Key Elements for a Successful Local Homeless Strategy How Europe can support local authorities to im

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Key Elements for a Successful Local Homeless
StrategyHow Europe can support local authorities
to improve the fight against homelessness

• EU Seminar organised by
• FEANTSA
• EU Committee of the Regions
• Brussels, Friday 1 June 2007
• Session 1 Institutional Context

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Moving on up?How addressing homelessness at the
local level can influence national strategy

• Presented by
• Mr. Dáithí Downey
• Deputy Director,
• Head of Policy Service Delivery
• Homeless Agency

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Background to our story

• Irish economic context
• Tiger Economy (96 01) Economic growth and
  wealth creation, Asset (housing) and Consumer
  boom (02- present), Credit growth (equity
  withdrawl), Euro zone impact.
• Irish social context
• Higher prosperity, deepened inequality, crisis
  in social infrastructure and protection, housing
  access and affordability
• Irish political context
• General election 2007
• Social partnership agreement for 10 years
  Towards 2016

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Irish national policy on homelessness

• Homelessness An Integrated Stratey (2000)
• Homeless Agency Partnership (2001)
• Establishment of 34 Local Homeless Forums (2001)
• Homelessness Preventative Strategy (2002)
• Inter-agency protocols (e.g. discharge policies
  and procedures)
• Review of Homeless Strategy (2006)
• Extensive and in depth stakeholder analysis
  including service users
• Comprehensive suite of recommendations
• Revised Government Policy and Strategy (Qtr 4 of
  2007)
• 5 priority areas provision of long-term
  accommodation appropriate local treatment of
  homelessness countrywide case management
  approach for homeless individuals improved
  coordination of capital and revenue funding and
  better data on the extent, nature and causes of
  homelessness.

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Institutional network for Homeless Agency
Partnership
Government
Cabinet Sub-Committee on Social Inclusion
The Cross Departmental Team on Homelessness (Depts
. Family Social Affairs, Environment (chair),
Health Children, Finance, Education Science,
Community Rural, also Irish Prison Service and
the Probation and Welfare Service)
National Homelessness Consultative Committee 2007

• Statutory Sector
• Irish Prison Service
• Education and Training
• Health Service Exec
• Local Authorities
• Probation and Welfare
• FAS

• NGO Sector
• Community Voluntary
• Housing Associations

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Extent of assessed homelessness?

• Counted In, 2005
• Third periodic assessment on homelessness in
  Dublin conducted as part of the national
  tri-annual Assessment of Housing Need
• 1. 2,015 individuals reported being homeless
• 2. 1,552 adults reported being homeless
• 3. 19 decrease on number of people
• reported as homeless between 2002
  and 2005

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National/Local Inter-relationshow is
partnership working in Ireland?

• Irish Social Partnership model is c. 20yrs old
  institutionally and politically established at
  national level and deployed as local area-based
  partnerships
• Political and administrative focus on
  inter-agency partnership working at the local
  level across key areas including drugs spatial
  depreviation and urban regeneration labour
  market activation and local anti-poverty and
  community development work.
• Homeless Agency (HA) Partnership is an example of
  joined-up government at local level that
  includes the Third sector (NGO)
• HA Partnership is more than a straightforward
  one-to-one partnership arrangement
• Composed of many actors operating in and across a
  complex network of relations

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Making and managing change within and across
partners

• Active network management is required to make
  complex partnerships work
• Means active hierarchial steering and process
  management across the partnership
• HA Board, Consultative Forum, Executive and
  Service Provider Networks
• Ability to recognise uncertainty and complexity
  in decision making
• Institutional (e.g. Irish Cabinet Sub-Comittee
  on Social Inclusion)
• Strategic (e.g. national policy frameworks)
• Content (e.g. HA action plan)

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The realpolitik of making it work

• Extent of hierarchial steering (national and
  local)
• Extent of active network management incentives
  for actors with differences in power and frames
  of reference
• Negotiating shared goals perceptions and
  behaviour of actors is important
• Negotiate and agree joined-up thinking
• The win? Agreed aims, actions and timelines for
  same the action plan

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The win of partnership working..

• Three Homeless Agency Action Plans to date
• Shaping the Future 2001-2003
• Making it Home 2004-2006
• A Key to the Door 2007-2010

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Agreed vision

• By 2010, long-term homelessness and the need for
  people to sleep rough will be eliminated in
  Dublin
• The risk of a person or family becoming homeless
  will be minimal due to effective preventative
  policies and services
• Where it does occur, homelessness will be
  short-term and all people who
• are homeless will be assiated into appropriate
  housing and the realisation
• of their full potential and rights

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Agreed strategic aims

• Prevent people from becoming homeless
• Provide effective services in each local area to
  address the acciommodation, housing and health
  needs of people in that area
• Provide long-term housing, with appropriate
  supports as required for people who are homeless

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Future challenges

• Changing profile and support needs of people
  experiencing homelessness
• (women, families with children, single adult men,
  migrants, young persons and the elderly)
• Improve access to permanent long-term housing and
  deliver new social housing stock
• Access to mainstream primary healthcare, in
  particular mental health and addiction services
• Effective prevention of homelessness
• Delivery mechanisms funding regime and agency
  function

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Local impacts nationallyinternationally?

• Key Homeless Agency milestones achieved since
  2000
• Building confidence in the Vision for 2010
• Re-inforced importance of hierarchial steering
  and active network and process management within
  HA Partnership
• Continued political support and resource
  allocation
• Homeless Agency action plan to 2010
• Example of best-practices locally that can be
  adopted nationally
• New National Homeless Policy and Strategy (in
  2007)
• Role of EU to support local actors?
• Hierarchial steering required from EU on
  homelessness
• Supra-national national local
• Example EU typology of homelessness and housing
  exclusion
• ETHOS model.