Session 2. The experience of supported housing providers - lessons for general needs providers

1. Session 2. The experience of supported housing providers - lessons for general needs providers Meeting the employment aspirations of vulnerable service users -Jeremy Swain, Chief Executive, Thames Reach

2. What are the drivers of change? • Cultural change across the homelessness sector • Government pressure and initiatives • Priorities of service users themselves

3. Cultural change across the sector • ‘Get your housing sorted out first’ → ‘if you get a job, other things will fall into place’ • Pragmatic response to reduction in move-on – how long does it take to get your housing sorted out? • Greater expectations on service users – shift away from paternalism?

4. Government pressure and initiatives • Places of Change – ‘a bed and a reason to get out of it’ • Relentless challenge around the profile of people in social housing and hostels • National Indicator Set and move towards Area Based Grant • Funding – ESF, Co-financing Initiatives (London Councils, LDA, DWP) • Pathways to Work, Flexible New Deal – more services, more income

5. Priorities of the service users themselves • Consistently name returning to work as an objective • Evidence that they sometimes work around staff to achieve this end

6. Thames Reach Service User Survey 2008 (1) Would you like a job? 8% Yes No Maybe in the future Already in paid employment 20% 44% 28%

7. Thames Reach Service User Survey 2008 (2) If you are not working what is stopping you from getting a job? 8% 5% Health reasons Other personal reasons Lack of skills/qualifications Worries about finance/being worse off Feeling too old 11% 67% 9%

11. GROW – former homeless people working for homelessness organisations Because: • How can we convince other organisations to employ homeless people? • The ‘how can I work for you’ question got too exasperating • The homeless experience brings added value • It can achieve financial savings for the organisation • It can create a cultural shift amongst staff, reducing the ‘us and them’

12. GROW – learning • The cultural shift is crucial and requires time and patience • When things go wrong, they do so dramatically • The inspiration that is created by the change is unquantifiable • It has fundamentally altered the organisation – 71 staff (18%) of the staff group have a history of homelessness

13. What’s working? • Acceptance that confidence and understanding of the expectations of work needs to be built up steadily • Opportunity to experiment in the safe haven of Thames Reach • Understanding that the first job is followed by a better second job • Strong expectation that the service user can do it – the main obstacle to overcome is lack of motivation and confidence

14. New challenges • Pushing ourselves and commissioner further – career progression as important as ongoing housing support • Making sure that funding reflects need – those furthest from employment market carry a higher bounty than the recently unemployed • Meeting the employment needs of local communities • Finding a way of making personalisation work • Helping thousands of former homeless people into mainstream jobs

15. “I’m now working and in a relationship with a woman I knew back in my teens. I lost contact with my family when I was on the streets but I now see them every couple of months. I’ve also got a daughter of 23 from a previous relationship who I’m in regular contact with – she had to be one of the main reasons I got better again.”