Communication and Information Sharing
LB Newham – Newham’s Housing Department provides a fortnightly list of families with children under 5 to the PCT and Children’s Services, enabling Family Support Workers to visit these recently moved families, sort out any problems, encourage them to access Early Years services, and signpost to all universal services.
Brighton & Hove – has held bi-monthly seminars for new staff across the Children’s Service to provide them with some basic information about housing policy and practice. This ensures they have some understanding of Priority Need, Eligibility and Housing Options/Assessment, as well as a named contact and number.
These examples provide staff with the responsibility & opportunity to talk to each other, share concerns & develop creative solutions.
Working in Children’s Centres
Tower Hamlets: Housing, children’s services and the PCT have joint funded a “Temporary Accommodation Outreach Team” working out of local children’s centres. The team identify any issues a family in TA might have, provides support with housing issues and signposts to children’s centres and all other local services.
Harrow: Using children’s centre capital funding, Harrow’s Early Years service has refurbished the communal area of a Temporary Accommodation Family Hostel, bringing early years services direct to marginalised families.
Enfield: Enfield’s Temporary Accommodation Play Project (ETAPP) is now fully funded by early years to ensure that homeless children can access appropriate play and activity services, and that parents receive support, advice and information that helps them.
Working together enables Children’s Centres to access homeless families, some of the hardest of the “hard to reach” group.
A dedicated Homelessness Support Service
Camden: Funded by Supporting People, Camden’s Homeless Households Support Service (HHSS) ensures that all families living in TA or in hostels have a dedicated Support Worker whose job it is to ensure they are linked in to all universal or specific services relevant to them and their children. A specific Children’s Centre link worker funded by CYPS works across all the Support Workers.
Westminster: The Temporary Accommodation Support Service is funded by the housing team, but the workers work closely with and in schools, children’s centres and attend Multi-Agency Team meetings to provide “the housing perspective” when housing issues are a factor at panel meetings. The team also link in to housing and education teams in the boroughs they place, including Newham, Redbridge and B&D.
A dedicated service ensures that families in TA are reached systematically, rather than accidentally. A dedicated Homelessness Support Service