Tackling homelessness is the key to become a fairer society
We are only as strong as our weakest link. In our society, this is homelessness – an issue that leaves a moral stain on our country. If we are serious about levelling up society, guaranteeing a safe home for everyone is the only place to start.
The Big Birmingham Sleep Out is a fantastic event that sees hundreds of people experience just a small glimpse into the lives of those suffering from long-term homelessness in the West Midlands. I have always taken great pride in participating over the years, but whilst I have been comforted in the knowledge that I had a warm bed to return to, for too many this simply isn’t the case.
Rough sleeping scars society all year round, but it is particularly acute at Christmas when many of us take for granted how fortunate we are to enjoy spending time with loved ones in the safety of our homes. This time of year makes it blindingly obvious that the mission to level up the country will never truly be achieved whilst homelessness remains entrenched in society.
To tackle this problem, the West Midlands currently operates the largest Housing First service in the UK. The scheme has been immensely successful in addressing rough sleeping in countries like Denmark and Finland. I travelled to Helsinki to see first-hand how the scheme could transform people’s lives, before pilots were started in the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, and Liverpool.
The hugely successful programme works to move people from the streets straight into permanent housing complete with wrap-around support, instead of placing them into temporary accommodation or shelters as a stop-gap measure. There is one huge advantage that comes with this approach: a permanent address opens up many doors that may have previously been firmly shut – a GP, job applications and a bank account to name a few.
This is critical because if we want to truly break the vicious cycle of homelessness, we need to give people the chance to work. This offers huge benefits to the individuals receiving this support and to their local communities too. Based on data from the initial pilots, we found that for every £1 invested, there is an overall saving of £1.56 on the cost of other service provision. As with all of our efforts to level up the country, an initial investment in economic potential is able to unlock benefits for the whole community.
In the West Midlands the success is obvious. More than 500 people have been helped off the streets into a permanent home of their own thanks to Housing First, with hardly anyone dropping out of the scheme and turning their back on the support offered. It is no surprise therefore that the success of Housing First in the West Midlands has coincided with a significant fall in rough sleeping in the region. My colleagues in Greater Manchester and Liverpool could also tell similar success stories.
For every person whom we get off the streets and give a new shot at life, we are one step closer to the goal of a fairer society with opportunities for all – the true definition of levelling up. Government funded schemes such as Housing First offer a unique opportunity for the country. The government has demonstrated a commitment to eradicating rough sleeping by earmarking money to tackle the issue in the Comprehensive Spending Review. Now is the time to commit to the scheme long-term, and roll Housing First out across the whole country. A long term investment in the programme will demonstrate levelling up in practice by ensuring no one, especially our most vulnerable citizens, is left behind.