the
the profound implications of the
key frontline services…that provide support to the worst
Comprehensive Spending Review
off in society.”
(CSR). Already deeply concerned about the overall impact of cuts
Members are facing major cuts, so now is the time to
on vulnerable people, we know
lobby political leaders. Coalition politicians should be
the real devil is in the detail.
reflecting the Prime Minister’s approach: “We should say to every single council in the country, ‘When it comes to
However, while the effects of the CSR will be serious, our
looking at and trimming your budgets, don’t do the easy
ongoing work with government departments clearly
thing, which is to cut money to the voluntary bodies and
influenced decision makers in the Treasury.
organisations working in our communities. Look at your core costs. Look at how you can do more for less. Look
Along with others in our sector, we have presented
at the value for money you get from working with the
evidence on the business case for continuing work to
voluntary sector.’” (Hansard PMQs 15 September)
tackle and prevent homelessness, and to provide housing related support. This contributed significantly to the case
Labour politicians should be working to show that they
for protecting the homelessness grant, and to a below
are stronger protectors of the most vulnerable than their
average cut of 12% (2.7% next year) in Supporting People
opponents. As Grant Shapps the Housing Minister said
grant at national level. You can read more about this on
when I took the Homelessness Foundation to meet him
page 6.
and Lord Freud: “There is no group more vulnerable than this one. It’s the mark of a civilised society that we don’t
It is vitally important that members work together locally
have people living on the streets.”
to advocate the same business case to local authorities. Failing to provide support and tackle homelessness early
So please keep us in touch with what the picture looks like
risks much higher costs and problems for communities.
from your perspective. Our team will be contacting you
This means that it is at local level that the battle is
for updates. I am writing to local council Leaders on this
being fought to meet the CSR pledge ensuring “that
point, and have met leading councillors from the Local
CREDITS : SUBSCRIPTIONS : UPCOMING EDITORIAL & DESIGN
NEXT IN CONNECT: HEALTH
Editors Gill Perkins and Martin Reed
The first outing for Connect in 2011 will examine
Editorial Panel Christine Spooner, Paul Anderson,
health issues around homelessness. What does it take
Jo Crellen, Drew Lindon, Helen Mathie, Tina Crockett,
to help those on the fringes of society stay healthy
Martin Webber and Ben Dickinson
both physically and mentally? Where have we
Designer Sarah Rowing-Parker (New Start Design -
succeeded? Where do the safety nets fail?
www.newstartdesign.co.uk) Cover Photo by Claudia Janke/ Refugee Action
We’re keen to hear your thoughts on how we might engage with this and other issues. To contribute
SUBSCRIPTIONS
ideas, articles, or to invite us to interview your
To subscribe or take out additional subscriptions
organisation, email: editor@homelesslink.org.uk.
please email: connect@homelesslink.org.uk
Health topic deadline for ideas - 10 January 2011.
CONNECT | winter 2010
WELCOME
Government Association to press the case. At the same
So, do we shrug our shoulders, accept the inevitability
time we are constantly active in pushing for a rethink
of encampments of the destitute, the growth of health
on welfare reform and the proposals around housing
conditions like trench foot and drug resistant TB,
benefit. There will soon be a second batch of reforms
alcoholism based on industrial cider, people eating
introduced through primary legislation. We will campaign
anything because they are constantly hungry? Viewing
vigorously to reduce the risks of increased homelessness
these people as the wrong sort of homeless to assist is
and, if the proposals go through as planned, to press for
unhelpful. But they aren’t local voters, they don’t come
the protection of vulnerable people within our sector’s
with housing benefit payments, they may be involved
services.
in petty crime to survive. The misleading phrase “No Recourse to Public Funds” is taken to mean no help must
The focal topic of this edition of Connect, when it is
be given.
seen at all, is too often viewed as the wrong sort of However, there are signs of hope and ingenuity. People
homelessness.
are taking the initiative to find solutions and galvanise In 2004, hundreds of thousands of people from central
their partners and local community into practical action.
and eastern Europe came to the UK. Most found work
You will read more of this on the following pages. Our
and a home. They contributed significantly to the UK
website too is a growing resource of further information
economy, but for a small percentage it didn’t work out.
on this issue.
They became homeless and destitute on our streets, without effective help or routes out. Today, roughly half
When I spoke to the Inter Ministerial Group on
the people sleeping out on London streets are non UK
Homelessness I argued that this is the time for government
citizens. More than a quarter of them are from Central
to establish a baseline beneath which we will not
and Eastern Europe. This phenomenon is repeated
allow anyone to fall, no matter where their journey into
throughout the country.
homelessness began. There is no better place to start than with the destitute. There is no better time to start
We have to find practical answers, spur local action and
than now.
achieve national policy change to achieve our ambition to end rough sleeping. There is no alternative.
Jenny Edwards Chief Executive, Homeless Link
in this issue LATEST NEWS COMMENT Submissions on homeless make an impact A lesson learned? FEATURES Destination unknown CEE migration in the UK They come to work, not use services... Unknown transitions Secret millionaire gives destitute women a fresh start The CEE story in stats... To be or not to be - the debate on administrative removal Peterborough takes compassionate action Rebuilding social ties: a way out of homelessness for migrants Dying or dignity?
4
6 8
10 12 13 14 16 18 20 22 23 24
With no prospects, a black eye and a plastic bag... Working the system: Olallo In practice Jerzy: recycled citizen Jaroslaw: learning to trust Diverse misuse Someone to worry for me Solutions that will stick Managing people Census 2011: making sure homeless people count Housing first: challenging the status quo?
26 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37
INSPIRED into the dragons den.. and out with the Michael Whippman award 2010
38
WHAT’S ON
39
resources
40
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
3
news
CONNECT | winter 2010
latest sector news It’s been 4 months since the last issue of Connect. Here’s a snapshot of what’s going on. Don’t forget you can send us your news to editor@homelesslink.org.uk and we will promote it through the most appropriate channel - our website, in Connect, on Twitter or in MemberLink.
member news: designed to ensure all its clients
services, social enterprises and
receive the practical training and
spaces for business and community
personal support they need to move
use:
on. For more information see:
• 95 rooms as part of the of
www.itsyourmove.org.uk
Camden’s Hostels Pathway programme • 35 sub-market rent flats for local low-paid workers • S paces for group work • Fully equipped IT suite • GP / nurse surgery • Work and Learn / Employment
St Mungo’s Woolly Hat Day
Academy – provided by Broadway
HATS FOR HOMELESSNESS
• Restaurant and conference
St Mungo’s first ever profile and fund
facilities provided by City Dining
raising Woolly Hat Day on Friday 22 October helped achieve a record number of visits to its website with
and One Support STEPS training programme
support coming from individuals,
• Construction skills training facility provided in conjunction with Lakehouse
schools, companies. Stephen Fry
ARLINGTON – ONE SUPPORT
tweeted three times about the Day.
Once housing more than 1,000 men, Arlington reopened in mid-
• 13 studios including an artist in residence who will deliver courses to Arlington residents
IT’S YOUR MOVE…
2010 under the ownership and
It’s Your Move, part of Broadway
management of One Housing Group.
Homelessness & Support, has
It offers an exceptional standard of
launched STEPS, a structured training
accommodation and a range of
health floating support)
and engagement programme
training and employment related
• The Hub – space for use by
• One Support – Floating Support Service (team base) • OHG – Community Link (mental
HOMELESS LINK WELCOMES THE FOLLOWING NEW MEMBERS: 4NW, Harvest of Grace Trinity Centre, Islington South and Finsbury, Simon House, Cranford Property Services Ltd, Mayday Trust, London Jesus Centre, Pilgrim hearts Trust, Forest YMCA, FLACK, Space Trust, North Herts District Council, Recycling Lives (UK) Limited, Phoenix Community Housing Cooperative, Depaul Ireland, Sheffield City Council, North Herts. Sanctuary Ltd, YMCA - St Helens, Hightown Praetorian and Churches Housing Association, Shelter Scotland - Shelter Support Service, Lowland Care Services Ltd and YACRO
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WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
CONNECT | winter 2010
news
NAC SPOTLIGHT We are entering an environment of dramatically reducing funding and fierce competition for the prioritisation of services. Homeless Link provides the necessary collective voice and is a strong national representative for local agencies. The NAC directly informs Homeless Link about the impact of Government policy ‘on the ground’ on service users and agencies. At this year’s annual conference, 4 regional NAC workshops focussed on how we can make most effective use
Accommodation at Arlington House
of this regionally: • More face to face contact in the regions • Individual services hosting more
community organisations and for
created by some of the country’s
rent by firms who share Arlington’s
leading composers and filmmakers
overall ethos.
working with over 120 Streetwise
www.onehousinggroup.co.uk/
Opera performers from around
Section/One-Support
England.
collective meetings or events • Ensure the data and examples we gather are shared with relevant MPs and stakeholders • Modify the pro-forma used for gathering information so it can be
EMPLOYMENT ACADEMY FOR
The teams have created four
LONDON’S HOMELESS
stunning seven-minute films based on
sent directly to providers • Provide a list of issues that
Homeless Londoners and the long-
fables from the classic, The Boy who
term unemployed in the boroughs
Cried Wolf; the folkloric, the legend of
of Southwark and Lambeth are set
The Hartlepool Monkey ; the literary,
to benefit from the new £6m Thames
Oscar Wilde’s The Nightingale and
focus on that can coincide with
Reach Employment academy
the Rose and the contemporary
the NAC agendas, to allow for
opening up next year.
Shinishi Hoshi’s Hey! Come on Out!
more detailed feedback to be
www.thamesreach.org.uk
Each film will begin with a live operatic introduction involving
providers can ‘rank’ in terms of importance • Have an ‘issue of the quarter’ to
gathered • Monitor changes in the funding
SNOW HILL – A BLUEPRINT FOR THE
Streetwise Opera performers and a
environment and impact on
FUTURE
professional cast.
providers of cuts as they happen
Midland Heart’s former hostel is being
www.streetwiseopera.org
transformed by Frank Haslam Milan
As a result of this consultation,
into 92 apartments for both men
Homeless Link has modified the NAC
and women ready to leave direct
Online Pro Forma as requested.
access accommodation. The focus
Regional representatives can also
will be around providing support
send the survey link to any interested
and training opportunities. For more
parties they know of in their area.
information, see:
A funding tracker has also been
www.midlandheart.org.uk
introduced.
WORLD PREMIERE – FABLES: A FILM
Please visit www.homeless.org.uk/
OPERA
national-advisory-council to find
Shoreditch Church will be
your NAC representative.
transformed into a magical world of fable for Streetwise Opera’s new
Catherine Jameson, Resource
commission, ‘Fables - A Film Opera’,
Co-ordinator, HLG WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
5
COMMENT
CONNECT | WINTER 2010
Submissions on homelessness make an impact The impact of the CSR published on 20 October will be serious. Sarah Gorton, Policy Manager at Homeless Link looks at the main asks we made of government and the response within the review. Some of the major impacts were contained in the Emergency Budget in June. Homeless link is working with a number of other organisations to raise awareness of how these are likely to increase levels of homelessness, and look at what impact this might have on the savings made. Homeless Link - Asks of government
Results in Comprehensive Spending Review
1. Maintain investment in Supporting
Supporting People (SP) faces a 12% cut over four years (with 2.7%
People at current levels.
in 2011-12). Although this is a significant cut, it is far less than many feared, and is significantly lower when compared to the overall cut to the CLG budget. It does indicate recognition of the arguments we put that housing related support is a vital service for some of the most vulnerable in our society and delivers savings to other services.
2. Continue to use an element of
Total investment in new affordable housing 2011-2015 is £4.5bn, to
the National Affordable Housing
build up to 150,000 new affordable homes over the next 4 years. This
Programme to develop new supported
represents a cut of 60%, down from £8.8bn over the previous three
housing stock and remodel existing
year period to £4.4bn over the next four years.
stock. 3. Continue capital and revenue
Homeless Link is very pleased that capital funding totalling £37.5m
investment to change services into
has been secured to launch a second round of the Places of
Places for Change to enable services
Change hostels improvement programme from April 2012. This is a
for homeless and vulnerable people to
lower amount than previously but does mean that the excellent
deliver improved outcomes and better
work carried out through Places of Change can continue.
value for money, as evidenced by the earlier programme. 4. Maintain the level of the Homelessness Grant to ensure continuing capacity to
Funding over the next four years will exceed £400 million, averaging £108m annually. This remains relatively unchanged over the
prevent and tackle homelessness in the
Spending Review period 2011-2015. Homelessness Grant will be paid
face of intense upward pressures.
as part of the Area Based Grant, so is not ring-fenced. It is important to ensure that LAs continue to spend this money on preventing homelessness, in the context of the 7.1% decrease in council funding annually.
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CONNECT | WINTER 2010
5. Continue to drive towards the goal of
COMMENT
The goal of ending rough sleeping does not get a specific
ending rough sleeping by the end of
mention in the CSR. Our specific concern is that many of the
2012 and to retain and develop services
cuts announced in housing benefit will lead to an increase in
to ensure the goal is achieved.
homelessness and could feed into the rough sleeping population.
6. Recognise adults facing multiple needs and exclusions as a key issue. Make a
There is no specific recognition of adults facing multiple needs and exclusions in the CSR.
clear statement on the importance of cooperation between local services in achieving coordinated, cost effective delivery for this group and support this, where appropriate, with crossdepartmental coordination and crossgovernment funds. 7. Flag individuals receiving housing-
Homeless Link along with other organisations is still working to
related support as vulnerable and
mitigate the potential negative effects of the welfare reform
requiring attention and support
proposals. The CSR announced an extra £7bn from the means-
within welfare reform and the Work
tested part of the welfare budget. These cuts come on top of
Programme so that they do not risk
the £11bn of cuts already announced in the Emergency Budget,
losing their accommodation as a
including cuts to Housing Benefit (HB). We are concerned a
result of changes and ill considered
number of these will potentially increase homelessness, such as
application of conditionality. No further
the 10% reduction in HB for those on JSA for over a year. More
measures to reduce the amount of
information on HB changes can be found on our website here:
Housing Benefit available to vulnerable
http://www.homeless.org.uk/closed-consultations
people should be put in place until full consideration has been given to any potential unintended consequences on vulnerable people and their access to housing. 8. Take steps to protect providers of
Supported housing and rough sleeping will be impacted by the
supported accommodation from
changes outlined above because move on from the supported
loss of income if they accommodate
sector is likely to become increasingly limited. The changes
vulnerable and chaotic residents who
may also lead to some councils having to refocus on the priority
are most at risk of benefit reductions
homeless cases, as they will have decreased capacity and
or suspension. Take steps to protect
decreased funding. This may be to the detriment of non-priority
providers of supported accommodation
single homeless people which will include many rough sleepers.
from loss of income if they
However, the limited cut to the SP budget and the announcement
accommodate vulnerable and chaotic
of an additional £40 million for discretionary housing payment to
residents who are most at risk of benefit
local authorities will mean that providers can make the case for
reductions or suspension.
limiting the detrimental impact on provision for the most vulnerable.
9. Ensure housing, health and social
The framework for social care and public health has not yet been
care work together more effectively
published. It is not yet clear how the needs of homeless people will
to maximise the value of public
be recognised within this renewed emphasis on joint working. One
investment, meeting the needs of
welcome aspect of the announcement is the extra £2bn for social
older and vulnerable people, and
care which includes £1bn to support joint working between the
jointly investing in prevention/early
NHS and social care - specifically to break down the long-standing
intervention and support.
barriers between health and social care. Effective joint working is important to people with complex needs so we hope this small budget will address some of those issues.
10. Maintain public health funding in real
Public health is one of the few ring fenced budgets. The framework
terms during the period 2011-2015 and
for public health is due to be published this Autumn and we
take into account the local vulnerable
have yet to see how much the interface between poor housing,
and homeless population in supported
homelessness and poor health is recognised.
accommodation in the allocation for public health. WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
7
COMMENT
CONNECT | winter 2010
A lesson learned? Nearly a decade and a half after the sweeping and arbitrary cuts of the mid-1990s, Canadians are struggling to undo the unnatural disaster of homelessness unwittingly unleashed upon our most vulnerable citizens. Tim Richter, President and CEO of Calgary Homelessness Foundation, describes how there is a lot to be learned from the unintended, and ultimately expensive, consequences of Canada’s approach. The principal problem of deep, fast and unfocused cuts
cuts and within four years had eliminated a C$42 billion
to housing and social assistance programs is that they’re
budget deficit.
not really cuts at all – in fact, by being “arbitrary and unreasonable”, government risks incurring greater costs
This was accomplished with deep cuts to provincial
down the road. This is the problem Canada faces today.
transfers (the money the federal government pays to provinces that the provinces in turn use to pay for everything from health care to welfare) and cuts to direct
“I was accused of being arbitrary and
federal spending on almost everything. Among the cuts
unreasonable. And I was.”
was the national affordable housing program (in place
former Canadian Finance Minister Paul Martin,
since in 1973) ending federal investment in new affordable
Financial Times, June 7, 2010.
housing. This left the provincial governments, also fighting significant budget deficits, to pick up the slack, which they could not.
Homelessness in Canada In the early 1990’s homelessness was such a minor issue in
Throughout the 1990’s reduced transfers of funding
Canada that there were very few counts completed. In
to provinces saw reductions and restrictions in social
one of the country’s first homeless counts in 1992, the City
assistance across the country. Tightening eligibility criteria
of Calgary counted 447 people as homeless. By 2008
saw the number of households receiving assistance in
that number had exploded to over 4,060, including an
Canada falling dramatically from a peak of 3.1 million in
estimated 300 rough sleepers.
1993 to 1.7 million by 2005.
Unintended consequences
And as fewer people could access social assistance, the
The Canadian government, inherited by newly elected
amount of money received by those that could was also
Prime Minister Jean Chretien in 1993, was awash in
cut. When adjusted for inflation, a single unemployed
debt. That year, Wall Street Journal called Canada “an
Alberta resident in 2008 was receiving 33 percent less
honorary member of the Third World” when our national
than in 1986, a disabled single person lost eight percent
debt was heading towards a peak of 72 per cent of the
in the same period and a single parent with a dependent
size of the economy.
child lost 18 percent.
Facing an unsustainable debt and deficit, the federal
With insufficient affordable housing in the system,
government quickly set about implementing budget
vulnerable Canadians were forced to rely on the private
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WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
CONNECT | winter 2010
COMMENT
rental market. Incomes afforded by social assistance
In a recent survey by the Calgary Homeless Foundation,
were, and still are, nowhere near sufficient to support
nearly 80 percent of homeless people interviewed
private rental housing.
reported spending time in jail over the last year.
Both the single job seeker and the disabled single person
Research and recent Canadian experience shows
on social assistance were over $20,000 per year short
that affordable and supportive housing is five times less
of the income necessary to affordably rent a bachelor
expensive than our current institutional responses to
apartment in Calgary in 2008. A single parent with one
homelessness (jails, hospitals) and about half the cost of
child found themselves more than $31,000 per year
emergency shelter.
short of affordably renting an average two bedroom apartment.
Coming to grips with the problem In 2007, faced with a homelessness disaster in Calgary
By cutting affordable housing programs and drastically
getting worse no matter what we tried, business leaders
cutting social assistance through the 1990’s people
gathered a cross section of community members to form
who might otherwise have lived in social housing and/
the Calgary Committee to End Homelessness. Taking our
or received income supports lost their housing and were
lead from successful programs in US, we embarked on
forced into emergency services. In effect – we eliminated
a 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness driven by the belief
at least part of our budget deficit on the backs of our
that ultimately it would cost less to fix homelessness than it
most vulnerable citizens.
would to allow it to continue.
A budget shell game
We estimated that if nothing was done and homelessness
The sad truth we face in Canada today is that cuts to
continued to grow at the same rate as it had for the
social assistance and housing in the 1990’s were not really
decade before, well over C$9 billion would be spent on
cuts at all, in fact, we’re paying more now to clean up the
homelessness over the next decade. By implementing
mess.
a 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness, we believe we can save over C$3.6 billion by 2018. That’s just in Calgary.
To respond to the growing homeless problem in Canada, communities across the country built emergency shelters
In March 2008, the Government of Alberta – run by the
and created emergency assistance programs.
same conservative party for nearly 40 years – became the first and only government in Canada to commit itself
Based on a conservative homeless count of 150,000
to ending homelessness in 10 years. Moreover, it has
people, one 2007 study estimated that homelessness
committed hundreds of millions of dollars to the cause.
today costs Canadian taxpayers between C$4.5 and C$6 billion per year.
Why did Calgary’s conservative business elite lead a plan to end homelessness? Because beyond the humanitarian
By comparison, a one percent reduction in the Goods
tragedy, homelessness an epic waste of taxpayer dollars.
and Services Tax (our version of the VAT) cost the
A waste made all the more hard to swallow because it’s
government C$4.35 billion in 2006.
entirely preventable.
In Calgary alone, we estimate that at least C$320 million
The Canadian experience
is being spent on homelessness every year, much of it on
The Canadian experience in deficit reduction shows that
expensive public systems like health care and jail.
deep, fast and unfocused cuts to housing and social assistance programs are not really cuts at all – in fact,
People experiencing homelessness have poorer health
governments are in effect deferring payment on housing
than the average Canadian, often having one or more
and social assistance into the future several years, and
chronic conditions, as well as untreated mental health
shifting added cost to other lines on the government’s
and addictions issues.
balance sheet.
Multiple emergency health visits followed by death at a
If you have to take any deficit fighting lessons from
young age is a reality for many homeless people, who
Canada take from us that “arbitrary and unreasonable”
are three to four times more likely to die prematurely than
cuts to housing and social assistance that are too deep
non-homeless people of the same age.
or unfocused will do more harm than good and cost taxpayers more in the long term. WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
9
FEATURES
CONNECT | winter 2010
Destination Unknown Asylum and housing hit the news again recently when Birmingham City Council was reported as wanting to stop accepting asylum seekers because councillors wanted to give homes to local people instead (Telegraph 8th October 2010). Jonathan Ellis, Director
When a person comes to the UK, they need to make a
of Advocacy at the
formal asylum application within 72 hours at the Home
Refugee Council,
Office in Croydon. Upon making such an application,
describes the
they will receive asylum support (around 70% of income
weaknesses in the
support), be refused the right to work and then be
asylum system and the
dispersed to accommodation in any one of the four
urgent need for change
corners of the UK. This position will be sustained until a
in public policy in this
decision is made by the UK Border Agency (the arms
area.
length agency of the Home Office).
But our country has a long and proud tradition of
Yet why was it when in 2009 the Asylum Support
welcoming newcomers who have had to flee from their
Partnership (the NGOs delivering support to asylum
own country.
seekers) studied in detail the accommodation of their clients they found that 48% or 1972 visits to their offices
Today the UK maintains that tradition of offering
were made by destitute people? Download the PDF
protection, albeit after a painful and often debilitating
from the Refugee Council website: http://bit.ly/fgzOF8.
process, to people fleeing from countries such as Somalia,
Around 30% of these clients were destitute because
Eritrea, Iran, Afghanistan and China. The one common
of delays in processing asylum support. This is just
denominator of these countries is their scant regard for
unacceptable. Since the publication of this report the
human rights.
NGOs have worked hard with the UKBA to address this problem.
In the current debate around wider economic migration, it is vitally important to focus on the reasons why
The more deep rooted problem was the 60% of destitute
people seek asylum and refugee status. To address this
clients who were destitute because they were refused
fundamental question, we commissioned Dr. Heaven
asylum seekers.
Crawley at Swansea University to undertake a qualitative piece of research to develop a better understanding of
What is even more revealing is that 50% of all visits by such
why people seek asylum in the UK. The resulting report,
destitute people were from just four countries: Iraq, Iran,
Chance or Choice, is a graphic and harrowing collection
Eritrea and Zimbabwe.
of personal tales of why people had to flee their homes and also of how little they knew about the UK, or, indeed,
So there is both the issue of administrative failing causing
of their final destination. They were desperate to go
destitution and of some refused asylum seekers for whom
anywhere safe. This report can be downloaded from the
return to their home country in the short-term is difficult if
Refugee Council at: http://bit.ly/e9Z7WE.
not impossible. Yet even for those of our clients who do receive refugee
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WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
CONNECT | WINTER 2010
FEATURES
status, the danger of destitution does not vanish.
download from the Refugee Council website) it seems to
Once you have received your refugee status, you are
have done little to remove this perceived injustice from
given 28 days notice to leave your asylum support
the wider debate on migration.
accommodation. Now, if you have lived in this country all your life, you might struggle to find a new home in that
In terms of developing our public policy on this issue,
time period. But if you are new to the country, English
we clearly need urgent action. For people still in the
is not your first language and you have no savings for
asylum system, who find themselves destitute, NGOs at
a deposit and advance rent, indeed you have been
a national, regional and local level need to continue to
expressly forbidden to work and hence unable to provide
be powerful advocates to ensure that destitution is not
for yourself, how on earth might you be expected to find
caused by administrative failure. For those at the end of
a home in 28 days?
the process, we need to be so much more creative. If someone has exhausted their appeal rights, but return
For many of the refugees that I have spoken to, receiving
to their home country is impossible, is destitution the only
their status is the just the start of the battle. To avoid
viable public policy response? What about limited leave
becoming street homeless, many new refugees are
to remain with the right to work as opposed to letting
forced to turn to their own family and community to find
them fester here with no home or income?
an initial home. At the Refugee Council over the last few years, the importance of housing to our refugee clients
And for those who receive refugee status, we also
has become ever more central to our work. We are not
need to be much more imaginative. The Refugee
looking for special favours for our clients, but recognition
Council needs to work increasingly closely
of their vulnerability and need for support to find a home.
with housing providers so that refugees are
It is, I think, of paramount importance to a refugee, who
supported in finding the best housing solutions
has faced such insecurity and fear in their life, that we
for them, and not just left to find their own
are able to help them to find a safe and secure home
way and then run the risk of presenting at
from which to rebuild their lives.
homeless shelters.
All of these operational challenges to support our clients must be seen in the context of growing media hostility
If anything in this article has struck a chord with
to migrants in general and in particular to the view that
you, we would be delighted to hear from you to
refugees receive preferential treatment in housing. The
help us develop more creative ways to reduce
fact that the Equality and Human Rights Commission
the risk of such destitution.
investigated this allegation last year and found no
Email: jonathan.ellis@refugeecouncil.org.uk
evidence to support it (see http://bit.ly/fzCNp3 PDF WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
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CONNECT | WINTER 2010
CEE MIGRATION IN THE UK A major Migration Policy Institute report estimates
You can read the executive summary on our website:
that 1.5 million Eastern Europeans have entered the
http://bit.ly/eJ5El3 (PDF download).
UK since 2004. Gill Perkins, Head of Communications, looks at the role of Homeless Link and its members in
The Acceleration of the Problem
finding solutions to the growing number of migrants
In November 2008, we replicated this research, and found
who find themselves destitute on our streets.
that a quarter of rough sleepers were from Central and Eastern Europe. The CHAIN database has since shown
In 2004, while the majority of EU states put strong,
a further rise in the absolute number of people from
temporary, employment restrictions on their borders,
A8 countries (and A2s since January 2007) on London’s
the UK welcomed the opportunity to increase its labour
streets alongside an increase in the proportion of migrant
market. Many A8 migrants believed Britain’s booming
rough sleepers. See the article on page 18 for more
economy offered the opportunity of a better standard
details.
of living and arrived in far greater numbers than was anticipated.
The issue was recognised explicitly in the government’s 2008 strategy No One Left Out: Communities Ending
Early Signs of a Problem
Rough Sleeping.
The issue first appeared on Homeless Link’s radar when some members raised concerns about queues of people
Solutions
waiting outside day centres in the days and weeks
Many agencies are adapting to meet the challenges
following accession in May 2004. They were struggling
presented by this group, while specific services have
to deal with a huge increase in demand. Most of these
developed to meet additional needs, including
people had no recourse to public funds, including
reconnection initiatives from Thames Reach and CRI.
housing benefits, due to transitional arrangements put in
You can read more about good practice in this edition
place before accession.
of Connect and at www.homeless.org.uk/centraleastern-europeans
2006 Research In March 2006 Homeless Link undertook the first research
What does the future hold?
into homelessness amongst this group.
No-one should be left destitute and excluded from basic support in Twenty-First Century Britain. Rough sleeping
The Key findings
should not be an unintended consequence of policy.
• 15% of people seen using London homelessness services were A8s, mainly Polish • Two distinct groups emerged:
rough sleeping among migrants. We are working
-- Those relatively new to the streets with minimal
with national government to “destitution-proof” new
support needs (primarily language and
proposals, especially around benefit changes or
employment)
future accessions. We are also encouraging national
-- A smaller group with more serious support needs,
government to work with local authorities to ensure that
common to longer-term rough sleeping. Without
all homeless people from CEE countries receive short-term
intervention, this group’s problems were likely to
support from the appropriate services to enable them to
increase over time as a result of restrictions on their
find work or return home.
entitlements.
12
We are campaigning nationally on the need to reduce
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
CONNECT | winter 2010
FEATURES
THEY COME TO WORK, NOT TO USE SERVICES The majority of Central and Eastern Europeans (CEEs) want to work and get back on their feet, but need help to do so. Barnaby Green, Employment Team Leader at Crisis, reviews how they established a specialist programme for CEE clients with the support of funding from the Oak Foundation. Supporting the growing number
public funds, difficulties accessing detox services and
of homeless CEE nationals is an
legal advice and a lack of accommodation. Many start
ever more pressing concern in the
work while still rough sleeping.
economic downturn. Whilst many of their compatriots have prospered in this country, others
At Crisis we are concerned that much of the debate
have found themselves living rough on the streets. With
around helping CEEs focuses only on the enforcement
access to limited benefits, this could be for a variety of
and reconnections. Whilst this has its place, there needs
reasons, such as employment contracts ending (perhaps
to be a wider debate about what other support we can
with tied accommodation) or because they have been
offer. Better services will not attract people. People come
exploited by fraudulent employment agencies.
here wanting to work, not to use services or support and most will have no idea about what services exist. We
In the last year our dedicated work and learning coaches
need to ensure that the right services are available and
have worked with 140 clients – mainly Polish, then
that we particularly address accommodation issues.
Lithuanian and Czech - and supported 60 of these into
Otherwise, with unemployment continuing to rise, more
employment. Whilst substance misuse and mental health
and more CEEs are likely to end up with no choice but to
issues are common, we find people are generally very
sleep on the streets.
motivated to look for employment and, with the right support, often find it reasonably quickly. They are often willing to relocate anywhere in the UK, even moving as far as from London to Scotland. Although most have
Case study
no formal UK qualifications, many have up to Level 2
After 6 months working in the UK, RK (a Lithuanian
qualifications from their country of origin and some are
man in his 30s) lost his job and became street
even more highly skilled.
homeless. He came to Crisis with no ID or NI number and speaking no English. We helped
We support our clients to overcome the barriers they face
him to get new documents, registered him
be that language issues, a lack of documents, difficulties
into ESOL classes, CSCS and our job club. We
writing CVs, getting a National Insurance number or
supported him to find a job and were then able
becoming self-employed. We also offer access to a range
to get him into some short term accommodation
of training opportunities.
to help him sustain employment. RK now works as a kitchen porter and lives in private rented
However, despite our best efforts, some real problems
accommodation.
remain for our clients, not least the lack of access to WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
13
FEATURES
CONNECT | winter 2010
UNKNOWN TRANSITIONS Next year signals the seventh anniversary of the A8 accession process, the point at which the 2004 Transitional Arrangements across the EU are due to cease. Paul Anderson, Head of London at Homeless Link, considers the question many are now asking: what will the entitlement status of A8 nationals be when the transitional arrangements end in April 2011? When the Czech
However, next May will see the seventh anniversary of the
Republic, Estonia,
accession. There are no more extensions available.
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,
Along with many homelessness agencies, local
Slovakia and Slovenia
authorities and A8 migrants, we are wondering what will
joined the EU on 1
happen next?
May 2004, all but three existing members of the EU put quite stringent
Some parts of the media are certain they know. In March
transitional labour market restrictions in place. Three
the Mail on Sunday stated “from April 2011, immigrants
states, Ireland, Sweden and the UK, chose not to do
from Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia,
this. Instead of considering restrictions similar to those
Slovenia and the Czech Republic – where income
applied to Romania and Bulgaria in 2007, our government
levels are 40 per cent of the European average – will
introduced:
be allowed to claim Jobseekers’ Allowance and other benefits after just three months.” So is the Mail right?
• The Workers Registration Scheme: workers were supposed to make a registration payment once
All the evidence appears to be that from next May A8
in employment, although it did not apply to self-
migrants will have the same rights to work and claim
employment. In spite of its clear limitations, the WRS
benefits in the UK as all other EU nationals coming into the
was often used as the official government measure of
UK, subject to a Habitual Residence Test, first introduced
A8 migration to the UK.
in 1994 with the professed aim of ending ‘benefit tourism’. In January 2010 The House of Commons Library published
• Restrictions around access to Public Funds: individuals
a briefing for Members of Parliament (SN/SP/416)
from A8 countries were not entitled to many Welfare
reiterating some of the workings of the HRT. Specifically, it
Benefits or statutory Homelessness Assistance unless
raised a number of key points relevant to the A8 eligibility
they had enjoyed an unbroken period of work or were
question:
in employment at the time of application. • All EU citizens who have recently arrived in the Under European Law, Transitional Arrangements like
country claiming certain means-tested social security
these can be introduced initially for three years, with
benefits, or seek housing assistance, must show they
the possibility of two consecutive two year extensions,
are ‘habitually resident’. This includes returning UK
if there is an economic need. The UK government took
nationals. A person who fails the HRT is treated as a
advantage of both extensions.
‘person from abroad’ and is ineligible for benefits.
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WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
CONNECT | WINTER 2010
• There is no definitive list of factors which determines
FEATURES
period was five years, but this was reduced as one of
whether a person is habitually resident. Precedent
the outcomes following the Government’s review of the
has established that things that should be considered
habitual residence test – 14 June 1999).”
include, but are not exclusive to:
a)
The length, continuity and general
However, while this is not a bad overview, the
nature of actual residence
implementation of the HRT is a lot less clear than the
b)
Reasons for coming to the UK
briefing suggests. How complicated might it be for staff
c)
The claimant’s future intentions
at Job Centre Plus or local authorities to assess the former and future intentions of, for example, a Polish man I once
• The DWP or council approached by a claimant should
met. He had arrived in the UK a number of years ago
look at each case individually and consider all the
under the Transitional Arrangements. He now has no
relevant facts in the light of the case law before
documents, has never been on the Workers Registration
reaching a decision. The decision about whether or
Scheme, has been sleeping on the streets, says he does
not someone is habitually resident should be made
not want to return home and does not speak English. Lives
on the balance of probabilities, with the onus of proof
like his are rarely straightforward to assess or balance on
lying with the DWP or local authority.
a form.
The briefing also stated: “In practice, it is only people
In the current climate around benefits it seems unlikely
who are identified from their benefit claim details as
that the Mail is right, but we can’t make any assumptions
having come/returned to the UK within the last two
yet. We now have to wait until we have seen the first test
years immediately prior to their claim who are actively
cases next year to know how exactly how the HRT is going
subjected to the habitual residence test. (Originally the
to be applied for A8 migrants.
SURVIVING THE CUTS 8 FEBRUARY 2011 | LONDON One day conference looking at the impact of the spending review and how to protect your service against the cuts. This event will: • explore the pressures that agencies are facing and share resulting strategies to deal with them • share practical ways to safeguard your service and deliver the required efficiencies • explore new opportunities that these changes will create • look at how you can demonstrate the difference that you make in order to generate support for your work • empower you to change through campaigning and local influencing. We need to harness our knowledge, passion and resilience that we have shown so often in tackling homelessness, to face the challenges ahead and improve the long-term prospects for our clients.
For more information or to book your place: T: 020 7840 4461 E: events@homelesslink.org.uk
www.homeless.org.uk/surviving-the-cuts
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
15
FEATURES
CONNECT | winter 2010
Secret Millionaire gives destitute women a fresh start Homelessness and
without support for more than a year, with 48 saying they
destitution are a daily
had been in the that situation for 5 years.
reality for hundreds of people seeking asylum
Mr Abedi’s donation to Refugee Action is helping to set
who have been refused
up a project for destitute women in Leicester called Fresh
protection but feel
Start. The women will be housed for up to 6 months and a
they cannot return to
Refugee Action case worker will work closely with them to
their home country.
help find a solution to their cases.
Julia Ravenscroft, of
The problem of destitution stretches far beyond the
the national charity
boundaries of Leicester, however.
Refugee Action, looks at the situation of
Refugee Action believes that one of the ways to prevent
people caught in ‘limbo’
destitution at the end of the process is to improve the
and some of the ways
information people get at the beginning and the support
destitution could be
they receive throughout.
prevented. The charity has been piloting a scheme in Liverpool This year, millions of people got a glimpse into the lives
called the Key Worker Pilot (KWP) which supports 200
of destitute asylum seekers when Channel 4’s The Secret
people over 12 months. A designated key worker advises
Millionaire highlighted their plight and the work of
each asylum seeker from the outset with information
Refugee Action in Leicester.
about the asylum system and likely outcomes. The worker assists each person to access a solicitor and feel
Millionaire Jahan Abedi was shocked when he met
supported. Six months into the pilot, 36 per cent of people
several Zimbabwean men sharing a small room and a
have received a positive decision - far higher than the
grandmother from Rwanda who had been surviving
national average. In addition, fewer cases are successful
hand-to-mouth for some years. All had been refused
on appeal, indicating that the KWP is contributing
asylum and told to return to their home country or they
towards more correct decisions at the initial Home Office
would lose all support. Fully refused asylum seekers
interview.
are given 21 days before their housing and support is removed. Many of those Mr Abedi met felt their cases
Dave Garratt, acting Chief Executive of Refugee Action,
had not been properly heard and, as asylum seekers are
said: “The KWP and Fresh Start are about providing
not allowed to work, had found themselves on the fringes
sustainable solutions for people so that they don’t fall
of society.
through the cracks and become destitute. The majority of people claim asylum in good faith and those who
A report produced in June this year by Leicester Refugee
are rejected are often totally unprepared. By receiving
and Asylum Seekers Voluntary Sector Forum revealed that
independent support and building up a trust relationship,
of 225 destitute asylum seekers surveyed, 131 had been
key workers give people help and realistic advice and we are seeing positive results from this approach.”
16
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
CONNECT | winter 2010
FEATURES
DESTITUTION IN THE LEICESTER ASYLUM SYSTEM Asylum seekers are still sleeping on the streets, sofa-
He said: “Occasionally I can stay with friends, but
surfing and living hand-to-mouth, according to the
mostly I have to sleep rough. I am lucky to get
fifth annual report on destitution in Leicester. The
one meal a day and I have no access to cooking
survey, entitled Destitution in the Asylum System in
facilities. I don’t care for myself because I don’t know
Leicester, was carried out by Refugee Action, the
what will happen to me that day. I don’t know where
British Red Cross, The Assist Surgery, Leicester Aids
I will sleep tonight. I feel dead inside. Not hungry, not
Support Service (LASS), the Leicestershire Congolese
sad. Just fearful and dead.”
Mutual Group and the Welcome Project. If an asylum seeker has their claim fully refused their The report shows that some people had become
support is removed unless they sign up to return
destitute because their asylum claim had been
home voluntarily, they are too sick to travel or the
rejected, but they had not returned back to
Home Office rules that there is no safe route of return.
their home country, while seven said they were
If none of these applies, then any support is removed
temporarily destitute because of delays in
within 21 days. Asylum seekers are not allowed to
getting support after they had received a positive
work to support themselves. Many stay rather than
decision. Others cited issues like the lack of legal
return to their home country.
representation and administrative errors as the reason.
Amanda Soraghan, area manager of the charity Refugee Action in Leicester, said: “This report shows
Kasim, an asylum seeker from Burundi, said he is
that are still many people living on the streets of
waiting to see if he will be entitled to section 4
Leicester who have been refused asylum but who
voucher support and in the meantime he is destitute.
say they are too afraid to go home.
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
17
FEATURES
CONNECT | winter 2010
The CEE Story in Stats Becky Rice, Research and Information Manager at
Proportion of people seen rough sleeping
Broadway, describes what CHAIN tells us about rough
from the UK, CEE countries & other European
sleeping amongst Central and Eastern European
Countries: 2005/06 – 2000/10
nationals. CHAIN is used to record work undertaken by outreach teams and other homelessness services across London. The system focuses on those contacted on the street and does not cover hidden homeless groups such as ‘sofa surfers’.
Nationality
05/06
06/07
07/08
08/09
09/10
UK
64%
62%
58%
58%
52%
CEE
9%
11%
14%
18%
26%
Other Europe (inc. Italy & Portugal)
8%
9%
7%
8%
7%
In 2009/10 just over a quarter (845) of those seen rough
The graph below reveals that CEE rough sleeping is
sleeping by outreach teams were from Central and
having an increasing influence in the slight upwards trend
Eastern European (CEE) countries. The table below shows
in people seen rough sleeping (as analysed in monthly
the increasing proportion of rough sleepers who are from
periods since May 2007). This is demonstrated by the gap
CEE countries over the last five years from 9% in 2005/06
between the top two trend lines on the graph. In fact,
to the 2009/10 level. In 2009/10 47% of people seen rough
where CEE rough sleepers are excluded there is a slight
sleeping from CEE countries were Polish. The next largest
downward trend in the number of people seen rough
group was Lithuanians (14%). People from ten accession
sleeping over recent years.
countries were represented. People seen rough sleeping with trend lines for all rough sleepers,
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
900 800 700 600 500
300
100
0
0
0
-1 Au g
-1 Ju n
10
Ap r-1
Fe b-
09 c-
9
09 Au g09 Oc t-0 9
n-
09
Ap r-0
Fe b-
08 c-
8
8 Au g08 Oc t-0 8
-0 Ju n
8 -0
Ap r-0
Fe b
07 c-
7
0
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
All
CEE
Without CEE
De
Ju
De
Oct-07Dec-07Feb-08Apr-08Jun-08Aug-08Oct-08Dec-08Feb-09Apr-09Jun-09Aug-09Oct-09Dec-09Feb-10Apr-10Jun-10Aug-10 De
Without CEE
200
t-0
CEE
400
Oc
All 18
Oct-07Dec-07Feb-08Apr-08Jun-08Aug-08Oct-08Dec-08Feb-09Apr-09Jun-09Aug-0
all excluding CEE people and CEE people only
CONNECT | winter 2010
FEATURES
There is clear evidence that some people from CEE
in 2009/10. Information from the new CHAIN system
countries are becoming more long term rough sleepers
(launched in May 2010) will be far more comprehensive in
in London. Three quarters of CEE clients were ‘flow’ i.e.
this area.
new to the streets in 2009/10. The remaining quarter were largely ‘stock’ clients i.e. people who were seen rough
CHAIN tells us:
sleeping in two or more consecutive years. Just over one
• Tackling rough sleeping amongst CEE people is a
in ten of CEE clients (12%) seen rough sleeping in 2009/10
central component of ending rough sleeping
were first contacted in 2007 or before.
• The group is diverse and a range of approaches will be required to end rough sleeping in this group
In a recent Broadway study about new rough sleepers,
• There is a flow of people into the streets who are likely
CEE rough sleepers situations varied from having serious
to find paid work with short term support around
alcohol problems and rough sleeping with little prospect
employment and accommodation
of finding work, to those for whom tied accommodation
• There are CEE people who have worked in the UK, but
had ended, and those skilled and ready to work but
are very vulnerable to rough sleeping whenever they
unable to secure the jobs they had expected.
fall out of work due to benefits restrictions • There are people who have slept rough for a
2009/10 saw a marked increase in the number of records on CHAIN showing CEEs accessing short term
considerable period of time with little prospect for finding work.
accommodation. The largest contributors to this were
• Alcohol misuse is a key issue in longer term rough
the Severe Weather Emergency Provision available to
sleeping in this group with a quarter of all CEE
all rough sleepers in very cold weather and the Olallo
rough sleepers having an alcohol support need.
Project which specifically focuses on providing ‘short term
This compares with 60% of the ‘stock’ of CEE rough
accommodation and help for migrants, with no recourse
sleepers (so people seen in two or more years) who
to public funds.’
have a need in this area.
Just over 120 people are identified on CHAIN as having been advised or supported to return to a home area WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
19
FEATURES
CONNECT | winter 2010
TO BE OR NOT TO BE – THE DEBATE ON ADMINISTRATIVE REMOVAL In response to high levels of rough sleeping amongst foreign nationals, UKBA is piloting administrative removal in partnership with other agencies in several areas of the UK. Although EU nationals are free to move between nation states’ borders, they can be removed if they cannot prove they are self sufficient (IE working) three months after coming to the UK. Unlike deportation, administrative removal does not bar someone from applying to return to the UK if he or she can meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules for coming to the UK. Connect magazine looks at some of the perspectives on this topical issue. Hannah Gregory, Deputy Director for London at the
or do not have a genuine prospect of doing so, the UK
UK Border Agency reviews the case for administrative
Border Agency expects them to return home.
removal. Support services are available for those who want to The UK Border Agency has been working with partner
return home or who are willing to contribute to the
agencies, including local authorities, the police and
community. Over 230 people have returned home
street Outreach workers trialling a new approach to
voluntarily so far with help to find accommodation and
tackle the issue of rough sleeping among those with no
be reconnected with friends and family, whilst others
legal right to stay in the UK. Rough sleeping can often
have taken up the offer of support back into employment.
be associated with anti-social behaviour and also prove to be a serious health threat to the rough sleepers
Removal action is only taken in cases where the individual
themselves.
consistently refuses this support and is left destitute. 55 people have been administratively removed since the
The project developed through a noticeable increase in
start of the project.
the proportion of non-UK and particularly nationals of the newer European Member States rough sleeping in London
We are starting to see positive results of demonstrating
and other areas. The UK Border Agency was asked to
that EU nationals without a right to reside should return
attend the Greater London Authority’s Rough Sleeping
home. For instance, the most recent head count by
Delivery Board. At this board we committed to explore
Peterborough City Council showed a significantly
the legal and resource implications of using our powers
reduced number of EU nationals sleeping rough – 26
under European law. In April this year, we began a full
compared to 63 when this new approach launched.
pilot in six areas to test this approach with our partners, with a particular focus on Westminster and Peterborough,
We have been pleased with the results to date and are currently evaluating the effectiveness and resource
The legal position is that European nationals who have
implications of the pilot before deciding whether to roll
been in the country for longer than three months have
out this approach nationally.
to be working, studying, self-employed or self-sufficient in order to have a legal right to stay in the UK. If they are not,
20
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CONNECT | winter 2010
FEATURES
Ruth Grove-White, Policy Officer at
series of bad experiences. Homeless EU migrants have
Migrants’ Rights Network gives her view on
commonly experienced exploitation within the labour
the problems associated with expelling
market, poor treatment in the private housing sector and
Eastern European Rough Sleepers.
a lack of wider community support.
The new UKBA pilot scheme to remove
For many Eastern European migrants, these difficulties
homeless EU nationals who do not want to leave the
have been worsened by the fact that they have far more
UK offers an apparently simple solution to a growing
restricted access to social benefits and housing than
problem for many local authorities and frontline charities
British citizens and most other EU migrants. The expulsion
across the UK. At first glance, it seems like a no-brainer.
programme does nothing to address these issues,
Surely, when foreign nationals are entrenched in rough
but instead appears to punish the most vulnerable of
sleeping and appear beyond the help of the authorities,
migrants when they are at their lowest.
the immigration authorities should help to return them back to their home country where they can receive the
Even on its own terms, the pilot can only have a limited
assistance they need?
impact, as it is dealing with European nationals. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many simply return to
But the disquiet from lawyers and advocacy groups
the UK – their legal right as European citizens with the right
in response to the pilot programme indicates that the
to free movement across the EU. Removing European
solution to this problem may not be so simple. Instead,
migrants under these circumstances may well also turn
the approach taken by the UKBA pilot risks worsening the
out to be unlawful under EU law – an assertion made by
problems faced by migrants, whilst generating mistrust
prominent human rights lawyers in the field and as yet
and fear within local communities.
untested in the courts.
Of course the rise in homelessness among EU migrants
Given these considerations, the UKBA pilot programme
must be tackled. But we need to be honest about the
looks far from being a handy solution to homelessness
wider causes of this trend. Reports from community-
among EU nationals. We need to call for a full and open
based organisations indicate that the slide into
review of this pilot, in order that a more sustainable and
homelessness for migrants living here often arises from a
humane solution to these problems can be found.
for
against
There should be no reason for anyone to sleep
There is a strong thread running through all the
rough in London. It harms the individual and it
major world religions which is about caring for
harms communities. As such Broadway actively
the needy and offering hospitality to strangers.
supports a range of interventions necessary
With that as a starting point the immediate
to support, challenge and inspire people to
moral response to destitute migrants is shelter
come off the streets. What does that mean
and support. For Christians there is also a deep
for the UKBA initiative? Well we fully support
appreciation of the sanctity of the individual as
it as an important part of a wider approach
a carrier of the image of God. From this flows
and alongside other interventions from more
respect for individual freedom and a concern
‘personalised’ support, through support from
about the morality of actions which curtail that
BARKA and others to the more traditional street
freedom when no harm is taking place. A fully
outreach approaches. If all are used sensitively
moral response would perhaps take time to
and appropriately in a coherent and thought
discern the situation of each person, providing
through way then the vision of a capital where
both a welcome and a stepping stone,
no-one needs to spend a second night out
regardless of origin or status.
could and should be realised.
Alison Gelder, Chief Executive,
Howard Sinclair, Chief Executive,
Housing Justice
Broadway Homelessness and Support
www.housingjustice.org.uk
www.broadwaylondon.org
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
21
FEATURES
CONNECT | winter 2010
PETERBOROUGH takes compassionate action In the six years following the expansion of the
CRI was instrumental in assisting 34 people re-connect
European Union in May 2004 an estimated 20,000
with their home communities between September 2009
people moved to Peterborough from primarily
and March 2010. However, more help was needed.
former Eastern Bloc nations. Sarah Hebblethwaite, Homelessness Prevention Manager at Peterborough
Beginning in April 2010, the UK Border Agency supported
City Council describes the approach they are using to
a pilot project in Peterborough focusing on solving the
help find solutions for this group.
challenges faced by rough sleepers and communities affected by their presence.
While the vast majority of these new arrivals succeeded in finding employment and homes, a small number failed
Outreach workers typically offer rough sleepers advice
to achieve their aims and resorted to living rough, often in
on finding work, accommodation and help in tackling
tarpaulin bivouacs and tents pitched in wooded areas on
drink and drug dependency. Between April and
the fringes of the city.
September 24 found work accommodation, or left the streets; 23 voluntarily returned to their home countries;
By spring 2009 outreach workers identified around 60
and, following formal serving of notices, 11 were
rough sleepers in Peterborough – numbers more often
administratively removed by UKBA.
experienced by inner London boroughs. We know of only two people who have come back to Rough sleepers invariably descend into a spiral of poor
Peterborough after returning home. However, a further 25
health, drink or drug dependency, exploitation by
new arrivals have begun sleeping rough in Peterborough
unscrupulous employers, danger of physical harm and
so our efforts continue.
criminal activity such as shoplifting and begging. Wellmeaning groups that offer them hand-outs of food and
I am convinced that this approach serves the best
clothing only help perpetuate their deplorable condition.
interests of the rough sleepers and, in all but one case, those returning to their home countries have thanked me
At the same time, local residents feel intimidated and
for my help and shaken hands before departing.
excluded from public open spaces where rough sleepers are camping and feel threatened when accosted by
The European Union treaty allows residents of A10
drunks or beggars on the streets.
member states to live in the UK provided they can support themselves. The compassionate response is to help any
Clearly, these scenarios are unacceptable in civilised, 21st
who become destitute rough-sleepers to regain their
century societies.
dignity by returning to their home countries where they will have the support of family, friends and a modern
Peterborough City Council appealed for help from the
social system.
Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), which engaged social care charity CRI in
From my observations of the pitiable existence of rough
assisting destitute rough sleepers re-establish a dignified
sleepers, I believe this joint approach with UK Border
existence by returning to the security of their home
Agency meets the long-term best interests primarily of the
countries.
rough-sleepers themselves.
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Rebuilding social ties: a way out of homelessness for migrants Homelessness is not something that is specific to the situation of undocumented migrants. However, migrants are more prone to succumb to homelessness and its devastating consequences. Tatiana Tomayeva talks about the work of Praxis in supporting this vulnerable group. Migrant homelessness has a face – that of a refused asylum seeker who “should not be here” but cannot return to his home country ravaged by war; or that of a
with the migrants’ homelessness, it is not all that. Some
battered wife who cannot return to her abusive husband;
migrants remain homeless and destitute some time after
or that of an Eastern European worker who perhaps lost
having been granted status. It would be more fruitful to
a live-in job before becoming eligible for mainstream
regard it as a symptom of a broader social exclusion of a
benefits. Praxis – a charity providing support to vulnerable
migrant – of his or her alienation from the society as much
migrants, including those with no recourse to public funds
as the society’s alienation from him. It is a symptom of
– increasingly sees homeless migrants on its doorstep.
the rupture of, or at the very least of a heavy strain on, the numerous and subtle ties and networks which, in the
What avenues of support?
normal course of events, do not let a person end up on
As a rule, migrants’ homelessness is not a standalone
the street. A lasting and viable solution to homelessness
problem. In a vast majority of cases a migrant’s
of migrants will necessarily include the rebuilding of these
immigration status has a direct bearing on it, especially
links or creation of the new ones.
if it bars them from accessing conventional sources of housing support. An adviser working with these clients
In summer, the Red Cross reported a surge of support
faces a peculiar tension between the length of time
and sympathy in response to its report on the destitution
immigration issues take to resolve and the immediacy
of asylum seekers in Britain (“Not Gone But forgotten”,
and urgency of the problems caused or aggravated
June 2010). Praxis, together with other organisations and
by homelessness. While the immigration status remains
individuals who form part of the No Accommodation
insecure, the adviser is often unable to rely on the
network, has been trying to activate the resources of the
conventional channels of support. The existing channels
community and create support networks and alternative
can be expected to further dry out as a result of cuts
housing provision for undocumented migrants. We are
and there is already worrying news about the possible
working to expand the provision of long-term, short-term
closure of the few specialist housing projects for the
and emergency housing for homeless forced migrants in
most vulnerable clients – such as the victims of domestic
London through local hosting projects and emergency
violence or trafficked women.
shelters.
Rebuilding the links
To find out more or get involved, please contact Praxis
However, while the immigration status has a lot to do
on 0207-729 7985, or email admin@praxis.org.uk WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
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DYING OR DIGNITY? The dual strain of sleeping rough on the streets of west London for over six years coupled with an addiction to deadly super-strength drinks almost cost Andris* his life. Warned by a doctor that he was likely to die unless he sought treatment for his alcohol problems, Andris faced a crucial decision – stay on the streets and risk dying or seek help. Andris made the decision to get off the street. After being helped by outreach workers in west London, he was referred to Thames Reach’s London Reconnection Project. Ben Hennessy from Thames Reach talks about the work of their Reconnection team. The Reconnection team helped Andris into an alcohol detox centre where he was able to get immediate help in tackling his addiction to the super-strength drinks that were killing him. Lydia, a relief worker with the team, visited Andris regularly at the centre to bring him clean clothes and talk with him in his own language about how he was doing and about his options for the future. Andris expressed a desire to return to Latvia, but was worried about finding accommodation and how he would cope. The Reconnection team was able to arrange for Andris to return to Latvia and link him with specialist support in his own country. On arrival at Riga airport Andris and Lydia were met by a social worker who made an assessment based on his needs. Andris was able to claim social benefit allowance immediately, and, after a spell in an alcohol rehabilitation centre in Riga, he moved into his own room in a hostel there. Without the help and support of the London
sleeping rough in the capital. The latest figures indicate
Reconnection Team, Andris admits he would probably
that 26 per cent of London’s rough sleepers originate
be dead now. Instead he is living in his own space and
from countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Unlike UK
receiving the support he needs to get his life back on
citizens, they are unable to claim benefits unless they
track.
have been working and paying national insurance contributions for at least a year. This means that our
The vast majority of people that have come to live in
outreach teams are unable to house them in London’s
the UK from Central and Eastern Europe have settled
hostels – the first port of call for many rough sleepers – as
and prospered. However for a small minority, like Andris,
they cannot claim housing benefit.
it has been a real struggle. Following the expansion of the European Union, there has been a steady increase in
Thames Reach’s London Reconnection Team was
the number of people from Central and Eastern Europe
founded in early 2009 to help these people living on the
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streets in desperate circumstances who didn’t have the
problems, was reunited with his family and has now found
welfare state safety net available for UK citizens. This
work again as a lorry driver.
team has now helped more than 400 Central and Eastern Europeans to return home to their families and into the
Thames Reach is also trying to help Central and Eastern
services which can help them get their lives back on
Europeans find work and private accommodation so they
track.
can make a success of their lives in the UK. However, many are very ill due to their desperate living conditions
Many of the people living on the streets have serious
and alcohol dependency, and also have poor English
alcohol problems and have taken to drinking the strong,
language skills. The result is that in a time when jobs
cheap and dangerous white ciders such as White Ace.
are difficult to come by – one hospital cleaning job in
Some individuals have also been drinking alcoholic hand
London recently attracted 70 applicants – many will find it
wash stolen from hospitals with tragic consequences.
impossible to get work.
Thames Reach staff are aware of at least four deaths attributed to people drinking the hand wash. We work
Ultimately, the aim of the London Reconnection Project is
closely with services such as Barka UK and alcohol
to prevent the unnecessary deaths of Central and Eastern
rehabilitation schemes in Central and Eastern Europe to
Europeans sleeping rough in the capital.
help people return home safely and with dignity. Megan Stewart runs the London Reconnection There are many success stories. A Lithuanian national
Project: “Some of the people we’ve helped since
who had been sleeping rough in east London for more
the service launched have been found living in the
than four years and had an addiction to super-strength
most appalling conditions. If someone wants to
cider was helped off the streets by the Reconnection
return home, we can help them to do so with dignity,
Project soon after they launched. After returning home
ensuring the relevant support is available at all stages
he received the necessary treatment for his alcohol
of the process.” WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
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CONNECT | winter 2010
With no prospects, a black eye and a plastic bag In 2007, concerned by a rise in A8 homelessness, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham asked for help from the Barka Foundation, known throughout Poland for their work with excluded and vulnerable people. Their mission, according to their website (www.barkuk.org) is “to provide severely excluded Eastern European migrants with the opportunity for reconnection and social reintegration.” Ewa Sadowska, Chief Executive of Barka UK, explains that there is considerably more to it than that. Can you describe
At the end of enforcement, their lives are still broken. It
in brief the
lacks subtlety. Instead of enforcement there is a need for
activities of
solidarity. We do not even talk about reconnection when
Barka UK?
we speak to these people. Who would engage with that? We talk about rebuilding lives. We talk about home.
We reconnect, we retrain and integrate, and we replicate. Our primary function when we first
So in your own approach, what is the biggest challenge?
arrived was to engage with Eastern European rough sleepers, working with them to help them return to their
It is the most difficult thing to awaken trust in a person
families or to Barka centres in Poland, trying to engage
who has suffered degradation and abuse. But it is the
with them enough to let us help them. We also run a
most important part too. It is essential to reach out and
Social Economy centre, offering training and support in
achieve a greater understanding of how that person
maintaining and gaining employment to those who are
has arrived in their current situation. Self motivation is an
ready for the UK jobs market. Finally, we want to replicate
important factor in the recovery of any person, but they
our approach within other agencies through special
are unlikely to experience it if they do not trust the people
training programs.
who are trying to help them.
You have quite a different approach to that of
So how do you engage with people?
agencies who address the problem through enforcement.
Our experience shows most migrants who end up on the streets are in their forties or fifties. They are, in a way,
Enforcement is not an approach we can support.
limited by the histories and cultures of their countries. Most
It focuses solely on a person’s destitution - the most
of this communist generation cannot speak English; they
negative part their existence. Our work has been
don’t understand democracy and free markets; they
successful because it is based on trust, on real human
do not trust authority. That is the level at which we have
relationships.
to engage, which is why Barka’s Leaders have been so successful. Our Leaders have been homeless or destitute
While enforcement might solve the issue locally, it does
themselves. They build relationships and trust through
nothing for the vulnerable individuals at the centre.
common experience.
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And if they take up your offer of reconnection,
which we believe could work more widely. We know that
what then?
when working with migrant communities, the best place to train will be in the sending or receiving country – so we
Some return to their families. Others join Barka
will run these courses within Barka communities in Poland.
communities throughout Poland, where they receive
The location alone will provide a greater context for those
support with social and physical rehabilitation, but
being trained, not to mention the fact that people we
where they will also be given responsibility to help them
have helped will be involved in the training.
become part of their community. Some might become Barka leaders, returning to help others. Some build their
If other organisations were to take on board
own social enterprises. Our communities allow people
one aspect of your approach, what would you
who have lost everything to realise their potential. In
want that to be?
these terms, reconnection becomes so much more than returning them to their home country.
We have shown a proactive way of working with vulnerable people. We do not treat them as clients or
Your childhood home was the first Barka
service users. We treat people as partners – equals in
community. What impact did that have on you
building communities and social enterprises, as well as
personally?
rebuilding their lives. The traditional Victorian charity model is based on noble help providers and passive
My mother and father founded the first Barka community
help recipients. Such a hierarchy does not help. It is not
soon after the fall of communism in 1989. As a family we
dignified. People prefer to be empowered and know that
shared our lives with a group of twenty people who had
it is they who provide for themselves and their families,
been homeless or destitute or sex workers or incarcerated
rather than being provided for.
or living otherwise intractable lives. It was a cooperative where everyone worked on the land, helped run shops,
This philosophy is at the heart of everything we do. Most
where everyone had a voice.
of our communities in Poland are on former state farms over which Barka has taken possession. These farms are
One man in particular, Henryk, had spent twenty-five
in a terrible state when we move in, but we work with the
years in prison. This big, one-eyed, long haired, tattooed
people who will live in these places, help them rebuild
man could not shake off his prison habits when he joined
them, create real community and sustainable homes.
us. He sat alone at dinner, with his own cutlery and
Through this process it is possible to repair even the most
crockery. He looked frightening, the sort of man parents
broken lives.
would steer their children away from. But one day my two year old sister went and sat on his lap, clutching her
Does that really work in practice?
doll. He had never had any contact with children. He was startled. He just sat there, with this little girl, full of trust,
Society once considered these people useless, yet the
smiling on his lap. He spoke of that moment later as the
Barka network consists of almost one hundred legal
beginning for him, the moment he began to integrate
entities – foundations, associations, social enterprises, self-
with the community.
help groups – all run by people who came to us with a black eye, a plastic bag and no prospects for the future.
Events like that convinced me how important it is not only
When you see the work of Barka Leaders, how they talk
to understand the mechanics of human collapse and
with people, sit for hours with them on cardboard in the
degradation, but also the potential of people to turn
streets, how they share their stories with such passion,
themselves around. Growing up in that environment, with
when you witness the change in some of the 1,248
my parents’ strong influence, this has become less of a
people we have helped to go back, it is difficult not to be
job than a vocation.
inspired. The world needs the kind of message we can take from their lives: that we can always rebuild.
How do you aim to replicate the Barka approach within other organisations?
Ewa presented the story of Barka’s beginnings recently at TEDx Cracow. Watch the video on YouTube:
I do not think of it as the “Barka approach” – we are not
http://ow.ly/3hrNd
so much about a brand. It is simply a way that works and
Barka UK website: http://barkauk.org WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
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WORKING THE SYSTEM: OLALLO Dave Barratt, Development Manager for the Olallo Project, an accommodation based retraining service for CEEs in London, describes the positive impact of their work, but is realistic about the ongoing difficulties of supporting this client group. Olallo House opened at the end of December 2008. The
environments where maintaining work is very difficult and
building wasn’t finished and we had no kitchens, but
a return to the streets more likely.
with a high number of A10 nationals leaving the Crisis Christmas provision we thought risking ten beds was
As a service it has been hugely challenging. The
worthwhile. We fully opened in May 2009 – providing 32
differences in languages and cultures, the expectations
beds at a central London location with a remit to “retrain
of individuals and the inequalities faced by our clients
or reconnect” migrant workers who had become rough
make every intervention different. However, possibly the
sleepers. We decided on a residential service because
biggest challenge is what to do when the desire to work
basic needs have to be met if people are to have any
expressed by our clients greatly exceeds the possibilities
chance of finding sustainable employment.
that will be opened up by the skills they have to offer. If people cannot find work even with intensive assistance
As with most new services we had a view of what we
and the offer of reconnection is not taken up, what then?
could do – though not a clear picture. The focus was always to be short term intervention and focussed support around the issues that were preventing employment – basic skills training, missing paperwork and understanding the British system. After we opened, a reconnection service was commissioned for London so our focus became clearly fixed on employment. We provide in house basic skills training (certificated CSCS and Food Hygiene) courses as well as English classes and daily jobsearch sessions. We can also help with introductions to approved local agencies and try to guide people through the “system” – though this is so poorly administered (particularly issues around NI numbers) that even experienced staff become frustrated. It is no wonder so many people ended up working outside of the system. We have worked with more than 130 men and women – and just over half of these have managed to find work. Moving on from the project can be a problem since private rented accommodation is the only option – and that comes at a price. We fear that many will be tempted to return to squats or illegal sublets – the kind of
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“There are many government agencies aware of this problem but not one able to tackle it because there is no recourse to public funding. People accept there is a real need. These are just guys who are coming across looking for work, who are often highly skilled and highly educated but who find that the legislative situation is so difficult they can’t get into employment.” Dave Barrett, quoted in The Times, 3 April 2009
CONNECT | winter 2010
FEATURES
IN PRACTICE Case study: UR4Jobs UR4Jobs at the Upper Room in Hammersmith is
from employment, training and a wide range of
a specialist service that supports migrants from
practical living issues. Crucially, the service offers
the new accession countries of Central & Eastern
support not only for migrants but also for the people
Europe and those with no recourse to public
who work with them.
funds, improving their employability and to act as a one stop shop for information about living and
High levels of service user participation and a
working in the UK.
welcoming atmosphere have produced a flourishing project that helps to address and meet the basic
The Upper Room is one of the few organisations to
human needs of community and inclusion.
offer such help to Central and Eastern European Migrants, intervening in the cycle of destitution
Over 930 people have registered with UR4Jobs since
and homelessness that is almost inevitable when
it opened in November 2006 and the website is
clients fail to find work or fall prey to widespread
accessed from all over the EU. It has assisted people
exploitation.
into work and training; with health issues and travel home; with employment law and ID documents;
They provide online information in English, Polish,
psychological support in their language of origin and
Romanian and other languages, on subjects ranging
specialist services for migrant women.
Case study: Barka UK Barka UK was formed in 2007 after an invitation
employment. Services on offer include advice
from the London Borough of Hammersmith and
from a job consultant, a psychologist, enterprise
Fulham to the Barka Foundation in Poland.
development worker, lawyer, therapist – all working with Eastern Europeans who are not entrenched,
Their reconnections project has now worked in 12
those who are ready for the UK job market.
London boroughs, as well as in Slough and Reading.
To date, 1,248 people have returned to Barka
The challenge is often in balancing individuals’
programs in Poland, to their families, or to other
needs and immediate potential. “Many people
rehabilitation programs across Eastern Europe.
want to work – that is why they came here,” says Ewa
Sadowska, Chief Executive of Barka UK. “But we often
Barka also runs an employment project, designed
have to explain to people that they are not ready,
“for those who do not need to return, those who
that they will not be able to maintain employment
are not yet on the bottom rung of existence but
if they do not first mend themselves – go into detox,
who could soon be, without timely help.” The
rehabilitation, rebuild their lives back in their home
Social Economy Centre, based in City and Tower
countries.”
Hamlets, helps Eastern Europeans gain and maintain
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
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Jerzy: ‘recycled citizen’ In another life I should be at the bottom of the Thames right now. Or perhaps I might have found my way back to Poland by myself, but even then I would still be the same drunk Jerzy. I came to London for a holiday at first, to visit my son who was working here. I liked the place and there was so much work available that I decided to stay, living in a squat in an industrial area. Most of the time, I was either drunk or getting ready for my next drink. I drifted from one day to the next, not thinking about settling or trying to make things better. I had occasional moments of sobriety when I realised that I should just go home. But then I would get drunk again. I did nothing to stop my degradation. When I lost my room at the squat, I took to sleeping rough and became deeply rooted in street life. That was where I met my son again, who had been looking for me. It was a short and very unpleasant meeting. I visited The Broadway Centre, where I first met the people from Barka. Some men were wary of them, saying Barka worked with the authorities, which has certain connotations for Polish people who remember Communism. Even so, I felt immediately that I could trust one of their Leaders, Marek. Like me, he had experienced
responsibility. I now run a social enterprise in Poland, a
destitution too. That made him credible for me.
lakeside recreational settlement. I am also one of Barka’s Leaders – we call ourselves Recycled Citizens, currently
Barka took me back to Poland soon after, but it is not
on my sixth cycle in London. Like Marek, who helped me,
Barka’s style to send someone home and consider the job
I work directly with homeless Polish people. Just as I saw
finished. I was still drinking and not thinking properly for
something of myself in Marek, I hope some of these men
myself. It took a while but eventually I realised that I could
see something of themselves in me. I help them to see
only turn my life around if I forget about work, family,
how things might be.
everything else, until I had first mended myself. On 11th November this year, three years after my last On 11th November 2007 I drank my last four beers during a
drink, I attended a memorial service at St Martin-in-the-
festival in Poznań. On that day I started my regeneration.
Fields. They read many names of people who had died
It took some time, but as I got my life together, the
homeless. I am thankful my name never appeared on
Barka community gradually gave me greater trust and
such a list.
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Jaroslaw: learning to trust Like many thousands of others, I arrived in the UK from Poland in 2004. I had big plans before things went wrong. I was going to settle down, make a life in Britain - and for a long time I was successful. I found work, made a home and enjoyed family life for five years. But in October 2009 I lost everything, all in a short space
Allowance. I moved into a hostel for homeless people
of time. I lost my job, my family, my home. I became
and have now become an active volunteer at Purfleet
destitute and, with nowhere to live, found my only escape
Day Centre.
in alcohol. I think I only realised later that I had lost so much more than my home. It was all so desperate. I felt so
In September 2010 I moved from supported
shut out that I lost any real hope to live.
accommodation to my own place where I really believe that I can start again. It is a long, cold journey in the world
I didn’t care where I stayed. I slept rough in different
of homelessness where step by step you must learn to
locations throughout King’s Lynn. I would sleep wherever I
trust, to live and to feel yourself being a useful part of the
found myself. The weather became colder but I could do
community. It is the Purfleet Trust and all its staff who have
little but walk around the town with no aim, no money, no
helped me take these steps into a new life.
real wish to live. Then, before Christmas, I was offered the chance to spend time in a warm environment and to eat hot food. It did not seem real. My first visits to the Purfleet Trust Day Centre coincided with the very cold winter weather. It was the coldest winter that I remember since 2004 and, as temperatures dropped below freezing, the Purfleet Trust opened a severe weather emergency shelter. During Christmas and in early 2010 I no longer needed to sleep rough. I was still drinking, but I was coming to the Day Centre every day, so I made an effort to drink less. I met other homeless people there and started to form friendships. The friendly and helpful staff organised many different activities including English and IT classes, and life skills courses to help us become more confident and proactive. A lot changed for me. The Purfleet Trust helped me to obtain a new passport. I was able to register at the Jobcentre and soon after I was granted Job Seeker’s WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
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Diverse Misuse The challenges in understanding substance abuse amongst destitute migrants. Esther Sample, Policy Officer at Drugscope, looks at how insecure immigration status combined with the stress of migration and resettlement, means that many new migrants in the UK are vulnerable not only to homelessness, but also a range of substance misuse
Tamil clients can also be particularly isolated, and have
problems.
little or no access to community support or statutory services.’
Research has suggested that destitute asylum seekers are particularly vulnerable to substance misuse. This is
It is time to develop a deeper understanding of how drug
not only due to trauma and mental health problems
trends can vary greatly between migrant groups – for
developed from past experiences, but also social
instance the use of the currently uncontrolled drug Khat,
isolation, poor health, unemployment and inadequate
commonly used in Somali and Ethiopian communities. This
housing. The level of alcohol problems amongst homeless
understanding can only be built through further training
Central and Eastern European migrants has been well
for drug/alcohol and homelessness services on how to
documented, including extreme cases where individuals
support different ethnic communities around substance
have resorted to drinking lethal alcoholic hand wash from
misuse, and increased investment in appropriate and
hospitals. Some community services have developed
accessible treatment services.
over recent years, such as Polish AA meetings, the Eastern European Drug and Alcohol Support Group and
Drug information in other languages is available from:
the specialist substance misuse service EACH (see case
http://bit.ly/gAyfQc
study). However, these are rare, and since new migrants are generally denied access to residential treatment and other secondary healthcare, many are unaware of any services available to them.
Case study Ethnic Alcohol Counselling in
Even communities that do have recourse to public funds
Hounslow (EACH): 020 8577 6059
can have difficultly accessing treatment services. There
EACH is a voluntary sector organisation working
is a lack of broadly translated information and outreach
with diverse communities to deliver culturally
work, and cultural factors such as stigma surrounding
sensitive services to individuals and families
substance misuse also play a negative role. Foziha Raja
affected by drug and alcohol problems,
from EACH explains that in their experience, help seeking
domestic violence and mental health concerns.
behaviours vary greatly between ethnic community
They offer a range of support, including
groups. For example: ‘Asian men who develop alcohol
individual counselling in a number of community
or drug problems are often settled in the UK and can
languages and abstinence based programmes.
access healthcare and community support. In contrast,
Their specific focus is on communities that are
for Somali clients, their religious beliefs mean there is a
traditionally hesitant in seeking such help.
greater risk of being ostracised from their community...
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Someone to worry for me Dr. Soeren Keil, Ex-Detainee Project Manager at the Dover Detainee Visitor Group (DDVG), explains how practical one-to-one assistance, along with personal support, can be the most valued and valuable form of help for homeless ex-detainees. The most challenging part of the Ex-Detainee Project is providing personal support for these people. Often, they are failed asylum seekers or asylum seekers who cannot be sent back to their countries for any number of reasons, yet they arrive in the UK only to face discrimination in various ways. A key part of my own role is to identify a permanent solution during the three days of emergency accommodation. In all thirteen cases we have managed to find permanent accommodation. We then continue to offer essential support with travel expenses and food vouchers, until assistance from the Home Office In June 2010 DDVG organised an Ex-Detainee Conference in Dover, where best practices for ex-detainees were discussed. More than 30 ex-detainees participated.
or from Social Services can be made available. Other organisations, including the Coventry Peace House and several religious groups, have also stepped in to offer a longer term support role.
The people we work with have nothing. They receive no official help. If they have no case pending or if they
We are keen to form links and work closely with other
have been released on temporary admission, they have
homelessness charities that can help us provide
no access to public funding. They have no right to work.
emergency accommodation and also find medium and
They receive no support from Social Services. Their lack of
long-term solutions for the people we support.
access to public funds, including housing benefits, means that even homeless shelters will not admit them.
One person for whom we provided emergency accommodation and who is now settled permanently in
The Ex-Detainee Project is one of three key projects at
Birmingham said in a feedback form that “anytime I had
DDVG. We support people who have been released from
contacted and talked to [DDVG], my bad feelings were
immigration detention, providing them with short-term
finished as I realised there is someone who thinks about
emergency support and long-term integration assistance.
me, who is really worried for me and who wants to help me and these points always give me hope.�
Since January 2010, DDVG has worked with thirteen homeless ex-detainees, providing them with emergency accommodation for up to three days in hostels or local
The Dover Detainee Visitor Group is a non-
hotels. We also provide food vouchers and refer ex-
campaigning, non-political and independent
detainees to other organisations, such as the British Red
charity, helping detainees in the Dover
Cross and the Refugee Council, while PRAXIS in London
Immigration Removal Centre (DIRC), their
has also provided invaluable help in finding long-term
families and ex-detainees. www.ddvg.org.uk
solutions. WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
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SOLUTIONS THAT WILL STICK Charles Fraser, Chief Executive of St Mungo’s, describes the multi-agency response to Central and Eastern European migrants under the umbrella of the London Delivery Board alongside the initiatives that his own organisation is undertaking to devise solutions to this issue that will stick. The phenomenon of Central and East European migrants is of particular concern because of its scale. The CHAIN figures show the proportion of rough sleepers in London who are from the A10 countries as rising inexorably, from 9% in 2005, to double that – 18% in 2009. In 2010 it has increased again, by nearly half, to 26%. The figures show greater “churn” amongst this population than amongst other groups of rough sleepers, with many people moving
We talk to people about their rights and responsibilities
on and off the streets quickly.
when it comes to immigration and work legislation. Where individuals are working, we look to support
The main response has been reconnection, which
them into private rented accommodation. We assist
has worked with some. Another approach is to help
direct reconnections to home areas. We also, however,
them find work. The UKBA is also pursuing an approach
recognise that one of the major reasons that CEE
of “administrative removal”, which can perhaps be
individuals may be resistant to returning home is the
summarised as more assertive reconnection. The
shame felt at having failed in their goal of getting work
recent launch of Routes Home provides helpful advice
and securing their families’ economic future. We are
to workers wanting to point clients to organisations in
beginning a group, run by a Polish psychologist, to
their own countries which can provide continuing help
explore this barrier to reconnection.
and support. There has been no appetite amongst policy makers and funders to support any provision to
The Delivery Board has catalysed better joint working
emergency housing for this group (which we believe is
on this issue. As an example, we are part of “Operation
possible to do, notwithstanding the “no recourse to public
Ark”, a multi-agency partnership involving Westminster
funds” restriction).
Council, the UKBA, the Met Police and Thamesreach, which has mainly tackled reconnections. We are
Within St Mungo’s we’re seeking to help them through
all, though, very aware that there remain significant
developing our own practice, pan-agency work and
challenges, not least the changing status of A8s from May
educating clients themselves. We have an outreach
next year when they will have recourse to public funds
programme, for example, specifically tailored to this
and be able to claim benefits. The impending cuts will
group, in that our Southwark and Westminster teams have
sharpen this challenge, but it’s imperative that we are all
dedicated CEE workers embedded in their teams.
able to find ways of rising to it.
34
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
CONNECT | WINTER 2010
FEATURES
MANAGING PEOPLE
Dear Helen,
Helen Giles, Managing Director of Broadway’s Real People HR Consultancy, now has a regular column in Connect aimed at helping you to make the most of your most important resource – your staff teams. This edition focuses on good practice around employing people from overseas. I don’t blame you for being confused because it’s a
I kn ow that there are h eavy fin a n cial pe n altie s for em ployers who ta ke o n people w ho don’t have the r ig ht to wor k here, but I’m n ot su re if we are doing en oug h to c he c k n ew people. I’m fu r ther con fused by th e ‘pointsbased syste m’ for em p loy ing mig ra nt wo r k e rs .
complex area, and one to which there are quite often some changes so you need to keep your eye on the relevant websites. look for on a passports from any European countries to You need to think about these two issues slightly
check if it’s genuine or not. It really works – we recently
separately.
had a Night Worker candidate who brought in a false Dutch passport arrested on our premises; I raise this by
Under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act
way of illustrating that the risks are very real in our sector.
2006 which came into force in 2008, it is the employer’s
Given the ferocity of the penalties, it is essential to spend
responsibility to check the entitlement to work in the UK
the time learning what to look for and running a close
of all prospective employees, and if you find yourself
check on every occasion rather than just giving a cursory
employing an illegal migrant worker as a result of
glance to documents and taking them at face value.
negligence, you could be liable for a fine of up to £10,000 per worker. If you do it deliberately you’re looking at an
Since February 2008 a points-based system has been in
unlimited fine or up to two years in prison.
place to assess people wanting to come to work in the UK. If you want to employ someone who does not have
To comply with this, and to avoid charges of
that right, you have to be licensed by the Home Office
discrimination on the grounds of race and nationality,
to be a sponsor, thus enabling you to issue a Certificate
you need to ask all people to whom you make job offers
of Sponsorship to a named individual, who must then
to bring in their passport, biometric residence permit or
apply for permission to enter the UK. Not very easy, by all
other suitable evidence of their right to work in the UK
accounts.
and check the document very carefully and take a copy. There is a very helpful interactive tool on the Business Link
For everything you need to know about employing
website - businesslink.gov.uk – which takes you through
people from overseas, the UK Border Agency website –
all the different documents that are valid as evidence
ubka.homeoffice.gov.uk - is very comprehensive.
and how to check them. Helen Giles is HR Director of Broadway and Managing There is also very clear visual guidance on the Prado
Director of Broadway’s Real People HR consultancy
website - consilium.europa.eu/prado - about what to
www.broadwaysrealpeople.com WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
35
FEATURES
CONNECT | winter 2010
Census 2011: Making Sure Homeless People Count A rich source of statistics, the census affects all of us in one way or another, as decisions about the communities we live in take place all the time, often using census data. Counting homeless people and rough sleepers is an integral part of building an in-depth, population map. Margaret Barrett, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), describes the special measures that have been developed to ensure homeless people and rough sleepers can participate in the census.
Held every ten years the census estimates the population
hostel managers to
of England and Wales, providing a snapshot of society
answer queries and
on one specific day. Everyone is legally obliged to be
assist as necessary
included on a census questionnaire. The 2011 Census
if any problems are
takes place on 27 March 2011.
anticipated. Special enumerators will call round to collect completed questionnaires after census day.
Let’s not beat around the bush, this is a massively complex task. It’s not easy to count those who sleep
Day centres
rough or those of no fixed abode who often move from
Census coordinators will be employed from 7 February
place to place. Still, it is important that we count as many
2011 to manage field work and they should contact day
people as we can. In 2001 census collectors walked
centre managers during the following weeks. They will
the streets on census night talking to the homeless and
explain the census and agree arrangements for the local
trying to count as many people as possible. But, following
enumeration at each day centre. Special enumerators
in-depth research, we’ve decided to amend this way
will be guided by local expertise and deliver the
of working for 2011. As well as counting people living
questionnaires and offer assistance as previously agreed.
in hostels for homeless people, this time the census will
They will work with day centre staff to achieve a positive
count rough sleepers in day centre services.
response rate.
Census staff dedicated to counting homeless people
We’re doing everything we can to make sure homeless
will need the co-operation of hostels and day centres
people have ample opportunity to fill-in their
and will give practical assistance to homeless people
questionnaires in familiar surroundings with plenty of
with questionnaire completion. Although precise
help at hand. Taking about 10 minutes to complete, the
arrangements will vary in different areas according to
questionnaire includes information about where people
local needs, in general the following will take place:
are living, health, education and past employment. ONS is an independent body. We do not share any personal
Hostels
information with any government departments. Personal
In March 2011, special enumerators will arrange delivery
information will be kept confidential and is safeguarded
to hostels of a pack of questionnaires for their residents,
by law.
plus one A4 sheet for the manager to complete about the hostel. Special enumerators can be contacted by
36
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
For further information visit: www.2011.census.gov.uk
CONNECT | WINTER 2010
‘HOUSING FIRST’: CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO?
FEATURES
Staircases, and Cycles Elevators ‘Housing Fir of Change st’ Models for Ho and Other Housing Complex Su meless People with pport Needs Sarah Johnsen & Lígia Teixeira
Most UK stakeholders welcome the development of a Housing First approach in the UK, believing that it would valuably complement existing provision, especially for the most ‘service resistant’ rough sleepers. Some doubt that
Sarah Johnsen, Senior Research Fellow at Heriot-
the scale of positive outcomes reported in the US would
Watt University, and Ligia Teixeira, Research and
be reproduced here, or the cost savings as extreme, but a
Evaluation Manager at Crisis, share key lessons from
willingness to trial Housing First and other models offering
an international review of Housing First and other
different accommodation types and levels of user choice
housing models for homeless people with complex
and conditionality clearly exists.
support needs. The study also highlighted the potential for integrating The ‘Housing First’ model departs from orthodox
elements of Housing First into existing provision, such as
responses to homelessness because it bypasses hostels
tailoring multidisciplinary support to individual needs and
and places rough sleepers with complex needs (such
relaxing time limits on service eligibility (most notably the
as moderate-to-severe mental health and/or substance
Supporting People two-year limit on stays in temporary
misuse problems) directly into permanent independent
accommodation). There was widespread consensus that
accommodation with tailored support, without insisting
the 2012 target to end rough sleeping represents a key
that they engage in treatment. It was developed
window of opportunity for innovation in the development
in the United States, but is rapidly being replicated
of effective solutions for this highly vulnerable group.
internationally, particularly in Europe and Australia. The excellent housing retention outcomes reported in the
The report, ‘Staircases, Elevators and Cycles of
US seriously challenge the ‘treatment first’ philosophy,
Change: ‘Housing First’ and Other Housing Models for
dominant in most developed countries, which presumes
Homeless People with Complex Support Needs’, can
that time spent in transitional supported accommodation
be downloaded for free from the Crisis website: http://
is necessary to ensure homeless people are ‘housing
bit.ly/f914ff. The study was funded by the Economic
ready’ before independent tenancies are allocated.
and Social Research Council, and involved a review of literature and interviews with key stakeholders in the UK,
The review conducted by the University of York and Crisis
US, and Australia.
revealed that some recent service developments in the UK exhibit elements of ‘Housing First-ness’, but that these are outnumbered by specialist transitional housing schemes for this client group. ‘Linear’ models which aim
Editor’s comment
In times of hardship and uncertainty we need to
to progress homeless people through separate residential
be creative in thinking of ways to support those
services continue to predominate in the UK. They are,
without recourse to public funds. Share your
however, implemented more flexibly here than in many
thoughts on how the Housing First model could
other countries, where they have been criticised for
be adapted for Central and Eastern Europeans
high attrition rates and for failing to take account of the
and other migrants:
‘haphazardness’ (non-linearity and unpredictability) of
editor@homelesslink.org.uk
recovery from addiction and mental health problems. WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
37
INSPIRED FEATURES
CONNECT | winter 2010
INTO THE DRAGONS DEN AND OUT WITH THE MICHAEL WHIPPMAN AWARD 2010 The Sandwich People was set up in February 2008 to provide an opportunity for homeless men and women to gain work skills and confidence in a safe but real work environment. Run by homeless volunteers the social enterprise started by delivering sandwiches to small companies close to The Salvation Army Booth House lifehouse in central Swindon. We focussed on providing quality, reliability and value for
sandwiches, prepping salads, stock control, cashing
money. Over time we gained support from our customers
up the till, cleaning and selling sandwiches to local
and by working with local colleges we are now able
businesses. I have certificates and qualifications in Health
to offer a wide range of recognised qualifications to
& Safety, Food Hygiene, Customer Service NVQ2, Sales,
our volunteers. Through the local probation service we
First Aid, Goals Training and Money Management. I am
have introduced community payback hours within the
more confident in my abilities and I know that I can tackle
enterprise and also gained a 5 star assessment from the
challenges. We all have a laugh, working well as a team
local environmental health department.
together no matter what is thrown at us.
The Sandwich People is a real community business and
“When we found out we had won the award I shouted,
more than 150 volunteers have been involved since its
‘YES!’ I had conquered my fears and it was the first time I
start. Twenty have moved on to paid employment with
had won anything. I felt like I was on cloud nine! The team
many more gaining confidence and self esteem and
were really excited and we decided to spend the money
moving onto independent living.
on the most important part of the business - the team! A couple of volunteers were given responsibility to find out
The whole team was excited about entering the Michael
where people would like to go for a team building trip.
Whippman Award and got involved in completing the application form and planning how to spend the prize
On 6th September we all set off for Thorpe Park to
money! On selection for the shortlist, panic set in – who
spend the prize money. Not all of us were brave
would be brave enough to enter the dragons den? Dan
enough to tackle Stealth or Colossus, but those who did
was selected and in his words:
commented: “I got over my fear of heights with the help of the team - it was great” and “0-80mph in 2.3 seconds,
“I was quite nervous when I was asked to talk to over
who can beat that!” and “It’s great - just
150 people, but I really wanted to meet the challenge
like being on holiday. I wish we could stay
and not let myself or the team down. Before I started
longer” and “10 out of 10.”
with the Sandwich People, I had no confidence, no self esteem, no qualifications or work experience. Now I
Visit www.salvationarmy.org.uk/
help with supervising the team each morning, making
sandwichpeople for more information.
38
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
CONNECT | winter 2010
what’s on?
FEATURES
Upcoming training and events for the homelessness sector:
JANUARY 1213 18
Effective Keyworking and the Outcomes Star Two day course which will enable participants to explore and understand the skills involved in keyworking, the boundaries of the work, and how to use and implement the Outcomes Star system in their organisation. http://www.homeless.org.uk/ training-keyworking-outcomes-star
26
10
Outcomes Star
1415
Motivational Interviewing
17
QAF
Prove It - Managing Written information One day course to equip participants with confidence and skills to keep fair and accurate records, respect confidentiality, comply with the Data Protection Act and the Supporting People and other social care standards. http://www.homeless. org.uk/report-writing
24
also exploring new opportunities that these changes will create. We need to harness our knowledge, passion and resilience, that we have shown so often in tackling homelessness, to face the challenges ahead and improve the long-term prospects for our clients. This is your opportunity to help shape the sector for years to come. www.homeless.org.uk/ surviving-the-cuts
Financial Inclusion This course will give participants a detailed understanding of financial exclusion and the link to tenancy failure. This understanding will improve the standard of support offered and contribute to successful move-on and resettlement. http://www. homeless.org.uk/training-financial-inclusion
Managing Conflict
One day course for keyworkers who are using the Outcomes Star aiming to enable participants to fully understand the system and implement it effectively in their work. http://www.homeless.org.uk/trainingoutcomes-star
Two day course that explores the underlying techniques and practices of motivational interviewing and its relevance and applicability within a housing and workplace context. http:// www.homeless.org.uk/training-interviews
One day course to give participants an opportunity to understand the changes contained in the redrafted Quality Assessment Framework (QAF) and the chance to map their main areas of practice against the new framework. http://www.homeless. org.uk/training-qaf
One day course that provides practical advice and techniques for front line workers who face verbal abuse, threats and aggression from service users.
MARCH FEBRUARY 3 4
1
Working with Central and Eastern European Clients One day course providing an overview of the law regarding Central and Eastern European citizens and a look at the challenges faced in meeting their needs. http://www.homeless.org.uk/trainingcentral-and-eastern-europeans
Understanding TB A half-day workshop to raise awareness of tuberculosis (TB) among workers who come into contact with client groups who may be at a higher risk of developing active TB disease. http://www. homeless.org.uk/understand%20TB
Getting homeless people into Education, Training and Employment This course explores the unique needs of homeless clients wanting to access education, training and employment. Aimed at staff who recognise the value of education, employment and training to the physical, mental, emotional and financial well being of their clients. http://www.homeless.org.uk/ training-ete
78
Moving into Management
8
8 SURVIVING THE CUTS
This training course will help emergent and new managers gain confidence and the skills to fulfil the role of manager. It will focus on the organisational and people’s skills you need to supervise and motivate your team.
This conference will look at the impact of the Spending Review and how the cuts will affect our sector. It will share practical ways to safeguard your service and deliver the required efficiencies, whilst...
3
Personalisation
10
Housing Benefits
15
Day Centres
One day course which seeks to give staff in homelessness organisations an introduction to the personalisation agenda and the opportunity to consider personalisation as an organisational ethos and approach. http://www.homeless.org.uk/ training-personalisation
One day course focusing on the most problematic areas for housing professionals.
BOOKING DETAILS
One day course which aims to support managers in considering how their day centre has changed in recent years and how it can become more a place of acceptance, empowerment and change. http:// www.homeless.org.uk/training-day-centres To book a place on any of the training courses
or conferences featured here please call: 020 7960 Cognitive Behavioural Therapy 3030 or email us at: training@homelesslink.org.uk
2223
Two day course which aims to give participants an understanding of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and the skills required to use it effectively. http://www.homeless.org.uk/training-cbt
WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK
39
COMMENT
CONNECT | WINTER 2010
RESOURCES We’ve pulled together a list of resources and research for organisations working with migrants and Central and Eastern Europeans. If you have any information you would like to share with our member organisations, please contact us.
Homeless Link information
Thames Reach: Routes Home
Visit our Central and Eastern European pages for
A practical guide for outreach staff and other
a range of practical ‘how-to’ guides range of
professionals involved in reconnecting Central and
issues and solutions, including accommodation,
Eastern European (CEE) nationals who are rough
entitlements, reconnection, employment, training
sleeping back to their home country. It aims to
advice and support, and health services.
increase options for reconnections and to support
www.homeless.org.uk/central-eastern-
staff to make appropriate referrals to services in the
europeans
UK and CEE countries. http://www.thamesreach.org.uk/what-we-do/
Information on entitlements for other migrants with
routes-home/about-routes-home/
no recourse to public funds. www.homeless.org.uk/migrants-nrpf Homeless UK - the leading source of information about advice, support, hostels and supported accommodation for homeless people and those at risk of homelessness. www.homelessuk.org
Housing Rights website from Chartered Institute of Housing The Housing Rights website aims to provide accurate information to recent arrivals and to
Homeless Pages – find the latest publications and
advisers about entitlements to housing, based on
research on migrant homelessness.
people’s immigration status.
www.homelesspages.org.uk
www.housing-rights.info
Migrant Rights on Administrative Removal
British Red Cross Advocacy Report - Not gone, but forgotten
Fact Sheet prepared by a consortium of organisations and lawyers working in the field with
Report highlighting the dire hardships facing
advice on working with EU migrants and detailing
destitute asylum seekers and the urgent need for a
why Migrants Rights think the pilot scheme is
more humane asylum system.
unlawful.
http://www.redcross.org.uk/About-us/
http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/publications/
News/2010/June/New-report-calls-for-end-to-
briefing-papers/factsheet-and-faq-expulsion-
asylum-seekers-destitution
homeless-eea-nationals
40
www.homeless.org.uk WWW.HOMELESS.ORG.UK