|
[our aims] [foreward by the chair] [the national picture] [an overview of thurrock citizens advice bureau]
[staff & volunteers 2007/2008] [volunteering and the citizens advice] [the schedule]
[debt advice] [welfare benefits and tax credits advice] [advice on housing issues] [advice on employment issues]
Annual Report 2007/2008:
Advice on Housing Issues
An Overview of Housing Problems
Over 280,000 people presented housing problems to bureaux in 2006/07. 22% of problems concerned private rented properties; and 21% of problems concerned actual or threatened homelessness.
Within the category of private rented properties, the most common advice related to rents and other charges (an estimated 17,000 issues), rent deposits/bonds (16,000), repairs/maintenance (12,000) and security of tenure (10,000).
Actual and threatened homelessness are the most extreme and immediate of housing problems. Bureaux were presented with more than 85,000 actual and threatened homelessness problems in 2006/07.
Homelessness can severely affect health and employment prospects. The life expectancy of someone sleeping rough is estimated to be 42 years, half that of the average UK citizen and worse than Ethiopia or the Republic of Congo. Homeless households, in particular 'single homeless' and rough sleepers, have a higher prevalence of physical and mental health problems and the experience of homelessness often exacerbates problems.42
Lack of suitable accommodation or the cost of housing is a barrier to accessing employment reported by a third of single homeless people. More than half of homeless people want to engage in learning and skills development, but only a fifth do at present. 37% of homeless people have no qualifications (compared to 10% of the general population).42
A significant amount of research has been conducted on the effects of homelessness or inadequate accommodation on children. According to Shelter, one in seven children (1.6m) in Britain are homeless or in squalid housing that wrecks their health, education and future chances. Shelter have conducted studies into the affects of bad housing on health and education, demonstrating that children living in such conditions can suffer physically and mentally, and are more likely to struggle at school.43
Citizens Advice and Shelter work in partnership to provide the National Homelessness Advisory Service, which aims to prevent homelessness and remedy other housing problems through increasing public access to high-quality advice. Interim results from recent work on measuring outcomes of the service are positive: the most common outcomes recorded are homelessness prevented, financial gain and homelessness delayed.
Individual Benefits of Housing Advice
Interim data from the NHAS outcomes pilot project suggests a wide range of secondary individual benefits beyond the primary outcomes of preventing / delaying homelessness, and financial gains.
A majority of clients stated that following advice, they understood the system better, they were more able to help themselves, they felt more confident and had greater peace of mind and that their health had improved (with some reporting a lot of difference to their health).
For those clients threatened with homelessness, or helped out of homelessness, a reversal of the negative effects of homelessness can also be inferred, such as improved chances of finding work, succeeding in education and a longer life expectancy.
Community Benefits of Housing Advice
Some or all of the community costs of homelessness can be mitigated by timely intervention. Using a number of case studies, Crisis found that the cost of homelessness ranged from £4,500 to £83,000 per individual scenario. These costs were arrived at by considering the cash impact of a failed tenancy (costs borne by landlord), Local Authority temporary accommodation, support services (e.g. advisers), health services, Criminal Justice System and prisons, potential resettlement costs and lost economic output.44
Further, the cost to government of an unemployed person staying in a hostel is approximately £15,500 per year. If adequate support and move-on accommodation is offered people will be able to come off benefits and become net contributors to the economy.45
Other benefits include a decreased fear of crime and increased ability to participate in the community.
Benefits of Housing Advice to Wider Social Policy and Central Government
A key success of Citizens Advice's social policy work was the introduction of statutory requirements to ensure tenancy deposits are protected and to aid dispute resolution. This was passed in The Housing Act 2004.46
By providing advice and peer support on accommodation issues bureaux also contribute to meeting the government's target of 70,000 prisoners having found accommodation after release.47
Measuring the Value of Thurrock CABs Housing Advice
In 2007/08, Thurrock CAB advised 877 clients on 1728 Housing Issues. The most common areas we advised on were neighbour problems and threatened homelessness. Following up with clients threatened with homelessness is challenging because these clients are more likely to have moved from the original address. However, we surveyed 25 clients that had presented a threatened homelessness problem. All had had homelessness delayed or avoided, and all attributed the outcome at least partially to the work of the bureau.
Thurrock CAB is actively involved in local social policy. Prompted by a number of issues reported by clients, in 2006 we met with Shelter and jointly prepared an article for the local newspaper about the lack of council properties in the area. The article was published in January 2007. We are continuing to monitor the situation and raise it with appropriate organisations.
42 Impact of Homelessness, Homeless Link, 2007. Available at: http//www.homeless.org.uk/policyandinfo/facts/impact
43 Key Statistics, Shelter, 2007. Available at: http//media.shelter.org.uk/content/detail.asp?NewsAreaID=29&ReleaseID=111
44 How Many, How Much? Single homelessness and the question of numbers and costs, London Crisis, 2003. Available at: http//www.crisis.org.uk/downloads.php/121/HowManyHowMuch_full.pdf
45 Impact of Homelessness, Homeless Link, 2007. Available at: http//www.homeless.org.uk/policyandinfo/facts/costs
46 Tenancy Deposits Campaign, Citizens Advice, 2007. Available at: http//www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/campaigns/current_campaigns/tenancy_deposits_campaign.htm
47 Volunteering Works: Volunteering and Social Policy, Institute for Volunteering Research & Volunteering England, 2007. Available at: http//www.volunteering.org.uk/Final_Volunteering_Works.pdf
Thurrock CAB Annual Report 2007/2008
 Download the full annual report 2007/2008 (PDF 274kB)
|
