Written evidence submitted by the Riverside Group Ltd [HRB 46]
 

1.    Executive Summary
 

1.1 Riverside welcomes the opportunity to submit views to the Communities and Local Government Committee’s inquiry into homelessness and the Homelessness Reduction Bill, and supports any legislation which aims to reduce homelessness and improve support for vulnerable people. In framing our response, we have not attempted to provide evidence in relation to all areas of the inquiry, instead selecting three key case studies which draw upon our considerable experience as a supported housing provider with a focus on early intervention and preventative practice. Our chosen case studies are:

• Homeless Prevention Floating Support Service
• Single Persons Accommodation Centre for the Ex Services (SPACES)
• Gate Buddies (Peer Mentoring Service)

2.    Introduction

2.1 Riverside is one of the largest charitable housing association groups in the country, owning and managing over 53,000 homes across England and Scotland.

2.2 With a substantial national profile and over 80 years of experience of developing affordable housing, we work in some of the country’s most challenging neighbourhoods.
 

2.3 In addition to general needs accommodation, our large supported housing and retirement living division - Riverside Care and Support - provides high quality support to more than 12,000 service users, with a diverse range of housing needs.
 

3.    Case Study 1: Homeless Prevention Floating Support Service (Liverpool)

3.1 Riverside have delivered the Floating Support contract for Socially Excluded groups across Liverpool since September 2008. The service was re-commissioned and Riverside re-secured the contract in December 2015 as the Prime Contractor with sub-contracting arrangements with 5 other partner agencies. The service is funded by Liverpool City Council at a cost of £512,000 pa.
 

3.2 The aim of the service is to take a personalised, preventative approach to reduce the risk of homelessness. The contract’s focus is homelessness prevention, wellbeing and independence through multiple community bases and pop up hubs tailored for customers to ‘drop-in’ and access support at a neighbourhood level. The service makes homelessness advice accessible and flexible across Liverpool.
 

3.3 The contract is delivered through a tiered approach and Riverside can provide support to 65 tier one (informal support) and 65 tier two (formal support) families and customers aged 16+ with multiple, complex and challenging needs to (re)gain and maintain independence. Customers are referred through a triage approach which identifies customers under the tiered programme of support.  Informal support (tier 1) provides up to 8 hours support for one off interventions and/or advice through designated drop in facilities located within the community. Formal support (tier 2) provides up to 35 hours of support over 12 weeks with a maximum of up to 90 hours for 36 weeks for customers who require more support. The service also provides a tier 0 which allows customers to receive informal access of support for example via telephone and advice through drop-in service. Referrals are made through the MainStay Gateway to Housing & Support, which provides access to short-term Housing Related Support services within the region of Liverpool City Council.
 

3.4 The staff team achieve their aim of homelessness prevention through a programme of tailored, person-centred support. This includes developing social capital; support with life skills and understanding/maintaining tenancies (for example supporting individuals to build good relationships with landlords); addressing rent arrears and Anti-Social Behaviour; organising utilities, budgeting and management of debts; advocacy with relevant agencies to access support services and funding for issues affecting stability e.g. mental health, substance misuse, and employment and education advice. Staff will also provide support to customers in accessing re-housing options, and assistance with acquiring furniture.
 

3.5 The contract also provides a peer mentoring service, volunteering opportunities, employment advice, job application support, and a befriending service through a volunteer co-ordinator and GROW traineeship post (Giving Real Opportunities for Work - Riverside traineeship for individuals with lived experience). Support is designed to increase independence. Customers are encouraged to develop skills to help themselves and access community resources, whilst group work and peer mentoring reduce dependence on one-to-one support. Ultimately, the support provided by the Homeless Prevention Floating Support Service develops safeguards to stabilise and manage crisis situations and promotes sustainable links within the community.
 

3.6 In the period between 1st April 2016 and 1st August 2016 the CLG outcomes were as follows:

• Be healthy: 88% were better managing their physical health; 97% were better managing their mental health; 100% were better managing their substance misuse issues.
   
• Stay safe: 100% maintained their accommodation and avoided eviction; 100% secured accommodation; 100% were better at managing their self-harm to others and 100% were successful in minimising the risk of harm from others.
   
• Enjoy and achieve: 96% established contact with external service/groups; 100% established contact with friends or family; 100% participated in leisure/cultural/faith and/or informal learning activities.
   
• Make a positive contribution: 100% had more choice/involvement/control.
   
• Achieve economic well-being: 100% maximised their income; 94% reduced their overall debt.
   

3.7 The above outcomes were measured using SP Provider and the referral system MainStay. These electronic case management systems help produce clear outcome-focused support plans. They hold accurate records of work carried out with individuals, producing a robust audit trail linking activities with outcomes. SP Provider delivers quality-related data, analysed operationally (including service-user input) and managed, validated and co-ordinated by our Quality and Performance team.
 

3.8 Two key factors to the intervention’s success and outcomes are a triage approach to referrals, and the Psychologically Informed Environments (PIEs) which underpin all service delivery and modelling.
 

3.9 Triage Approach
A triage approach is adopted in relation to referrals, which are processed by staff on office-based days and a dedicated Support Assistant (drop-in staff can increase speed as necessary). Referrals are received from all appropriate avenues (including MainStay phone, email, referring agencies, direct access) and processed in-line with MainStay protocols. Drop-ins provide a MainStay assessment point to access other services. Initial assessments are used to accurately triage Service-Users, and offer appropriate support (Tier 0, 1, 2, signposting, referral to other service e.g. Waves of Hope). Needs are assessed numerically, with agreed SMART actions to meet key targets identified/ recorded. Support plans/ assessments are self-directed, with staff guidance. Full monthly reviews ensure that changing needs are tracked and the plan remains relevant with transferal between tiers as appropriate, encouraging independence.
 

3.10         PIE Approach (Psychologically Informed Environments)

This underpins every aspect of service delivery/modelling and affects emotional wellbeing. Our strategy and procedures are built around PIE, and have been commended by Helen Keats (former advisor to DCLG) and Nick McGuire, who originally developed the concept.

The approach focuses on coaching/motivation to:

• Improve outcomes
• Maximise the benefit of enabling trust-based client-staff relationships
• Break negative cycles of behaviour
   

Keyworkers demonstrate empathy, and foster mutual respect/trust through intensive daily contract with people. By utilising Cognitive Behavioural Coaching techniques including motivational interviewing, to encourage and support clients to identify their goals, milestones and SMART actions; staff present a subtle, consistent change in language, which facilitates changes in thinking. This offers consistency, practical help, an enduring relationship and helps people drive the support they receive and take ownership of their journey towards wellbeing, reducing need for future support.

4.    Case study 2: Single Persons Accommodation Centre for the Ex Services (SPACES)

4.1 Riverside set up the Single Persons Accommodation Centre for the Ex Services (SPACES) in 2000, in a ground-breaking partnership with the Ministry of Defence. Based in North Yorkshire, SPACES provides a national telephone housing advice and placement service for those leaving the Armed Forces.
 

4.2 SPACES was implemented following a review of existing studies in relation to homelessness amongst veterans, which highlighted a number of findings including:

• Low rates of home ownership and experience of the civilian housing market,  which places many of those leaving service at a disadvantage in accessing housing
• Varying rates of homelessness among single veterans had been recorded since the 1990s, however there were some indications of higher prevalence of homelessness among single veterans in the most severe and enduring types of homelessness.
• Evidence that dedicated veteran services provide ‘fast-track’ access to support and that take-up might be greater if services provide military knowledge or experience.
   

4.3 Support delivered by SPACES includes:
 

• A National telephone housing advice and placement service reducing the instances of veterans becoming homeless or sleeping rough after discharge.
• Supporting Single Personnel for up to 1 year prior to their discharge date and veterans discharged within 6 months of contact.
• Assessing individuals and referring to appropriate housing providers.

4.4 SPACES supports around 1,200 Veterans annually, and has assisted over               14,770 Single Armed Forces Personnel since its inception in 2000. Its annual cost is £142,885.
 

4.5 During 2015/16, SPACES received 1116 referrals, requiring signposting and/or accommodation. Our successful signposting and support achieved the following outcomes (for those who identified with a need):

• 97% secured/obtained settled accommodation, e.g. social housing, private rented
• 98% maximised their income, including being in receipt of the correct welfare benefits
• 83% reduced their overall debt
• 100% improved their mental and/or physical health
• 93% better managed their substance misuse issues
• 88% participated in their desired training and/or education
• 96% participated in work-like activities, e.g. unpaid work/work experience/voluntary work

[Measured using a case management systems and localised spreadsheets].

 

5.    Case Study 3: Gate Buddies (Peer Mentoring Service)

5.1 Gate Buddies is a ‘through the gate’, volunteer led service based in Greater Manchester and established in 2014 with the aims to stop the cycle of offending, prison and homelessness by supporting offenders and their families. The reality is that many people who leave prison without a home, work or appropriate support are at risk of offending again. Aims of the Gate Buddies service include:

• Reduced risk of homelessness
• Increased chances of employment
• Improved substance misuse/addiction issues
• Improved general health and wellbeing
• Referral onto appropriate support and training
• Reduced chance of reoffending
• Reduced chance of claiming welfare

5.2 The service was established in 2014 and based on its success has secured funding from The Riverside Foundation until 2017. The service has a delivery cost of £114,000 pa. The Gate Buddies Team is solely delivered by Riverside, and works closely with agencies such as DWP, MoJ, HM Prison services, Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Service, Offender Management Unit, NHS England, Lifeline, Purple Futures, Greater Manchester Police and Family Pathways and the Probation service.
 

5.3 Many people who leave prison without a home or a job and without appropriate support are at risk of homelessness and offending again. Research has shown that 40% of homeless people have served a prison sentence. Riverside Care and Support provides a number of interventions to ex-offenders across Manchester and Salford, including prison based housing advice, through the gate support and accommodation based support. They work with prisons, probation, mental health teams, and housing departments to offer positive solutions around housing, wellbeing, overcoming drug and alcohol addictions and access to education, employment and training opportunities. These interventions help to prevent reoffending and enable individuals to hold down accommodation and employment, mitigating risk factors such as lack of stable, secure accommodation (56% of reoffenders) and drug/alcohol misuse (41% of reoffenders) as detailed in the Ministry of Justice’s ‘Transforming Rehabilitation’ paper (2013).
 

5.4 Riverside Care and Support has piloted the ‘Buddies’ model in Manchester with the Street Buddies project, aimed at engaging with entrenched rough sleepers via a peer mentoring approach.  As a result of growing numbers of ex-offenders, mainstream outreach teams do not have the time required to build the relationships necessary to move forward.  Recognising that this client group identifies with peers rather than professionals who have never experienced life in prison, along with a clear need for support services for offenders leaving prison, RECHG (Riverside English Churches Housing Group – rebranded as Riverside Care and Support in November 2015) established a pilot Gate Buddies scheme January 2014 thanks to funding from the Homelessness Transition Fund.  
 

5.5 The service starts towards the end of the prison sentence and continues after release, encouraging families and offenders to connect with services in the Manchester area. Gate Buddies volunteers support clients through the journey from leaving prison to resettling in the community by using their own skills and lived experience. Family Gate Buddies support the families of prisoners who can experience difficult and traumatic times while their loved one is in custody and aims to support families to maintain their ‘normal’ life and their relationship with their loved one whilst they are in custody.
 

5.6 Not only is the service providing support to prisoners and families, but it is also providing volunteers with new skills and development opportunities. The Riverside Gate Buddies Volunteer Coordinator has recruited a number of Gate Buddies and provides a comprehensive training programme to enable them to become Gate Buddies Volunteers. Our volunteers are experts by experience; they have their own experiences of offending/homelessness which enable them to mentor prisoners.
 

5.7 Gate Buddies will typically provide:

• Referral discussions to the service and help to identify the most appropriate support to the client
• Regular meetings with clients to identify the type of support needed.
• Support, advice and guidance to clients about personal issues and other general needs
• One-to-one support in the community e.g. assisting offenders or their families to engage with services
• Attendance of pre-arranged prison appointments to work out how best to support the client’s needs when they are released by completing an action plan
• Help in preparing the client for release by looking at what will be needed to make their exit from prison a success
• Support during the transition from prison to their accommodation, and follow up
• Attendance of appointments with clients to ensure they are getting the most appropriate help
• A role model to share their experience of moving away from offending.
• Commitment to volunteer for a minimum of 4 hours per week             
   

5.8 Since 2014 we have received 157 referrals (145 males and 12 females) from HMP: Manchester, Forest Bank, Risley, Styal, Hindley, Buckley Hall and Liverpool.) 81% of referrals received were eligible for the service. 19% who were not eligible were signposted to other services. All participants stated that Gate Buddies had successfully achieved its primary objective of reducing reoffending rates. Participants suggested that Gate Buddies had reduced the risk of homelessness and encouraged better management of health conditions, which should have a positive fiscal impact upon government. In particular, participants cited a significant reduction in acute care episodes.
 

5.9 In 2015-16, the Gate Buddies project:

• Recruited and supported 18 peer mentor volunteers
• Recruited and managed 2 GROW trainees
• Engaged with/supported 111 ex-Offenders.

[Audited on behalf of the Riverside Foundation May 2016]

5.10         The key, quantifiable outcomes produced by the Gate Buddies project from
     the period March 2015 to March 2016 are as follows:

• Budget £113,500 (funded by the Riverside Foundation)
• 3 individuals in full time employment after having a long history of unemployment and welfare dependency
• 2 individuals in part time employment after having a long history of unemployment and welfare dependency
• 12 individuals given voluntary opportunities
• 1 individual has gone on to obtain an NVQ
• 1 individual is undertaking other employment-related training
• 1 Grow Trainee gained employment within Riverside (employed for 10 months with gate Buddies) applied for this post internally
• Reoffending rate of 9.8% against a national rate of 25.3% and a Manchester-specific rate of 28.8%. Based on the Manchester average, we can predict that 23 instances of re-offending have been prevented by Gate Buddies.
• Reduction in homelessness levels and the incurred costs to government associated with homelessness by providing 31 previously NFA customers with stable, secure supported accommodation for an average time period of 6 months.
• Health outcomes such as reduced substance dependency and reduced acute care-related incidents such as A+E attendances. These outcomes have high cost: saving benefits but are unquantified, however they emerged as key themes within the qualitative data.

5.11         Riverside is aware of the need to articulate the economic benefits of projects such as Gate Buddies in an increasingly competitive commissioning market, and therefore utilises the SROI (Social Return on Investment) methodology to articulate its value in addition to the more traditional anecdotal and case study-based qualitative evidence. Key outcomes include the statistical decrease in reoffending from the national and regional average, the provision of supported housing to NFA offenders and the employment and training opportunities generated. Gate Buddies produced £9.18 of social value for every £1 spent for the period March 15 to March 16 (after the application of deadweight). Of the £1,042,456 of social value created, 94.20% is economic/fiscal value and 5.80% is wellbeing value. £843,870 (or 80.95% of the total value generated) consists of a direct fiscal saving to the Ministry of Justice for keeping individuals out of the prison system.

5.12         The reduction in reoffending is considered to be a direct result of the effective provision of support in several key areas; these areas are most commonly identified as accommodation, employment and training and health and wellbeing. The provision of stable, secure accommodation was cited by Gate Buddies customers as a successful outcome:

“The stable accommodation helps because you’re more likely to reoffend if you’re homeless.”

“For me, the knowledge that I’m in a safe place where I’m not going to get kicked out by my landlord is massive. I can get some help and guidance whenever I like, 24/7, so that if I’m having a bad day they (the staff) can stop me doing something stupid which I’ll regret.”
 

5.13         The following aspects of the service have been key to Gate Buddies’ success and outcomes:

• Trust created between those with real-life experience providing support - increasing engagement levels through the ‘peer-support’ model.
• Volunteers are matched to individuals based on their life experiences. The volunteers have experienced similar things to the customer, however the volunteer has turned their life around
• Holistic approach to support is intensive and longitudinal. It often involves some form of supported accommodation provision.
• Overall support package recognises that reoffending is a complex issue with lots of ‘push factors’ involved.
• Frequently support is provided either internally or through a referral for drug and alcohol problems to reduce substance misuse, which is strongly associated with offending.
• The reduction in reoffending is considered to be a direct result of the effective provision of support in several key areas; these areas are most commonly identified as accommodation, employment and training and health and wellbeing. The provision of stable, secure accommodation was cited by Gate Buddies customers as a successful outcome.
   

5.14         Gate Buddies volunteers, themselves reformed ex-offenders, use their experience to support clients through the journey from leaving prison and resettling in the community. We have a number of testimonials and case studies from our Gate Buddies service if required.
 

5.15         Additional achievements for the service are as follows:

• Finalists - 2015 UK Housing Awards ‘Meeting specialist housing needs’ category;

• 4 Gate Buddy Peer Mentors have gone into employment within the social housing sector;
• 2 Gate Buddy Peer Mentors have gone into full-time education studying Health and Social Care;
• 3 ex-service-users has successfully become a Gate Buddy Peer Mentor;
• 4 Gate Buddy Peer Mentors have successfully become GROW Trainees, with 24 more expressing interest in applying.

6.    Further information
 

We trust the Committee will consider this evidence in making recommendations to the Government about the Homelessness Reduction Bill and potential changes to the Housing Act 1996.

September 2016