Written evidence submitted by Nacro [IOC 299]
Nacro is a social justice charity committed to giving people the best chance at a second chance. We provide a range of support including homes and support for people at risk of homelessness through our supported housing and other housing projects and we provide help for people leaving prison to find somewhere to live. Our response to this inquiry focuses specifically on the challenges for prison leavers.
Prior to Covid-19, data showed that around a thousand people are released from prison homeless a month. As an organisation supporting people to find somewhere to live as they leave prison, we know how difficult this can be. People leaving prison face many barriers securing accommodation such as challenges in accessing the private rented sector including the money needed for a deposit and the need for a guarantor; challenges with local authority support such as being deemed intentionally homeless due to their crime or something prior to their time in prison; not being deemed as priority need and/or not having local connection.
Earlier in the Coronavirus crisis as a result of the welcome drive to house rough sleepers, we experienced some positive changes in many areas, working with local authorities to find accommodation and accessing hotel and other accommodation for prison leavers where there were no other options. This was very welcome. We were however still finding significant barriers for some people in some areas, for example:
- Local authority refusal to house prison leavers due to their past history. In one case where this happened, we challenged the local authority’s decision and they accepted they would place the service user in temporary accommodation but wouldn’t do so immediately leaving him homeless for the first few days of release
- Hotels being used to house people who were rough sleeping were not all accepting people with substance misuse problems – whilst that might be a sensible decision for a specific venue, if there is nowhere else for the service user to be housed they still face homelessness
- People slipping through the net – we were aware of some cases of people who moved away from the prison area and therefore did not access the local community resettlement team. They slipped through the net in their new area and didn’t receive any resettlement support, leaving them homeless and unsupported in the community
We were concerned about these examples from the start of the crisis, but it is now becoming more difficult to secure accommodation. Within recent weeks we have experienced a rising number of local authorities turning down applications and stating that they have been informed they should revert to ‘business as usual’ and that all newly released prisoners will need to meet the same vulnerability criteria as prior to COVID-19, the only exceptions to this rule are those with symptoms/confirmed COVID-19 who they will agree to house. With even more limited access than usual to independent supported housing and private rented accommodation, there are few options in terms of sourcing non-local authority accommodation provision at this time. As a result of this, there is likely to be an increase in the number of people being released from prison homeless.
At a time when having somewhere safe to stay is absolutely critical in the battle against coronavirus, it is crucial we do everything we can to ensure people released from prison have somewhere to stay.
Finally, in preparation for the easing of restrictions, we must also ensure that there are move-on options once restrictions are eased for people who have been housed in temporary accommodation such as hotels so people are not suddenly made homeless with nowhere to go.