How do we effectively support people sleeping rough away from the streets for good? Even with the Homelessness Reduction Act set to come into force in April 2018, giving councils greater duties to prevent and end people's homelessness, it's a question that won't be simply resolved anytime soon.
A BBC Freedom of Information request this week shed light on the way that local authorities are using reconnection policies to relocate people sleeping rough to other areas. This activity ranges from some good practice to bad practice, where, in one example, a man was offered a train ticket to a city he had never been to before.
Reconnection in itself can be a valid and effective policy for supporting individuals, and is nothing new. If a person who is sleeping rough has a support network or is entitled to access services and accommodation in a different area, then helping link them up with these can help to end their rough sleeping. As local areas have seen their funding reduced in recent years, it is perhaps unsurprising that councils take this approach when appropriate.
However, it is more than concerning to hear about people who are sleeping rough simply being handed one-way tickets. Just displacing rough sleepers without offering support is not solving the issue, and at worst can exacerbate their situation, leaving them more isolated and at risk of deteriorating physical and mental health.
Councils should not be sending people across the country unless it is to an area that they have a connection to and will be safe in, and there is a plan in place to support them when they arrive.
There may be legitimate reasons why someone chooses, or feels compelled to, seek help in an area other than the one they are from. For example, escaping domestic violence or gang culture. This is why the specific needs and circumstances of each individual should be taken into account.
Arguably, when we are talking about supporting people away from the streets, there should be a 'no wrong door policy' that allows vulnerable people to seek support anywhere, regardless of having a 'local connection', although tight resources may act as a barrier to this approach.
The forthcoming Homelessness Reduction Act requires local areas to act earlier and improve the support they offer those at risk of becoming homeless or sleeping rough. It includes duties such as making information and advice on homelessness available for free to all residents, and working with people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness to agree a personalised housing plan.
On 16 October, the Government published guidance to help councils implement the Act and announced an additional £11.7 million in funding (taking the total to £72.7 million) to enable them to meet the new burdens.
We hope that this new legislation, backed up by adequate resources, will reduce the number of people arriving on the streets and improve approaches to tackling rough sleeping. However, whether it works in reality will depend on how Local Authorities and their partners embrace the new duties and challenge some of their existing practice, and how well they work with other services such as mental health and probation to support people experiencing a range of needs.
It's also important to note that the Homelessness Reduction Act alone will not be enough. We also need a cross-government strategy which tackles some of the key drivers of homelessness - such as the high cost of housing, poverty, and insecure employment.
In addition, we need an ambitious new national rough sleeping initiative that acts to end street homelessness by preventing people sleeping rough in the first place, and providing a robust response to not only get people off the streets but to bring about lasting changes to ensure they do not return to rough sleeping.
As local authorities look to their new responsibilities in April 2018, we urge them to ensure any reconnection work they do is properly integrated into their homelessness and rough sleeping strategies and not just seen as a quick fix to tackling the issue.