To: Patricia Butler, Social Inclusion Unit, and Dept. of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government
From: CentreCare, a project of Crosscare, the Dublin Diocesan Social Care Agency
Date: 11 Feb. 2005
Re: Submission to the Review of the Government’s Homeless Strategy

Introduction:
CentreCare was established in 1980 under the auspices of St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral and Crosscare, the Dublin Diocese Social Care Agency, to meet the diverse needs of those coming to the Pro-Cathedral seeking assistance. CentreCare operates at two levels;

• provision of a high quality information, support and referral service to vulnerable people, with a view to enabling them to make informed choices about their options and

• use of trends in client queries to inform relevant policy development, with a view to creating a more just and caring society.

CentreCare has a team of information officers and shares a co-ordinator, receptionist and administrator with Emigrant Advice (another project of Crosscare housed in the same building as CentreCare). CentreCare is advised by an Advisory Committee, which includes the director of Crosscare as a member. The chair of the JAC sits on the Crosscare Council.

Based in Dublin’s city centre, CentreCare provides a drop-in information service to people experiencing poverty and social exclusion. The agency has an open-door policy, responding in a people-centred manner to those contacting the service. CentreCare carries out advocacy and follow-up work on cases of its clients and refers clients to specialist agencies where necessary. CentreCare’s outreach information service to food centres and hostels represents its further efforts to reach more people with information needs. CentreCare records its homeless-related queries on Dublin Link (the Homeless Agency’s Dublin-wide database) and its non-homeless-related queries on its own database. It uses these records to track trends among service users. It researches the issues underlying the trends and campaigns for problems arising to be appropriately addressed (see account of ‘Creating Crisis - the impact of rent supplement restrictions’ as an example of this work).

Rent supplement:
Budget changes in Budget 04 relating to rent supplement eligibility caused severe hardship among societies most vulnerable. CentreCare gathered 91 cases of hardship caused by the need to be renting for 6 months, assessed as having a housing need or assessed as homeless to get rent supplement. This added further to the pressure vulnerable people find themselves under in times of unexpected crisis.

Recommendations:
Acknowledge changes related to this issue in Budget 2005 and recommend the implementation of additional recommendations as outlined in the report ‘Creating Crisis’.

Case Study:
A woman wishing to separate from her husband because their domestic relations had badly deteriorated. She approached an advice centre whilst still living with her husband. She wished to rent privately as this was her only means of escape form her current situation. She would require rent supplement in order to help pay the rent. However, having not rented before, she has t be assessed as being in housing need to be approved for rent supplement. She did not want her husband to find out about her intentions. The necessity to have an assessment carried out added stress to an already stressful situation.

Move-on accommodation from transitional housing:
In the ‘Protocols for the joint assessment and allocation of lettings to participants of transitional housing programmes between local authorities and voluntary housing associations’ it cites that ‘the housing provider agrees to make a reasonable offer of housing to all transitional housing participants on completion of the programme within the agreed time frame’. Centrecare deal with people who have stayed in transitional housing over the max length of time (18 months approx) and who are put under pressure to move on to other accommodation but are not offered social housing. We find that these people have no option but to move into private rented accommodation. This is often an inappropriate move after a person successfully completes the transitional programme.

Recommendations:
Implementation of protocols and stronger links established between Local authorities and transitional housing organisations. Guaranteed move on for persons who have completed these transitional programmes.

Case Study:
A number of people have secured places in transitional housing programmes with help from Centrecare. However having completed the programme they return to Centrecare saying they need to find alternative accommodation as there is no move on available for them. Centrecare also has difficulty making referrals to these programmes as they have become silted up due to the lack of move on accommodation available for the people already there.

People not on housing lists
Centrecare deals with a large number of people through its drop in centre and its outreach service. Staff encounter a considerably high number of people who are not registered for local authority housing. There are also a large percentage of homeless people that are not registered on local authority waiting lists. They are often uninformed or think that it is a waste of time, particularly for single people.

Recommendations:
Increase local authority housing programme further, particularly in relation to single person units. Increase efficiency in carrying out housing needs assessments and inspections.

Case:
Centrecare monitored the people that used its service over a one month period and found that over 60% of those clients were not registered for housing with the relevant local authorities. Many did not know they had to register. Others had registered but were no longer active on the list, as they did not keep regular contact with the housing department. The majority did not see any point in going on the housing list, as they knew they would not be considered a high enough priority.

General confusion negotiating rights and entitlements
Centercare finds that in its 25 years of experience despite improvements in provision for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, confusion in negotiating red tape/bureaucracy remains.

Recommendations
Highlight the need for services like CentreCare, substantial increase in funding to further develop outreach initiative and other creative means of reaching the most in need.

Case Study:
A woman had her One Parent Family Payment (OPFP) stopped and consequently her rent allowance, which eventually rendered her homeless. She was unsure as to why her payment was cut so sought our assistance. On investigation it materialised that the payment was stopped because she had failed to produce a piece of documentation. After several attempts in was discovered that she had sent the document to the child benefit section who in turn were to forward it to the OPFP section. They had failed to do this and her payment was stopped due to know fault of our client.

Nightmare stories of emergency accommodation
Anecdotal evidence gleaned through our drop in and outreach information and support service. Many people encountered by CentreCare feel that they are being forced to stay in homeless hostels in order to be recognised as homeless in order to get payments. Some people have options to stay with friends/family on a temporary basis while they secure relevant payments but this is not an option although staying in hostel may be detrimental (see cases below). Many chose to sleep rough rather than endure unsuitable conditions of some emergency accommodation.

Recommendations
CWO discretion if people have alternatives to emergency accommodation and clear reasons why they cannot stay in these places. .

Case Study:
A gentleman with a history of alcohol abuse become homeless and was placed in emergency hostel accommodation. He had never had any experience of homeless accommodation in the past. Having spent several nights in the hostel he presented to CentreCare in a very depressed state. He was finding it very difficult to cope as there were a number of people with alcohol and drug addictions staying in the same hostel. He felt that this was having an negative effect on his condition and feared that he would began using again if he stayed. [Top]

Centrecare Welcomes Rent Supplement Reversal 01/02/05

Centrecare, a project of Crosscare, has welcomed the news that the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mr. Brennan, has axed the rules restricting access to rent supplement.

Since this change was brought in as one of the ‘savage 16’ welfare cuts in the previous budget, Centrecare has campaigned and lobbied to have the changes to rent supplement eligibility amended.

Centrecare undertook research in response to these changes in an attempt to identify issues arising from the first six months since the changes. The report ‘Creating Crisis’ showed the human impact of these changes, and showed that the changes were having an adverse affect on the most vulnerable people in our society.

The study highlighted the plight of people who found themselves having to deal with unexpected crises such as job loss, relationship breakdowns and crisis pregnancy. The rent supplement scheme, in its restricted form, was not available for people in these difficult situations.

Bryan Gavin, Information Officer with Centrecare said, “We are delighted that Minister Brennan has acted on the evidence we and other organisations provided in relation to these cuts and welcome the amendments”.

“As information/advice organisations it is our responsibility to tell policy makers about the impact of policy changes on the ground. We welcome the Ministers decision to make these necessary changes to what was one of the harshest of the 16 welfare cuts,” said Yvonne Fleming, co-ordinator of Centrecare. [Top]

‘HIDDEN HOMELESS STILL AT RISK’ 18/11/04

Following meetings with both the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social and Family Affairs on Nov. 16th and with Minister Seamus Brennan on Nov. 17th, CentreCare, one of the 14 programmes of Crosscare the Dublin Diocesan Social Care Agency, is concerned that all of the cutbacks in relation to eligibility for rent supplement will not be completely reversed.

‘We are particularly worried about the ‘Hidden Homeless’, (those staying with families and friends on a temporary basis). ‘This group is not acknowledged as homeless because they are not staying in recognised homeless accommodation’, said Bryan Gavin Information Officer with CentreCare. ‘Many choose to couch surf between friends and family rather that access hostels where they feel even more vulnerable’.

The Minister acknowledged that the cuts did put pressure on people that they could have done without and that there were cases where people did not get rent supplement and did find it difficult to get accommodation.

The Minister says the hardships may be ‘perceived’ not ‘real’ – CentreCare disputes this statement citing that their study ‘Creating Crisis’ compiled in collaboration with City Centre (Dublin) Citizens Information Service, highlights the harsh reality people are faced with due to these cutbacks. [Top]

‘Creating Crisis’ – the impact of rent supplement restrictions 16/11/04
Commissioned by Centrecare and City Centre Citizens Information Service.

Since the end of January 2004 new rent supplement eligibility rules have been put in place. You will only qualify for rent supplement if you have a six month rental history (unless you have been assessed as being homeless or as having a housing need). Similarly a person whose spouse is working over 30 hours a week will no longer be eligible, nor is a person who refuses two offers of local authority housing within a continuous 12 month period.

This report was commissioned in response to these changes in eligibility in Rent Supplement in Budget 2003. The purpose of the study was to identify issues arising from the first 6 months since the changes. Above all the study shows the human impact of these changes and shows that every refusal has a story behind it.

On the second of December, Minister Coughlan answered a parliamentary question by saying “the purpose of the supplementary welfare allowance is to deal with emergencies and short-term needs that arise when a person has a change in circumstances, for example when a tenant becomes unemployed and can no longer afford their rent” However in practice this is not the case.

A young man became ill and lost his job as a result and began receiving Disability Benefit. While he was sick friends cared for him. He has now fully recovered and wishes to move into private rented housing and get a job. He has been refused rent supplement, as he has no history of renting. This man cannot understand why he was refused as he had a history of work and paid his taxes for 7 years, and only wishes to get assistance for his rent until such time as he gets back onto his feet. The ironic part of this is that if he were on disability allowance he would be exempt from the rules.

One should look at these changes from the point of view of someone who is working and earning a decent wage, who loses his or her job after renting for 4 months. Under the six month rule, someone will lose his or her home. Nobody has savings in reserve to pay the high rents charged, particularly in Dublin.

This requirement for a 6 month rental history is proving to have adverse affects on people in many situations including people in homeless situations, particularly those who are in situations of hidden homelessness or people that may be at risk of homelessness.

Many people are living with parents, siblings or friends where they are unwanted but cannot satisfy the 6 month renting rule, and more than likely will not be assessed as having a housing need. A young pregnant woman plans to leave home after she has her baby. Problems have developed with her parents and she wants a stress free environment for the child. However, obtaining her own place is impossible for her, as she cannot get Rent Supplement without the six-month rental history.

The study highlights the difficult situations people get in to when they find themselves having to deal with an unexpected crisis in their lives. One woman wishing to leave her husband because their relationship had badly deteriorated, wanted to get rent supplement until such time as she got her life back on track, was refused until such time as she got a housing needs assessment. It is very unlikely that she will be assessed as being in housing need unless the person carrying out the assessment is aware of her domestic situation. She will also have to remain there until such time as the assessment is carried out, which can take a number of weeks if not months. She fears that she will not be able to stay there that long.

Similarly a young man has just discovered that his wife was having an affair and he left the family home. He had nowhere to stay, so resorted to sleeping in his car. Again he was told that he would have to have a housing needs assessment carried out before he would be able to receive rent supplement. So this man has no choice but to stay sleeping in his car. These are some of the most severe cases that information centres were faced with.

The changes may be working in reducing the numbers of people in receipt of and the cost of rent supplement but it is not working for people in crisis. As information/advice organisations it is our responsibility to tell policy makers about the impact of policy changes on the ground. The basic premise of a social welfare system is that it acts as a safety net for people in poverty and crisis. In its current restricted form, Rent Supplement is not acting as a safety net for everyone who needs it. In the cases that have been outlined we ask what alternative do people have?

In the short term we are calling for Rent Supplement to go back to as it was pre January ’04 and for Community Welfare Officers to be given back their discretionary powers. This system was not ideal but it caused fewer crises for people. For the relatively small amount of money that these changes are saving (compared to other wasted expenses in the past), there is a huge human cost involved. We appeal to you to do your best to have these changes reversed until an alternative has been put in place. [Top]

RENT SUPPLEMENT CHANGES ARE CAUSING EXTREME HARDSHIP

A new survey, aimed at assessing the impact of the Department of Social & Family Affairs’ Rent Supplement Restrictions, has revealed that many people are now suffering extreme hardship as a result of the operation of the revised scheme.

In particular, the survey shows that the changes in eligibility for Rent Supplement are causing people to live in undesirable housing situations and that the housing ‘safety net’ for those experiencing severe housing deprivation has been removed.

The study, called ‘Creating Crisis’ was compiled by Brendon Buck of the Department of Planning & Development at the Dublin Institute of Technology. It was launched today (Sept 27th) at the Mansion House, Dublin, by RTE’s Prime Time presenter, Miriam O’Callaghan.

CentreCare (a project of CROSSCARE one of the major social care agencies in Dublin) and City Centre (Dublin) Citizens Information Service commissioned the survey which asks, in the absence of Rent Supplement, what alternatives do vulnerable people have?

Bryan Gavin, Information Officer with CentreCare, said that it was widely recognised that the rent supplement scheme was an essential social housing mechanism, through which low-income households could meet their accommodation needs within the private rented sector. “Our study was prompted by the significant changes in entitlement to Rent Supplement introduced by Mary Coughlan, the Minister for Social & Family Affairs, in the December 2003 Budget. The survey outlines cases studies which reveal that the changes have caused additional hardship and the creation of new crises for people ”.

Deirdre Casey, Development Manager of City Centre (Dublin) Citizens Information Service, said that the report shows that many people in vulnerable situations and those at risk of homelessness have been refused support. The survey recommendations call for the restoration of short-term housing support for people in crisis and the restoration of discretion to Community Welfare Officers in cases where there are exceptional circumstances.

“In the absence of an adequate alternative source of support, the rent supplement scheme must remain in place as a short-term crisis measure for people in vulnerable situations”, Yvonne Fleming, Co-ordinator of CentreCare concluded.

A copy of the ‘Creating Crisis’ report is available from CentreCare or City Centre (Dublin) Citizens Information Service (see contact numbers below). [Top]

Further information:
Yvonne Fleming (087-7696502) & Bryan Gavin, CentreCare – Tel 872 6775
Deirdre Casey (087-9908483), City Centre (Dublin) Citizens Information Service – Tel 809 0633