Homelessness prevention by Oxfordshire Homeless Movement

Partnership approach to housing people with no recourse to public funds

The context

The PRG focused on people at risk of homelessness who are eligible for statutory assistance. Yet early intervention can ring hollow for those who have no recourse to public funds (NRPF), and for whom stable housing can be impossible to achieve in the first place. During the pandemic, however, progress was made for people with NRPF in the ‘crisis’ prevention space. Public health measures across the UK required anyone who was roofless to be offered accommodation, regardless of entitlement.

This period of respite ‘motivated a higher ambition and lower tolerance of this issue in Scotland’. It stimulated statutory and third sectors to shape a systems approach to ‘designing out’ destitution. The resulting Fair Way Scotland plan sets out a range of housing and support pathways for people with NRPF at risk of homelessness. It seeks to connect existing services and leverage new funding to fill gaps. Procurement of safe housing in ordinary community settings is one of these. A partnership in Oxfordshire has been on a similar journey - and is taking an innovative approach to this challenge.

The intervention

Councils in Oxford and adjoining Shires were planning a regional rapid rehousing transition before the pandemic,cx which saw over 200 people who had been sleeping rough accommodated. True to housing-led principles, Councils, housing providers and third sector partners worked together to find homes for those people. But strengths-based assessments carried out in interim accommodation venues showed 21 individuals with NRPF faced an end to their accommodation and a total absence of onward housing options. Oxfordshire Homeless Movement (OHM)cxi - a ‘gateway’ or ‘shop window’ which connects partners and fills gaps in services - identified this group as a priority statutory services could not help with before COVID-19. The pandemic gave them the impetus to launch a five-year ‘NRPF project’.

OHM set up a working group, which designed a prospectus for the project. A mini-tender process followed, with three delivery partners chosen. Asylum Welcome offers immigration advice and advocacy. Connection Support provides support; their workers have personal experience of NRPF status, and speak many different languages. Aspire carries out property management. OHM continues to fundraise from campaigns, philanthropy and grants, to meet the project’s annual budget (circa £250,000) By supporting people with personal and legal matters in a settled home, some will obtain settled status. Others may decide to return to their country of origin. But the project is also committed to supporting people who are in neither of these groups.

The project follows rapid rehousing principles (which Oxfordshire Councils have also adopted). The core insight is that without stable housing, no person is likely to be safe, well or able to contribute to society. Securing safe housing is the first, not last, step for people with NRPF (as with anyone else). OHM has tested various ways of procuring housing, including appealing to (social and PRS) landlords for units at peppercorn rent, negotiating ‘meanwhile use’ of empty homes and exploring cross-subsidy models. Housing must be available for a period of years - not days or months - and costs kept low.

The outcome

In year one, the project housed 12 people, and is supporting others not yet housed. The plan is to house the full cohort of 21 people identified. Local Housing Association, Soha, has provided housing for 10 people so far in dispersed homes across Oxfordshire, at peppercorn rent, and offered two more units. Two people have been housed by Edge Housing, who’ve offered one further space. All 15 units are on a long-term basis.

Most people share a two-bed home, but some have chosen to share a threebed, or live alone. One person recently obtained settled status, so can start a move-on process, meaning someone else can eventually move into this property. Others are receiving support to learn English, volunteer or get ready for work (where status allows this).

Key insights

it’s vital to select the right delivery partners for a project of this nature: each must be willing to ‘flex’ standard rules/policies, leave organisational egos aside, adapt quickly to challenges and work with risk
‘red lines’ are important, even when working on a shoestring budget with a disenfranchised group
a solution for people with NRPF exists - if every housing provider in an area pledges just one unit

Find out more…

Yvonne Pinner, Project Manager, Oxfordshire Homeless Movement,
hello@oxfordshirehomelessmovement.org