Non-statutory interventions
13.1. Housing related support
Figure 16 Gender Breakdown of the households supported through the Commissions
13.2. P3- families and Singles floating support
The P3 commissioned service provides comprehensive support aimed at preventing homelessness for families and single adults aged 25 and over in transitioning to safe and secure accommodation. This includes early intervention to identify and address housing-related support needs impacting wellbeing and tenancy management. Floating support services offer time-limited assistance to individuals and families in temporary accommodation and move-on support to aid in the transition to an independent tenancy by providing essential support such as setting up utilities and acquiring necessary household items. P3 collaborates closely with Coventry City Council and other agencies to deliver these services effectively, with a focus on empowering individuals to achieve their own housing goals.
In 2022/2023, P3 supported 358 families and 153 singles, in which a total of 339 families and 89 singles achieved a positive move on.
13.3. The Salvation Army- complex needs and Ex offenders
The Salvation Army plays a vital role in addressing homelessness and supporting individuals with complex needs in Coventry through various programs and services. The Steps for Change initiative operates as a drop-in hub, offering housing advice, referrals to supported accommodation, benefit advice, access to essential resources like food bank vouchers and computers, and general support to single homeless people or those at risk of homelessness. Steps for change collaborates with partner agencies to deliver interventions effectively, serving an average of 68 unique individuals daily and assisting over 1600 individuals in 2022/2023.
Additionally, the Salvation Army provides supported accommodation across two sites for those with complex needs, Harnall Lifehouse and Axholme House, totalling 100 units, with specific provisions for vulnerable females. Moreover, in partnership with Langley House Trust and Green Square Accord, they offer specialist services for individuals with offending behaviour, providing 52 units of supported accommodation.
In 2022/2023, the Salvation Army supported 1634 individuals via steps for change with 1271 being supported regarding Accommodation ( Referrals made or enquiries) , provided accommodation for 210 rough sleepers via the emergency bed provision with the longest stay being 26 nights , and accommodated 267 individuals at Harnall Lifehouse and Axholme House, additionally 143 individuals were accommodated via the ex-offender service.
13.4. St Basils
St Basil's plays a crucial role in addressing youth homelessness in Coventry through two main programs. Firstly, they provide supported accommodation for singles and couples aged 18-24, including care leavers. This service offers direct access beds and flexible support tailored to each individual's journey towards independent living. St Basil's emphasizes achieving successful outcomes for their residents, aiming to maximise the number of young people transitioning to or maintaining independent accommodation while empowering them to live independently and contribute positively to the community. Additionally, St Basil's offers floating support and prevention services for young people under 25 who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. This includes early intervention to support those at risk of losing their tenancies and ongoing support for individuals in temporary accommodation or transitioning to independent living. The focus remains on achieving positive outcomes, facilitating independent living, and promoting engagement in education, training, or employment.
In 2022/2023, St Basil supported 246 individuals through its floating support and accommodation provision.
Summary of Demographics of households supported through the Commissioned services
Figure 16 Gender Breakdown of the households supported through the Commissions
66% percent of people supported via the commissioned support services were males, this correlates to the number of approaches of single people who approached the council for support. There are more single females with dependent children supported than single males with dependent children.
Figure 17 Ethnicity Breakdown of Households Supported through the Commissions
The majority of households receiving support via the commissioned support services were White British which is reflective of the demographic profile of the city. Furthermore, black ethnic groups make up 16% of the households, and Asian ethnic groups make up 17% of households receiving support via the support services. Comparing this to the demographic profile of the city shows that the numbers are relative which means support services are inclusive.
Rough sleeping support
Alongside the commissioned housing related support provision, the city has a Department of Levelling Up Communities and Housing (DLUHC) grant funded rough sleeping service.
The funding is used to employ a team of outreach workers including specialist roles (Complex needs, Women, NRPF, Prison release and dedicated housing solutions officer).
The rough sleeping team works closely with partner services to support rough sleepers to move on to both interim and settled accommodation. The provision is dual in terms of its function; engaging those it finds rough sleeping along with supporting those newly accommodated, by removing barriers and increasing opportunities in persistent and creative ways.
The team carries out early morning outreach 5 days per week, The team is well connected in the city and works closely with partners to seek shared solutions, using what they know about individuals, the resources available, and the gaps and challenges those who rough sleep face to find appropriate solutions.
Rough Sleeping work is both localised and ever evolving, using resources and interventions to meet the complex needs of those that are found rough sleeping.
In the calendar year of 2023, an average of 12 individuals were found rough sleeping in a single night with an average of 64 unique individuals being found per month. A total of 168 individuals moved into long-term accommodation.
In the calendar year of 2023, the people rough sleeping who had been released from either hospital or prison were 8.7%, while 29% were long-term rough sleepers who were well known to the service and 8.6% had returned to the street after a period in settled accommodation.
Percentage Makeup of different Rough Sleeping Indicators per month
Summary of Rough Sleepers' demographics (Numbers found per month)
SWEP (Server Weather Emergency Protocol)
SWEP is a provision of shelter for people particularly when the temperature feels like zero although can also be activated in times of prolonged heat. The provision is activated under a harm reduction approach to prevent serious harm to those that would otherwise have nowhere else to go.
During 2022/23 SWEP was activated from 01/11/2022 to 04/04/2023 in which The Salvation Army provided 540 emergency additional bed spaces as part of the SWEP response.
Although there is no strict definition of what counts as 'severe weather,’ SWEP will normally operate when the temperature falls below freezing and is forecast to remain below freezing for a period of at least three consecutive nights. Coventry activates SWEP when the Met Office forecasts that there is a feel like factor of 0°c, for one night or more.
During 2022/23 SWEP provision in Coventry consisted of:
- 5 ‘off the street’ ensuite rooms in the Salvation Army
- 7 camp beds located in 4 separate rooms in the Salvation Army
- Plus, spot purchased hotel rooms when required
2022-23
Services saw 252 unique individuals’ approach for accommodation under SWEP.
The longest period SWEP ran for 2022/23 was 17 nights consecutively. SWEP was active for 45 nights in total.
During the period of SWEP, the service met the needs of a diverse group of people who were seeking support and help for a variety of different reasons and circumstance including: relationship breakdowns, people with no recourse to public funds, people out of area, people that have been asked to leave by family or friends. During SWEP, no body rough sleeping is refused accommodation.
During SWEP, predominately Harnall Lifehouse is used as a place of safety, however if due to demand Harnall Lifehouse reach capacity a referral is made to the Councils EDT (Emergency Duty Team) who offer a placement under SWEP in other emergency or temporary accommodation.
Once an individual is in service under SWEP staff will seek to engage with the individual and work under a personalised approached to find suitable accommodation, seek to bring into service on a more permanent basis or refer onto services more appropriate to the need.
- November 2022: Not activated.
- December 2022: 70 people over the month – max on one night - 31
- January 2023: 88 – max on one night - 45
- February 2023: 81 – max on one night - 39
- March 2023: 66 – max on one night 33
Emergency beds
As part of the covid response all shared sleeping spaces were closed in the city. In partnership with The Salvation Army, the opportunity was taken to remodel the old shared sleeping space in Harnall Lifehouse and create 5 emergency of the street rooms. As people are found rough sleeping or known rough sleepers return to the streets the outreach team are able to offer a of the street “Ebed” at The Salvation Army Harnall Lifehouse for up to three nights.
During 2022/23 210 individuals were accommodated via the ebeds with the longest stay being 26 nights
Gateway
The Gateway is a 63-bed hostel managed by Citizen Housing, that provides accommodation to homeless individuals over the age of 18. In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of winter night shelters/shared sleeping spaces, this highlighted a gap in accommodation provision for rough sleepers. Therefore, a funding application was submitted to create new bed spaces across Coventry for rough sleepers and those with a history of rough sleeping.
A successful funding bid was submitted to the then Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) which allowed Citizen to build an extra 16 flats at The Gateway. The introduction of another 16 flats, has increased The Gateway’s capacity to 79 flats. The 16 flats created are available for use by those with a history of or at risk of rough sleeping.
During 2022/23 20 individuals were accommodated via the Gateway rough sleeping provision.
RSAP (Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme)
Coventry City Council partnered with Citizen Housing and Stonewater to provide 15 self-contained properties for the sole use of rough sleepers. The project aims to provide move-on accommodation for those who are rough sleeping or at risk of rough sleeping. The Rough Sleeper Team at Coventry City Council has a dedicated worker who offers intensive support to those who have been referred to the project working alongside housing officers from Citizen and Stonewater. Stonewater have purchased 5 properties and Citizen 10 properties that are dotted around the city. While CCC offers support to the clients to work with them to make sure they are tenancy-ready the RP is responsible for housing management which makes it easier for us to support the client. Clients are given 2 years to work with their support worker to make them tenancy-ready before they can move into alternative permanent affordable housing.
During 2022/23 17 individuals were accommodated via the RSAP rough sleeping provision
Housing First
There are a small number of people for whom traditional supported housing models (hostels and HMO’s do not work) and for those the evidence shows that more dispersed models of support, such as Housing First maybe more appropriate. There is currently a Housing First scheme in Coventry, run by the council, which has supported 80 individuals throughout the project into permanent self-contained accommodation. The scheme is part of the DLUHC funded national Housing First Pilot that was administered through the WMCA and was commissioned by Coventry City Council in 2019. Housing First is a support service for individuals with complex needs or a history of entrenched/repeat homelessness that traditional services do not work for, for a variety of different reasons. The key difference between housing first and other supported housing provision is that there are no conditions around ‘housing readiness’ before providing someone with a home, rather secure housing is viewed as a stable platform from which other issues can be addressed. Housing First offers a choice-led approach, which fully respects the choices of each individual.
During 2022/23 46 individuals were supported via the housing first programme.
Stepping stones
As part of the cities response to rough sleeping the council works in partnership with Spring housing to deliver the Stepping Stones Project. Stepping Stones allows rough sleepers up to 3 months accommodation to stabilise before accessing and securing settled accommodation. The project is funded so where individuals are not in receipt of benefits due to immigration issues the cost of accommodation is covered by a grant from DLUHC. The project operates out of an existing supported housing project which is staffed 24 hours a day – this ensures tenancy breakdown due to ASB is minimal. Individuals who access Stepping Stones have the opportunity to transition along the pathway into more settled accommodation and/or resolve any immigration issues.
During 2022/23 7 individuals were accommodated via stepping stones
CRMC house
Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre (CRMC) provide 4 rooms for people who are NRPF (not in receipt of public funds) and work intensively via a navigator to resolve peoples immigration status and support individuals into employment/settled accommodation.
During 2022/23 14 individuals were accommodated via CRMC
Rough sleeping drug and alcohol treatment grant
Change Grow Live (CGL) is the substance misuse service in the city, providing treatment for drug and alcohol misuse to adults. CGL receives funding via the Rough sleeping drug and alcohol treatment grant to deliver a targeted rough sleeping provision for individuals currently rough sleeping or at risk of rough sleeping.
The current team consists of Outreach workers, community worker, women’s worker, Polish support worker, Complex worker, and an Outreach Nurse. The support that the team offers is person centred and ensures a non-judgemental approach from the first point of entry.
The primarily objective is to support clients with their substance misuse need, either through Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT), Psychosocial Intervention and ongoing Recovery Support.
Mental health homelessness pathway lead
As part of the Mental transformation programme across Coventry and Warwickshire in 2022 the role of a Mental health pathway lead was created by Coventry and Warwickshire partnership trust (CWPT). The pathway lead works specifically with people who are at risk of homelessness or are currently homeless (temporary accommodation / rough sleeping) and acts as a conduit into mental health teams, as well as supporting the crisis team in terms of engagement and the execution of mental health act assessments for those who are homeless.
There is no formal data available in terms of outcomes for the role, however as we know from our data the largest support need for those accessing the homelessness services is mental health, therefore it can be assumed that the role is fundamental in terms of both supporting individuals, and also in regards to supporting staff who work with in homelessness service to navigate the mental health care system.
Vulnerable persons and complex needs forum
The Vulnerable Person and complex needs Forum consist of a range of partners who meet monthly to discuss individuals who are both in permanent accommodation and those who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless due to MCN.
There are (broadly three cohorts for the forum.
- Vulnerable but housed (any housed)
- Multiple needs
- Homeless/Rough sleeping.
The purpose of the forum is to identify, and case manage individuals:
- Who are at risk of losing accommodation?
- A tenancy either social housing or private rented
- Hostel licence agreement
- Unsettled sofa surfing
- Hospital discharge
- Prison release
- Leaving children’s care services (18-25)
- Street homeless due to complex needs or vulnerability
And to identify appropriate support, ensuring they are kept safe from harm, exploitation and if subject to hate crime appropriately supported, the forum will identify the needs of individuals and enable them to access support through a co-ordinate offer through a multi-disciplinary team to work together to support an individual and prevent homelessness.
In 2022/2023, 143 individuals were referred to the forum, with 66% identifying as male and 32% identifying as female. Among these individuals, 122 had housing needs, 95 had mental health needs, 81 had substance misuse issues, 20 were victims of abuse, 75 were involved with the criminal justice system, and 59 were disabled. Finally, 83.2% of cases of homelessness was prevented.
Pre eviction panel
The pre-eviction panel was set up in February 2023 and is open to all commissioned and none commissioned exempt accommodation providers. The purpose of the panel is to identify all individuals at risk of homelessness from commissioned and none commissioned exempt accommodation who have been served a notice to quit and seek to find collective solutions to stay the eviction.
The panel will support housing providers in identifying innovative approaches to reduce the need for evictions, be a vehicle to share good practices, look to ensure individuals are housed in the most suitable accommodation, and review direct moves between housing providers if needed.
Between Feb 2023 and Feb 2024, 374 cases were discussed at the panel, in which 276 individuals were prevented from homelessness, 82 individuals were evicted, and 16 individuals' cases remain opened to the panel.
Figure 20 PEP cases breakdown
What our data tells us
- Affordability: The cost of housing, whether through buying or renting, is rising faster than household incomes, creating a disparity and the LHA rates have struggled to keep pace with the rising rents.
- Health and homelessness: it is well evidenced that people who are homeless experience worse health outcomes than the rest of the population, this includes both physical health as well as mental health and medical interventions and support for the use of substances.
- Domestic abuse: Domestic abuse is a key factor in terms of homelessness within Coventry.
- Increased demand: There has been a year-on-year increase in demand for support in regard to homelessness in the city particularly from young people, single adults, and single parents with dependent children.
- Homelessness Prevention: Early advice and intervention is key in preventing homelessness and our data tells us that households have better outcomes when they approach the service as early as possible.
- Temporary accommodation: The increased demand for temporary accommodation and length of stay, against the availability of permanent accommodation suggests that the number of households accommodated in temporary accommodation will continue to rise if the supply of affordable housing does not increase.
- Private rented accommodation: PRS accommodation possesses two distinct challenges for homelessness services. Ending of a PRS tenancy is a key reason for the loss of the last settled accommodation and affordability in terms of moving on from temporary accommodation.
- Supply: The housing needs in terms of the number of households on the housing list in the city outpaces the availability of social rented housing, highlighting the gap in supply and demand.
- Duty to refer: Although the duty to refer have increased there are still key services who are not maximizing the opportunity to prevent homelessness by using the duty to refer.
- Support needs: The primary support need for those approaching the homelessness service is in relation to Mental Health closely followed by physical health, substance misuse, and domestic abuse.
- Rough sleeping: The number of individuals found rough sleeping is on an upward trend, with a notable increase in non-nationals being found.
Our partners
It is not only the Housing and Homelessness service that has a role or function in terms of homelessness in the city – a number of internal and external partners work with people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness daily. As part of this review our internal colleagues (Migration Team, Housing Enforcement, Children’s Service, Public Health, Adult Social Care, Benefits Service etc) were contacted and asked for information/data that may be relevant to this review.
The Coventry Homelessness Forum is a partnership of organisations in the city who work with people experiencing or who have experienced homelessness, or those at risk of homelessness. It provides a space to share information, guidance, and best practice, as well as networking and joining up services. The forum meets at least 4 times each year and has over 100 members. Members of the forum were contacted regarding the review and given the opportunity to contribute and comment in regard to how homelessness impacts their service.