Notes from the Homelessness consultation



Notes from Southend Homeless Action Network (SHAN) MeetingHeld at SCF’s Plaza Centre on Tuesday 13th September 2016Attendees (18): Peter Courtenay (Street Pastor); Paul Slennett (SoS Christian Bookshop and a Street Pastor); Syrie Cox (CEO, SoS YMCA); Ron Wright (Chair of Trustees, SoS YMCA); Brad Atkinson (Church of the Latter Day Saints); Paula Blundell (Family Mosaic); Del Thomas & Claire Massey (Street Spirit); David Yallop (57 West & a Street Pastor); Majzoub Ali; Margaret Dunmore (SoS Adult & Community College [SACC]); Claire Gavaghan (new Vice Principal, SACC); Gill Close (DWP); Gary Turner (HARP); Andrew Bale (SoS Salvation Army); Roger Draycott (SoS Salvation Army); Maria Medina (South Essex Homes); Stamford Biti (CAST); Howard Sikali (CAST); Aline Clayson (SE and Central Essex Mind); Trish Carpenter (Citizen’s Advice, SoS); John Simmons (Southend Churches Winter Night Shelters) [Notes]; and John Barber (Chair, SHAN).Apologies Cllr Helen McDonald (SBC); Rob Carvosso and Will Carter (Southend Vineyard/Storehouse); Ken Crowe (ROSCA Trust); Kirstie McHattie (HARP); Andrew Fiske (SBC, Housing Director); Glyn Halksworth (SBC, Drug and Alcohol Commissioner); Kelly Clarke (SBC); Cllr Mark Flewitt (SBC); John Paul Anastasiadis (SEPT); Frank Edmonds (Serving the Homeless); Keith Harding; PC Martin Knights (SoS Police); Mara Chrystie (CAST); Martin Ransom, Derek Edwards, Seb Walley, Lawrence Davies, Mark FlewittGill Garwood, Ian Hughes, Nevada ShawN.B. Action Points are in bold underlined italics.1. Welcome and IntroductionsJohn B. welcomed all to the meeting and reminded all present about the “Rules of Engagement” for these meetings:- We are SHAN; we are about Southend; the Homeless; and Action; and are a Network of concerned people working to move the homeless onto a better place.We don’t discuss individual cases at the meetings, although anonymous examples can be given to make a point.We don’t have a go at each other for perceived shortcomings.He then thanked SCF for their hospitality.Please send all additions and amendments to the Contact List to John Barber asap.Everyone then briefly introduced themselves by name, role and organisation. 2. Minutes and Action Points from our last meeting (12/07/16)a) Minutes: The Minutes were accepted after a couple of minor typos were corrected.b) Matters Arising: None.c) Some of the Action Points were covered by Agenda Items; those that aren’t were:-John Barber reminded us that the Rough Sleeper leaflet can be downloaded from . Updates are welcome - to him asap.Although notes from Tracey Nicola’ Benefits Update presentation at the May meeting had been distributed with the minutes of the previous meeting, John B. apologised that he still had to ask her about the answers to the two questions that were asked of her. It was understood that the consultation about the Queensway Estate has started. All those who are affected/interested are encouraged to respond.John B. will ask Cllr. Mark Flewitt about the Section 21 evictions (and about the number of empty propertied in SoS - Gary recommended looking at ).17th July Meeting: As Glyn Hawksworth was unable to attend today, John B. will ask him to report back at our next meeting. Hylands Park after the V Festival: John S. and Peter C. reported that they had both been able to collect many sleeping bags, etc.3. Southend YMCAJohn B. invited Syrie Cox (CES, SoS YMCA) to give an update about the work of the YMCA especially concerning Youth Homelessness.Syrie said that YMCA England has no central structure that dictates or funds the 114 local charities each of which has its own board that reacts to local needs.The local YMCA’s first priority is projects for children and Young People (YP) with additional needs; their role as a housing provider comes second.They are very grateful to the Mayor (Cllr Judy McMahon) who has chosen them to be the Mayor’s Charity for 2016/17.They are a Christian charity, but are inclusive.They offer many services to children and YP to help them safely get to adulthood; these include:-Housing;Education (e.g. their Free School);Recreation (e.g. positive activity programmes); andTherapeutic services (e.g. counselling).The Free School has 50 pupils aged 14 - 16 who have disabilities and/or other needs and provides them with a 5 GCSE programme.They do early protective and preventative work in the hope that it will stop the YP becoming homeless. For example, they help care leavers into independent adulthood by diverting them from crime and substance misuse.During the recent celebrations of 20 years of the hostel on Ambleside, they had discovered that there had been a YMCA hostel in Park Street in 1897 and a YMCA canteen for soldiers in 1914!They now house 70 under 16 year olds across 41 units.Their scheme is one of the top 3 in the UK with KPIs @ 95% and 100% occupancy in 2015/16. Their throughput is 176% (and every room is redecorated each time it is vacated). 94% of the YP are in education or training.The 2 main external factors affecting YP are high rents, and the lack of suitable affordable housing. So they want to increase the amount of local affordable housing for YP; they have done this by raising finds through their Sleepout which in 2011-12 raised >?25,000 which with other grants enabled to open 2 affordable move-on units for YP. A few more are being worked on, but need more funds (and partnerships) to enable them to be completed.Syrie had noticed a comment in the last minutes about potential policy changes having a negative effect on supported accommodation with LHA; she wasn’t so pessimistic.There is much they want to do and could do, but they do a lot to help children and YP. If you can help, please contact Syrie.In response to questions, Syrie said that:-They aren’t usually to offer a bed to meet an immediate need, but they will signpost and help as much as possible;The Free School caters for children and YP from 8 years old and upwards, but housing is only available for 16 - 21 year olds;They do follow-up those who leave their housing, and some of them help others; andShe will give Peter C. an update for the information he needs for his landscaping exercise.There are two open days on ??/10/16 and ??/03/17; all are welcome.4. Homeless Landscape Mapping ExercisePeter Courtenay gave an update about his work in producing a ‘landscape’ of homelessness and services supporting homeless people / rough sleepers.He had spoken to most, if not all, of those at the meeting and certainly to all the organisations who are normally represented.His aim was to help all within the network to link up their strategies and thus avoid conflict.More updates/comments on The Landscape are needed asap please.A key “brake” was a reluctance to share information about ‘clients’ because of Data Protection. He hopes this is on the way to being overcome by the development of an “Information Sharing Protocol”. If all can sign up to this, it will build trust between agencies. Feedback is needed asap please.Andrew Bale said that their HQ wouldn’t allow him to sign up locally, but he is happy to share information informally.Trish Carpenter said that it was key that the client keeps the “Personal Support Plan” with them or nominates someone to look after it for them.Del mentioned that the Homelessness Reduction Bill currently going through Parliament includes a “Personal Housing Plan”.Peter’s third document was a single sheet summary of the key elements for the 2016/17 Homelessness Prevention Strategy. Comments are welcome.5. Salvation Army Andrew Bale reported that they are seeing an increasing number of rough sleepers and homeless people even during the summer.Some are only here for 2 or 3 weeks; some are YP and some come in small groups.They are introducing new procedures to help them cope with the numbers.They are launching their Strategy in October.The main issue is their building which, although in the right location, is not fit for purpose and needs ?1.5m to get it so.The money is not as much a problem as you might think because they are receiving donations all the time and the Salvation Army has central funds available to help them.There is also an issue with the Clarence Road car park which SBC want to build on; if they do, they will lose their parking spaces for Sundays. They are also negotiating with SBC about charges and timings.They would like to develop their Community Drop-In (Tuesday and Thursday mornings) with other agencies and services (e.g. hairdressers and chiropodists) coming in to see their contacts; if any are interested, please contact him asap.5. South Essex Homes (SEH) - Serving the Community Maria Medina said that SEH’s main job was to manage SBC’s housing stock, but they also had a responsibility to the community by working with Family Mosaic, the CAB, etc. to help their tenants sustain their tenancies.They also have a Community Development Team that set up the Community Hubs (including the main one in the Victoria shopping centre) that are used by many agencies.The main hub provides emergency advice; support; and IT equipment (used for e.g. form filling, and training).They saw 475 clients in August with the biggest increase being in the areas of crisis management, and domestic abuse. There are more YP who just can’t survive on ?67pw.Many clients have English as their second language, so classes (including a women-only group) are provided with volunteer ESOL teachers.They also co-ordinate volunteering opportunities for clients (e.g. gardening, cooking and IT training).6. Round the Room (Briefly!).John Simmons (Winter Night Shelters) said that he was hoping to hear from the church that is deciding about Monday nights very soon.Gary Turner (HARP) reported that the 19 bed women’s hostel is progressing well; they hope to be opening it in February/March 2017. They currently have 146 units of accommodation of which approx. 22% of the residents are female (i.e. ~30).Stanford Biti (CAST) reported that the Syrian Settlement programme now has 3 houses available and good support from the community.Trish Carpenter (Citizens Advice, SoS) asked if any of those present knew of anyone who had filled in an Immigration Form in the past year. There is an on-line survey asking about any difficulties they may have encountered. Please contact Trish for details.Majzoub Ali mentioned a meeting about the Hospital Discharge Process (at the Hospital at 6pm on Sept. 28th); all are welcome to submit comments/ideas and also attend. Gary Turner recalled that he and a few others had developed a “Homeless Discharge Protocol” about 2 years ago now; the main contact would be Nevada Shaw (Public Health team, SBC). David Yallop reported that 57 West was very busy (but closed this week).Del Thomas (Street Spirit) requested that we all ask our MP to attend the debate on the Homelessness Reduction Bill on 28th October. Unless 100 MPs attend, it could be talked out. The easiest way to do this is via the dedicated page on the Crisis website; see: .uk/nooneturnedaway .Paula Blundell (Family Mosaic) reported a big increase in demand for their services with 100 referrals in the last quarter alone and 40 on the waiting list. Because of the demand, they are having to concentrate on their drop-in sessions and giving ad-hoc support. A major effort is being made to prevent loss of tenancy because, once lost, it is very hard work and expensive to get it back.Brad Atkinson (CoLDS) would like to start a charity in Southend to house 50 - 100 homeless people. He said that if all the churches could demonstrate that they would work together, he was confident of obtaining funding of at least ?1m. Paul Slennett (Southend Christian Bookshop & a Street Pastor) informed us that Lisa Needs’ funeral was going to be on Friday 23rd Sept. (2pm at the Crematorium).Peter Courtenay again asked that any organisation that wasn’t already mentioned on the “Landscape” contact him asap.6. SHAN Meetings for the rest of 2016 and for 2017 will be on:- - Tuesday 8th November 2016;- Tuesday 10th January 2017;- Tuesday 14th March 2017;- Tuesday 9th May 2017;- Tuesday 11th July 2017;- Tuesday 12th September 2017; and- Tuesday 14th November 2017;All meetings are 11:00 - 12:45 at The Plaza Centre (600 Southchurch Road, SS1 2PT). ................
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