Chapter 9: Create and develop healthy and sustainable places and communities
Resettlement
As a result of the 'everybody in' approach, there were many people occupying hotel accommodation, other temporary accommodation, and mainstream flats following offers being made, with support needs impeding their ability to manage their new accommodation. Outreach support aimed to meet basic needs like food, clothing and telephones, as well connect people to the right services in the community and carry out other aspects of practical resettlement support. An important aspect of this work was the emotional support offered to clients managing difficult transitions and traumatic circumstances. As could be expected, the needs and histories that clients brought with them varied massively.
Basis Gateshead (drop in)
Basis is a drop-in centre, in central Gateshead, open to support rough sleepers and the vulnerably housed, to access housing, support and to meet basic needs. Clients are able to make use of shower facilities, computers, washers and dryers etc. Pandemic restrictions meant much of the support moved to being delivered over the telephone. As society opened up, it became possible to bring service users back into the project with safety measures in place, and support operated on a 'one in, one out' basis. Although footfall was dramatically reduced, staff reported that engagement was more productive and led to better outcomes, as they could focus more time and energy on some people. As some restrictions on numbers are still in place, this positive effect has been maintained. Drop-in staff reported a decrease in rough sleeping levels, but they were still able to support people who had failed to manage hotel and other temporary accommodation and ended up homeless.
Basis Beds
The Basis Beds project is our housing led approach to house vulnerable individuals, with complex experiences of homelessness, in self-contained, supported flats in the community. The pandemic meant that support had to adapt, with much delivered over the phone, with a face-to-face presence for essential work such as welfare checks, practical support, facilitating essential repairs and managing antisocial behaviour. Some residents responded really well to a move to phone-based support, particularly those with anxiety issues. Staff reported that they were able to invest in building relationships with residents through having the time to listen and understand their stories.
Massive changes to how probation services, recovery services and medication dispensation services were operating had a profound impact on many residents and, therefore, on how we were able to manage and support them in their accommodation. In practice, we found that a lot of residents struggled to adjust to changes in dispensation of their medication (opiate replacement in particular) and issues around drug related harm escalated in a lot of cases Less contact with probation services, where this was a factor, made the joint challenging of antisocial behaviour more difficult. Opportunities for begging and low-level acquisitive crime were also reduced by the pandemic. It does not feel coincidental that five of our flats were stripped of their kitchen appliances during April 2020. Evictions were also put on hold, which made the management of high-risk situations very difficult. We found positive outcomes with new residents who had struggled to manage accommodation in hotels, including one man who came to us having been evicted from a hotel within a matter of hours for his behaviour who remains in the project today and who is awaiting move on.