4.3.3 Theme 3: Wider considerations for the future

Stakeholders talked about how Housing First is having to go to landlords “that they would rather not use” to get properties for their customers. It was noted that it can be difficult to find private landlords to agree to work Housing First because of potential risks associated with the customer group:

“I think it’s a bit of ... perhaps a little bit of risk because people, you know, people know the kind of customers that we might want to refer into the accommodation, and they know that it comes with an array of different complex needs for Housing First customers.”

Some examples were given of other people (and drug users specifically) congregating/taking over customers’ properties and the Police needing to be involved. It was highlighted that if a private landlord works with Housing First and their customer is “difficult” for the first few months of being in the property, then the relationship between the landlord and the service can become strained and the landlord is less likely to work with Housing First again. Stakeholders acknowledged that securing “buy in” may be hard initially, and that there is a need to try and “win them over”, for example, by highlighting the increased level of support available to the customer.

4.3.3 Theme 3: Wider considerations for the future Working with other services

As outlined earlier, the Housing First model differs from other services working with this customer group in fundamental ways, including housing as a human right and the non-conditional access to housing. A key distinction made by stakeholders was that Housing First customers are not mandated to engage in support for their mental health and/or substance use; the focus appears to be more on customer choice and working with customers around harm reduction (rather than being substancefree). Stakeholders framed this flexibility as positive for the customer group, many of whom had long and deep-rooted relationships with substances. However, this flexibility seems to jar at times with some other services that have stricter criteria/requirements, particularly around substance misuse and mental health issues. Issues around dual diagnosis were highlighted, with customers going around in circles without getting support for either. Positive examples of working with other services were also highlighted and featured in the customer case studies, particularly of working with GPs and some improvements with drug and alcohol services.

Nevertheless, communication with other services appears to be part of this challenge. Service coordinators often face resistance from services (especially mental health and social services) when trying to refer and re-engage customers because of the customer group or the customer’s past behaviour:

“You know, you refer somebody, and they say, ‘no we’re not having them because they have been aggressive in the past’, I said they were drinking then, they’re not drinking 33 now.”