Property People Strategy & Governance Finance

Housing Advice Service: Widening access to housing

adviceA case for the introduction of consistent

comprehensive housing advice services across England, Wales and Scotland

Technical Report

April 2018

Client NameJRF Housing Advice Service Technical Report

Contents1. | Introduction

3

2. | Detailed proposal4

3. | Cost calculations6

4. | ‘Housing and Life Experiences’ study11

2. | Additional research findings13

5. | Conclusion20

Appendix 1: References21

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Client NameJRF Housing Advice Service Technical Report

1. | Introduction

This report proposes that consistent comprehensive housing advice services should be established across England, Wales and Scotland (an advice scheme is already in place in Northern Ireland, and we recommend that this continues). The service should be tenure- and need-neutral. It should be website-based initially, with the option of phone or face-to-face advice available via a triage system. This would help those struggling with housing costs understand their options, maintain their existing housing, ensure the best use of their housing resources, and reduce the risk of homelessness or the need for temporary accommodation.

This report is a technical appendix to the Housing Advice Service summary report published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/housing-advice-service-widening-access-housing-advice. In this report we present a detailed proposal for a Housing Advice Service, our funding assumptions and cost analysis and outline the findings from our research which led to its development. It also includes brief case studies covering existing good practice in this area.

The Housing Advice Service proposal was shortlisted as one of four potential initiatives that could help alleviate poverty identified through the ‘Housing and Life Experiences’ study undertaken by the Centre for Housing Policy. For further details of the study and our methodology in selecting proposals please see our covering report https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/housing-and-life-experiences-policy-development.

The research behind this proposal has involved:

outputs from the ‘Housing and Life Experiences’ study

interviews with participants in the ‘Housing and Life Experiences’ study giving their views

on this specific proposal

a detailed literature review

interviews with housing advice organisations, local authorities and other stakeholders

a short survey of the public regarding the availability of housing advice

a comparative review of existing online housing advice resources.

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2. | Detailed proposal

We propose that an online housing advice platform be created, available to all households irrespective of tenure and need. It would be an effective digital portal through which individuals could navigate themselves, with the capacity to provide advice and information by postcode, host videos, and be an access point for online advice surgeries/webinars.

This could not be provided at a UK-wide level due to differences in housing options and entitlement between England, Scotland and Wales. However, delivering at the level of the individual nations would reduce the cost to individual local authorities, reduce duplication of advice and ensure cost-effectiveness and consistency. Alternatively, combined authorities might want to pool resources to provide wider advice, allowing the local authorities involved more control over content and provision.

Key features of the housing advice service:

The service would be branded as a stand-alone, independent housing advice service.

Job Centres, GPs and other services could direct people to this advice when dealing with

clients.

The website would need to be written for people, not for agencies – the use of Plain

English would be essential.

The service should be tenure-neutral and not priority-led.

Information/advice could be provided on accommodation options, mutual exchanges,

homelessness advice, and dealing with debt or repossession. But a clear remit and

specification of the service will need to be put in place, focused on serving the needs of

those on low incomes.

Funding could be through the Homelessness Reduction Act fund, as local authorities are

required to concentrate on early intervention to prevent homelessness.

It would make sense to tender such a service to an organisation with existing experience,

so services can be integrated and to avoid duplication.

Once online advice had been given, inclusion of a national helpline or a web chat on housing would be of additional benefit to allow for a more tailored service. This would add a significant additional expense, although our high-level analysis suggests that the cost is not prohibitive if spread across the maximum number of local authorities in England. For Scotland and Wales it may make sense for the government to take a role in funding setup costs and a proportion of running costs to make this viable.

At a minimum, we suggest the government should put in place guidelines for how local authorities should meet this need for housing advice, especially for individuals who are unwilling to go to their local authorities and do not perceive themselves to be at a crisis point.

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Case study 1: Housing Rights (Northern Ireland)

Housing Rights, a charitable independent provider of housing advice, provides tenure neutral, independent housing advice and information to the public in Northern Ireland. The advice service is funded from a mixture of sources including the NIHousing and the Department for Communities.

The aim is to increase the availability of information on housing in Northern Ireland, to help people find the answers to their own housing concerns and to prevent homelessness. It offers the following services:

o HousingadviceNI a public-facing website, with clear branding to allow people to find it easily – includes trial online chat sessions

o Housing helpline for the public and practitioners. 85% of cases are one-off calls provided with 30 minutes of advice and self-help resources.

o Case-worker support – 15% of cases require in-depth involvement, including legal support.

o Separately funded project services. Examples include housing advice and support for peer advisors in prisons, and court-based advisors offering support to individuals due to be evicted due to debt.

The website contains information on homelessness, housing options, renting privately and the particular housing issues that people from specific groups face.  It has dedicated sections for young people, people leaving or entering prison, and for foreign nationals living in Northern Ireland.

From our research into the service and discussion with staff at HousingadviceNI, learning points include:

o The value of being an independent service to government and/or the Housing Executive.

o Early intervention is critical in solving people’s housing problems.o Branding for the website was vital to ensure people understood that it offered wide-

ranging advice.o Measuring effectiveness is a challenge, but current work to assess influence beyond

merely recording the number of callers shows a huge improvement in peoples’ wellbeing and stress level from having reliable housing advice.

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3. | Cost calculations

We have conducted some high-level analysis based on broad cost calculations.

1.1. | Website costsThe costs of developing and maintaining a website are not dependant on the number of users but on the level of functionality and complexity of the site. We have used costs based on the setup and running costs of a nationwide health advice service and a regional advice service (details of these are confidential due to commercial sensitivity). We also got quotations from two other web developers, using a basic specification, to check these costs. From this information we have derived the following website cost assumptions for our modelling:

Table 1: Website costs

Setup costsHigher complexity and functionality: Regional

Higher complexity and functionality - England

Website designing £8,000 £10,000

Website development £26,000 £30,000

Functionality £60,000 £100,000

Project management and content development £60,000 £150,000

Total £154,000 £290,000

Ongoing costs  All

Hosting £1,200

Website support £1,000

Content support £60,000

Total £62,200.00

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1.2. | Cost of phone and web adviceAverage call costs for a contact centre in the UK is between £3 and £4 per call, with webchat a little lower (Call Centre Helper, 2017). However, as we are dealing with personal advice costs, we felt that this was not a helpful guide to calculate the cost of providing this service. We therefore took the average cost of call and web advice from three big advice organisations (Shelter, National Debt Line and Childline), taking costs and performance data from their annual accounts. We have calculated a figure of £16.67 per call for our modelling.

1.3. | Costs in total and by local authority While contact costs increase with the number of contacts, website costs are fairly static. The Housing Advice Service proposal is, therefore, most effective if spread over the largest possible number of local authorities.

Costs have been split evenly between local authorities. With the website development this makes sense as costs are so small. However, if implemented in full the higher costs of both web and telephone services would need to be allocated based on population size.

Table 2: Costs by local authority (LA)

UK

No. of LAs

Website setup costs per LA

Ongoing costs per LA

Phone/chat costs per LA*

Total costs of website and telephone/chat per LA year 1

Total costs of website and telephone/chat per LA year 2 +

West Midlands Combined Authority 18 £8,555 £3,455 £25,925 £37,937 £29,381

Greater London 32 £4,812 £1,943 £44,270 £51,027 £46,215

All of England 326 £889 £190 £27,096 £28,176 £27,287

Wales 22 £7,000 £2,827 £22,727 £32,555 £25,555

Scotland 32 £4,812 £1,943 £27,083 £32,163 £27,351

* Based on contact from 1% of relevant population (source: 2011 census population data).

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Table 3: Total costs

UK

No. of LAs

Total costs of website and telephone/chat year 1

Total costs of website and telephone/chat year 2 +

West Midlands Combined Authority 18 £682,867 £528,867

Greater London 32 £1,632,867 £1,478,867

All of England 326 £9,185,533 £8,895,533

Wales 22 £716,200 £562,200

Scotland 32 £1,029,222 £875,222

1.4. | Cost benefits

1.4.1. | Homelessness PreventionWhile the advice service is not targeted solely at those directly at risk of homelessness, its aims are to support people on low incomes in making more sustainable housing choices as well as understanding their housing rights. Advice might be offered, for example, about eviction and disrepair, protection of rent deposits, and where and how to access support. It is therefore likely to decrease the number of homeless cases. We have compared the service costs with the spend on homelessness prevention and the number of cases that need to be reduced to recover the costs.

Table 4: Cost of service as a proportion of temporary accommodation costs

Region

Total LA spending on temporary accommodation for the homeless (2015)

Proportion of full Housing Advice Service costs to council spending on homelessness

West Midlands Combined Authority No data available  No data available

Greater London £126,000,000 1.296%

All of England £692,000,000 1.327%

Wales £9,000,000 7.96%

Scotland £150,000,000 0.69%

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The costs of homelessness vary by the location, type and nature of support provided by homelessness services. For the NHS and criminal justice system, the additional costs centre on the greater likelihood of more frequent and sustained contact with some single homeless people compared to other citizens. Crisis estimated that preventing homelessness for one individual for one year would result in a reduction in public expenditure of £9,266 per person (Pleace and Culhane, 2016). Based on this estimate we have calculated in Table 4 below the number of homeless cases that would need to be prevented per year to recover the cost of the service.

Table 4: Number of homeless cases that need to be reduced to recover the costs

Region

Number by which homeless cases need to be reduced to recover the costs of the website in year 1

Number by which homeless cases need to be reduced from year 2 onwards to cover ongoing costs

West Midlands Combined Authority 74 57

Greater London 176 160

All of England 991 960

Wales 77 61

Scotland 111 94

1.4.2. | Benefits of extended adviceThe benefits of housing advice, beyond direct homelessness prevention, are difficult to assess directly. Both Shelter and Citizens Advice surveys of phone users and internet users demonstrated high customer satisfaction. Citizens Advice research in 2014 has shown that, after contact, 183,000 clients had their housing problem solved (Citizens Advice, 2017); this represents two in every three clients. Forty-seven percent of housing clients also reported a more secure housing situation within three months of receiving advice (Citizens Advice, 2017).

Initial work by Housing Rights (Northern Ireland) to assess the cost-effectiveness of their service also found benefits beyond housing. The availability of trusted advice was shown to improve people’s wellbeing and reduce stress. Help to resolve housing worries may also save the health service money. One in five English adults (21%) said a housing problem

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Client NameJRF Housing Advice Service Technical Report

had worsened their mental health in the last five years. Three in ten of those had experienced no mental health problems previously (Shelter, 2017c).

Case Study 2: Shelter – Get Help

Shelter offer free advice to anyone via their website, expert advisers on their helpline, and in face-to-face advice centres across the country. It also offers signposting to other local housing advice options. Over five million people have used the Get Help advice pages in England and Scotland.

Shelter’s telephone and online advice services cost around £2.2 million per year. The organisation took 124,000 phone calls, 40,000 webchats and had 6.6 million hits on their website in 2016 (Shelter, 2017b). It is primarily funded through individual donations and some corporate sponsorship.

Satisfaction with phone contact is 94%. However, Shelter is aware that their general advice services are not well known. This is mainly because they have a very strong brand as a homelessness charity. They are hesitant to further advertise their service due to a lack of funding to meet any increased demand.

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Client NameJRF Housing Advice Service Technical Report

4. | ‘Housing and Life Experiences’ study

1.5. | Initial findingsThe ‘Housing and Life Experiences’ study found that, for many, the UK housing system is difficult to navigate and poorly supports life transitions and life events (both expected and unexpected) for those on low incomes. Housing is a big investment for individuals; even more so for those on low incomes. Making the wrong housing choice had profound and long-lasting negative effects on individual lives.

The study also demonstrated the importance of good-quality housing advice. It was consistently found in the first two waves of interviews undertaken as part of the ‘Housing and Life Experiences’ study that good housing advice had had a positive effect on their housing options. There were several examples where people had been in difficult situations and had been assisted by specialist advice services or charitable organisations. This had helped them resolve housing problems, difficulties with benefit claims, end debt, or gain access to some type of charitable funding. Some felt without this assistance they would have been evicted from their homes. One case was where financial advice from a Citizens Advice Bureau had helped Anwen, in her 50s, stay in her private rented sector home in North Wales.

A common theme linking many accounts, regardless of type of tenure, type of household, or age across all the six case study areas, was how support from family, and other social networks, was crucial to many people who are ‘just managing’.

However, there were also examples where the lack of advice or poor-quality advice had resulted in hardship and negative medium- to long-term housing outcomes. People in the study also spoke of not knowing where to turn for advice, or whom to trust. Some spoke of only being able to access advice and support when they reached crisis point.

1.6. | Views of low-income study participants on the proposalAs part of the third wave of interviews for the ‘Housing and Life Experiences’ study, participants were asked for their views on the initial Housing Advice Service proposal. Overall, the idea was seen as a positive (scoring on average four out of five), but a minority were aware of existing advice and were unsure of the added benefits of what we were suggesting. From the feedback we found:

Several participants were extremely supportive of the need for housing advice. One said that is was “invaluable to have advice” and another that advice “could make a big difference” as, when his family were in a situation where they were facing homelessness, they felt they were not able to find neutral advice, and were only put on the waiting list for social housing.

Another pointed out the need for tenure-neutral advice, she said “I'm not in a council flat, I'm not in a housing association flat, there is just nobody…(to give advice). Everything is really word-of-mouth. If I'm talking to friends and they are telling me - I just learn a lot by other people's circumstances, or just Googling certain things, like 'cheap housing UK',

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and then see what comes up, but I don't know. Personally, I just feel like… The housing advice thing makes sense to me. It's easy for them to allow people …on a low earned income, to slip through the cracks, there's not really anybody trying to help.”

Another talked of the need for advice to be not only to be independent but wide-reaching: “Good advice and education is really key. Something independent, that's accessible, but it has to be wide-reaching. We need something that you could get access to, whether you have access to the internet or not, and whether you are able to get out into the town or not...most people have access to the internet in some form, whether it's the library or it's the council or wherever else, but there are still people who don't or who aren't capable of accessing that information.”

On where advice should be provided there were also mixed views, but the majority felt that an independent agency was best. One participant stated, ‘you’d probably want an independent one which was nothing to do with the main housing, who would fight more on your behalf… have to definitely have an independent person or office’. Another commented that “there needs to be alternatives to going to the council, because people might not want to speak to them if they are having problems with them.” This was reinforced by an participant who said “I think council buildings and local authority buildings feel establishment versus us.”

Several commented that they thought current housing advice through the local authority or independent services was ‘just for homeless people’.

A theme that came through strongly was the need for advice to be accurate and tailored. One participant felt that she was constantly being given different information on housing and this had contributed to her getting into debt.

Several participants mentioned a preference to talk to a specialist. There was also mention of the need to reduce jargon in online content. One participant felt that information is available, “but there is so much of it and it says different things, it is a matter of simplifying it in one place”.

Key implications:

Having considered the responses from interviewees, we have shaped the proposal to

ensure that information can be easily tailored to individual needs and to avoid travel to a

particular location, but at the same time be cost-effective.

We have also suggested that job centres may be an essential referral route and advice

base.

We have suggested a neutral name, ‘Housing Advice Service’, to make it clear that the

advice is not just for those in housing crisis.

Case Study 3: Veterans Gateway

The Veterans Gateway is the first point of contact for whatever support military veterans

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need, whether in the UK or abroad. They support people online and on a one-to-one basis, connecting them with the right support as soon as possible. The main channels of support are:

P hone or email advice or information, via a contact centre.

Web-based resources such as their ‘Self Help’ service to find information. This includes advice from a range of organisations covering issues from employment, finances and housing, to independent living, mental wellbeing, physical health and families and communities.

Social media updates giving news of the latest developments in support for the Armed Forces community.

2. | Additional research findings

2.1. | Reasons to offer housing advice

2.1.1. | Housing CostsHousing costs are the biggest expense for most households in the UK. In 2014/15 people in the lowest fifth measured by income spent on average 31% of this income on housing, more than twice as much as those on average incomes (14%) and three times the level of the richest fifth (9%) (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2016). Housing is therefore, a significant investment. Any investment should be made on the basis of good advice. Those on low incomes have low financial resilience, and poor financial and housing choices can have profound and long-lasting negative effects on individuals. These can lead to loss of accommodation, income and support. Therefore, good quality housing advice is crucial in supporting those on low incomes in making the best choices.

2.1.2. | Complexity of the housing marketBoth the housing market and the housing benefit system are increasingly complex. The number of housing products available has increased as the government, local authorities, combined authorities and housing providers try to tackle affordability and lack of supply. The choices in general needs housing are no longer just home ownership, private rent or social rent, but include social rent fixed-term tenancies, shared ownership, key worker rented accommodation, help to buy, affordable rent and, if you are in London, there are Living Rent products. These involve a variety of tenancies with a variety of rights.

Alongside growth in the number of housing products there have been substantial changes to housing benefit entitlement. In recent years claimants have seen the introduction of the benefit cap, changes to income tax relief, changes to the Local Housing Allowance, increases in the scope and amount of non-dependant deductions, reduced entitlement to

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housing benefit for those under 21, and the introduction of the Universal Credit system with its well-documented problems of delays, monthly payments, changes to applicable service charges and lack of direct payment to landlords. These changes have caused confusion to people trying to navigate the system, making it difficult for them to understand their rights and take the best course of action.

The changes have also left some anomalies. One example involves the under-occupation penalty (often called the Bedroom Tax) for pensioners. Claimants are not subject to the penalty once the elder partner becomes 63 if they claim housing benefit, but if they claim Universal Credit they are exempt once the younger partner becomes 63.

The ‘Housing and Life Experiences’ study found that navigating the housing benefit system was a cause of significant stress for participants. Delays in assessing claims, reductions in benefits and reclaiming overpayments had all caused hardship to a number of participants. Several participants were uncertain about potential benefit changes arising from children turning 18, giving rise to anxiety about their ability to maintain their current housing.

2.1.3. | Slow to reactHousing decisions are not just a big investment and complex, but often long term. The ‘Housing and Life Experiences’ study found that the UK housing system poorly supports life transitions and life events (both expected and unexpected) for those on low incomes. People’s housing needs often change quickly but options for changes in housing are not as rapid; it takes time to save up a deposit or get access to social housing through the waiting-list system. This slow response of the housing system means that people’s housing needs and what is available to them is often mismatched.

2.1.4. | Importance of independence and consistencyInterviewees and participants in the ‘Housing and Life Experiences’ study emphasised the need for independent advice to be accessible. Housing Rights reported in our discussions with them, that a significant number of calls to their help-line were about housing waiting lists or their rights as Northern Ireland Housing Executive tenants. Independent advice of this nature is difficult for local authorities to provide if they are also the landlord and/or the administrator of the housing register.

A more inclusive approach to advice provision has the potential to support a wider range of households earlier and be a more effective way to mitigate and prevent housing crisis. A recent study of young people’s housing needs reported the paucity of housing advice and support available to young people (Cole et al, 2017). Many people in the study had had negative experience of approaching the local authority for advice, with the feeling of being ‘fobbed off’. A short survey of 100 people in England on or below the national average income level conducted as part of this study found that:

71% of respondents felt that a wider housing advice service was needed, or desperately

needed.

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61% felt they would have found this service useful or very useful at some point in their

lives.

66% of respondents were not aware of any services that offered general housing advice

online or over the phone.

When asked specifically about existing independent advice services, such as Shelter,

many felt these were for when people were homeless or in crisis.

The importance of wider housing advice is something recognised by Shelter which has developed its own housing advice service, ‘Get Help’. However, the survey suggests that Shelter is seen by the majority as a provider of advice solely for those who are homeless and not for general advice.

2.2. | Current practiceThe main source of housing advice has historically been either directly delivered or procured by local authorities. However, local authorities’ duties currently only extend to ensuring that advice and information about homelessness, and the prevention of homelessness, is available free of charge. Local authorities’ funding streams have been significantly reduced over the last seven years. With this reduction in resources, funding for wider housing advice has been reduced.

2.2.1. | Funding cuts

Cuts to advice services have varied between different localities. Service closures have taken place against a background of upheaval in welfare and housing policy. Research on the initial cuts in London in 2011 shows from a survey of advice providers that 51% of respondents closed services in 2010-11 and 54% expected more services to close in 2011-12. Preventative services like advice and services for children and young people were disproportionately cut, along with services for those on low incomes (Trust for London, 2016). Evidence from our interviews suggests this trend is continuing across England. In Newcastle the Citizens Advice Bureau claimed that, on top of a 20% cut in vital council funding from 2011, a further 60% reduction has been scheduled for 2016-17 and 100% (£260,000) for 2017-18 (The Guardian, 2016). We could find, at time of writing, no detailed research on the full extent of advice service reduction and its impact has been undertaken in recent years.

In Scotland and Wales reductions in services appeared to have been delayed; research in 2011 in Scotland suggested that budgets had remained strong for advice services. However, in more recent years, evidence from our interviews suggests this has changed with councils being forced to pass on reductions in funding to advice providers. For example, North Lanarkshire is currently proposing reductions in funding for advice between 49% and 61% (Herald Scotland, 2016).

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With cuts in funding, advice services have had to narrow their focus to those vulnerable households who are most in need; to some extent, this has proved to be effective. Crisis estimated that preventing homelessness for one year would result in a reduction in public expenditure of £9,266 per person (Pleace and Culhane, 2016). So there is a clear business case for giving advice to prevent homelessness. Housing advice to those threatened with homelessness has been shown to both reduce homelessness and repeat homelessness presentations. Advice also helps manage the expectations of service users, and therefore potential applicants for social housing (Shelter, 2007). The government collects data from English local housing authorities on homelessness prevention and relief (P1E and previous BVPI 213) (Department for Communities and Local Government, 2016 and 2017b). According to official statistics, the number of households accepted as homeless and owed a rehousing duty decreased with the introduction of targeted housing advice, as did the number of households living in temporary accommodation (Department for Communities and Local Government, 2007).

However, with housing costs increasing and homelessness on the rise, there has been recognition of the need to broaden advice services beyond those in crisis. The government introduced the Homelessness Reduction Act in 2017. The act extends the previous 28-day period for ‘threatened homelessness’ to 56 days and creates a duty on local housing authorities in England to provide advisory services for this longer period (UK Government, 2017). The government has indicated that additional funding will be available for local authorities to assist them in tackling the new burdens under the act. However, since 2007, homelessness and the use of temporary accommodation has been steadily rising (Fitzpatrick, 2017). There are clear limitations with this crisis approach to housing advice when so many people are struggling with housing costs.

2.2.2. | Review of current online adviceProviders of housing advice are focusing their attention on more cost effective online routes, such as websites and social media, to provide a more cost-effective service. However, a review of existing online housing advice resources shows that there is a significant amount of duplication, out-of-date information, contradictory information and jargon-heavy information. Sources range from local authorities to charities. Upkeep of these separate online resources, covering the same topics, is likely to be substantial and not cost-effective. This suggests a need for one universal source of advice and information, available to all households, ensuring consistency, clarity and accuracy of information.

To test the need for one consistent and trusted source of housing advice we undertook a review of existing advice available on the internet. We posed Google five questions (based on topics raised in the ‘Housing and Life Experiences’ study) to test the availability of information in these areas. We then compared the top twenty results for consistency and availability of information. The questions we posed were:

What housing benefit can I claim?

How can I get social housing?

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What rights do I have as a tenant?

How can I get help with repairs to my house?

How can I get cheap housing?

We also added location information: England, Scotland or Wales.

We found that:

There is a wide range of sources of information on these housing questions, with return

rates of thousands. The top twenty search results consistently featured local authorities,

numerous advice charities and private sector rental or homeownership sites. Government

sites appeared when searching on housing benefit and social housing.

There was inconsistent, out-dated and inaccurate information provided among the top 20

search results.

There was a lack of depth to most of the information provided.

Some sites were ‘jargon heavy’, and not easy to understand.

The need for consistency and to reduce duplication gave birth over 20 years ago to the existing National Homelessness Advice Service, funded by government and administered by Shelter and Citizens Advice. It provides advice to professionals. A housing advice service could be developed from this model with the aim of a universal, tenure-neutral approach. This would streamline the process from the users’ perspective and better enable households to realise their longer-term housing aspirations.

Case Study 4: National Homelessness Advice Service (NHAS)

Set up over 20 years ago, the NHAS is a partnership between Shelter and Citizens

Advice, funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government. The overall

aims of the project are to enable frontline providers to give good quality housing and

homelessness advice, and to support and facilitate homelessness prevention where

possible.

2.3. | Homeless Reduction Act 2017 and changes to fundingIn addition to the reduction in housing advice funding for homeless services, funding priorities have also changed, putting greater emphasis on the need for homelessness prevention. The government has created the Flexible Homelessness Support Grant as part of a wider homelessness funding offer. It replaces the previous funding mechanism for reimbursing local authorities (retrospectively via the housing benefit system) with a

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temporary accommodation management fee. The new grant allows a large amount of freedom: local authorities are free to procure services to reduce overall demand thereby limiting those requiring a statutory response. Providing good-quality housing advice beyond the legal minimum would make sense as part of a wider approach that focuses on prevention and early intervention.

Birmingham City Council has adopted this approach as part of piloting the new funding arrangements. Birmingham has joined with partners and a neighbouring local authority, Solihull, to build a priority-blind housing advice service for anyone to access. This includes a single hub for housing advice in the city. It will include online and Skype advice provided by Shelter for those outside the 56 days ‘threatened homelessness’ cut-off period, and face-to-face advice for those threatened within that time.

The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 creates an opportunity to procure additional funding for this advisory service proposal as it places new duties on local authorities regarding people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. The Act extends the previous 28-day period for ‘threatened homelessness’ to 56 days and creates a duty on local housing authorities in England to provide advisory services (UK Government, 2017).

The government has indicated that additional funding will be available for local authorities to assist them in tackling the new burdens in the Act. The new funding has been set at £61 million, payable up to 2020. Further details have yet to be published, but £61m is not a lot of money when divided between all local authorities. Funding a national housing advice service may be a more effective investment in supporting the Act. Alternatively, additional funding could be used to set-up a housing advice service model which would complement further local homeless prevention work.

Key implications:

Local authorities are looking at new, and cheaper ways, to provide housing advice; our

proposal could respond to this need.

Advice provision is often only focused on, or limited to, individuals who are homeless or

are threatened with homelessness. This proposal of a wider provision of advice, clearly

titled ‘housing advice’ rather than homeless advice, could help resolve cases at a much

earlier stage and reduce the risk of homelessness.

Housing Rights advice provision, including the HousingAdviceNI website, is an

excellent example of the type of service that could be provided across the UK.

The National Homeless Advice Service for professionals demonstrates how advice

partners can work together, with support from government, to improve the consistency

of advice. This service could be the basis for developing a Housing Advice Service in

England.

Housing advice services clearly benefit the public purse, especially in relation to

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reducing homelessness.

There is a need to expand existing provision, or to rebrand and promote existing

schemes, as general housing advice.

There is a fundamental need to steer web users to reliable trusted housing advice.

The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 may provide an opportunity to fund a new

housing advice service.

The Birmingham example demonstrates that local authorities see a need for a priority-

blind advice service to fulfil their duties. Providing this through a national service for all

local authority areas may reduce costs.

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5. | Conclusion

With housing costs increasing and homelessness on the rise, there has been recognition of the need to broaden advice services beyond those in crisis. Beyond simply extending homelessness advice there is a need for a wider approach. There is the potential to support an increased range of households earlier and be a more effective way to mitigate and prevent housing crisis. This could be achieved with a single portal for advice, providing consistent and reliable information.

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Appendix 1: References

UK Government (2017) Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 [online]. Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2017/13/crossheading/advisory-services/enacted [accessed 22 November 2017]

Call Centre Helper (2017) The 2016/17 UK Contact Centre HR & Operational Benchmarking Report. Contact Gloabal [online]. Available at: http://www.contactbabel.com/pdfs/oct%2016/UK-HROB-Marketing-v2.pdf [accessed 22 November 2017]

Citizens Advice (2014), National Outcomes and Impact Research. Available at: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/Global/Public/Impact/national-outcomes-and-impact-research-report-2014.pdf [accessed 22 November 2017]

Clarke, S, Corlett, A & Judge, L (2016), ‘The housing headwind: The impact of rising housing costs on UK living standards, Resolution Foundation’. London: Resolution Foundation

Corlett, A & Judge, L (2017), Home Affront: Housing across the generations. London: Resolution Foundation

Cole,I, Green, S, Pattison, B, Reeve, K and Wilson, I (2017), Capping Aspirations: the millennial housing challenge. Sheffield: Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University.

Croucher, K, Quilgars, D, Baxter, D and Dyke, A (2017a) Housing and Life Experiences: First interviews with a qualitative longitudinal panel of low income households, Second interim report to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York: Centre for Housing Policy. 

Croucher, K, Quilgars, D, Baxter, D and Dyke, A (2017b) Housing and Life Experiences: Primary research findings [unpublished] 

Croucher, K, Quilgars, D, Baxter, D and Dyke, A (2018) Housing and Life Experiences York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation. 

Department for Communities and Local Government (2005) BVPI 213 on prevention of homelessness through housing advice [online]. Available at http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120920054418/http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/bestvalueperformance [accessed 22nd November 2017].

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Department for Communities and Local Government (2006) Evaluating Homelessness Prevention [online]. Available at http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120919233856/http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/150970.pdf [accessed 22nd November 2017].

Department for Communities and Local Government (2016), Statutory homelessness and prevention and relief, 2016, July to September 2016: England [online]. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statutory-homelessness-andhomelessness-prevention-and-relief-england-july-to-september-2016 [accessed 22nd November 2017].

Department for Communities and Local Government (2017a), English Housing Survey 2015 to 2016: headline report [online]. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/ uploads/attachment_data/file/595785/2015-16_EHS_Headline_Report.pdf [accessed 22nd November 2017].

Department for Communities and Local Government (2017b), Homelessness data: notes and definitions. England [online]. Available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homelessness-data-notes-and-definitions [accessed 22nd November 2017].

Fitzpatrick, S, Pawson, H, Bramley, G, Wilcox, S & Watts, B (2017), ‘The Homelessness Monitor: England 2017’, London, Crisis.

HM Treasury, (2017) Policy paper, Spring Budget 2017 Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-budget-2017-documents/spring-budget-2017 [Accessed: 20 November 2017]

Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2016) Housing affordability over time [online]. Available at https://www.jrf.org.uk/data/housing-affordability-over-time [accessed 22nd November 2017].

O'Hara, M (2016) It will hurt like hell if Newcastle's Citizens Advice bureau shuts down.

Guardian, [online]. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2016/jan/20/newcastle-citizens-advice-bureau-north-east-council-cuts [accessed 22nd November 2017]

Pleace, N (2015), At what cost? An estimation of the financial costs of single homelessness in the UK. London: Crisis.

Pleace, N and Culhane, D.P (2016) Better than Cure? Testing the case for Enhancing Prevention of Single Homelessness in England. London: Crisis.

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Shelter (2007) Policy: briefing Homelessness prevention. Shelter [online]. Available at: https://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/39582/Homelessness_Prevention.pdf [accessed 22nd November 2017]

Shelter (2017a) Shut Out: The barriers low-income households face in private renting. Shelter [online]. Available at: https://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/1391701/2017_06_-_Shut_out_the_barriers_low_income_households_face_in_pivate_renting.pdf [accessed 22nd November 2017]

Shelter (2017b) A home for everyone Shelter, the National Campaign for Homeless People Limited Trustees: annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2017. Shelter [online]. Available at: https://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/1405030/OBR-1521_Annual_Report_DIGITAL_FINAL.pdf [accessed 22nd November 2017]

Shelter (2017c) The impact of housing problems on mental health. Shelter [online]. Available at: https://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/1364063/Housing_and_mental_health_-_detailed_report.pdf [accessed 22nd November 2017]

Naysmith, S. (2016), ‘Council mulls over funding cuts that threaten advice agencies' future’, The Herald Scotland [online]. Available at: http://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/14556785.Council_mulls_over_funding_cuts_that_threaten_advice_agencies__39__future/ [accessed 22nd November 2017]

Trust for London (2013) The Big Squeeze 2013: A fragile state. London: Trust for London [online]. Available at: http://www.lvsc.org.uk/media/132319/bigsqueeze-final-smaller.pdf [accessed 22nd November 2017]

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