The challenges of temporary accommodation
How the increased use of temporary accommodation is being targeted
STRATEGY
Image: Istock
Leila Baker
Associate, Campbell Tickell
Issue 65 | April 2023
It’s always been an obvious marker that housing needs are not being met when the use of temporary accommodation (TA) increases. TA is used for most people in housing need who apply through homelessness legislation. It’s expensive, often of poor quality and is damaging to the wellbeing of those who are stuck in it, as well as to council officers who have no option but to place people in it.
And for many, it is anything but temporary. It’s clear that an overall increase in the number of social rented homes is needed in order to achieve real change.
Working together
Those who are living in temporary accommodation and those who support them, are using their voice to get better standards and collaborate with local authorities to improve things for the time people are in temporary accommodation.
While there is much more to be done, there are signs of positive benefits on both sides when councils and communities affected by TA work together.
Examples where this is working well include:
01
Training and facilitation around how officers and people with lived experience of TA can come together in a safe and supported way for both sides to find new and different ways of working.
For example, Creating Ground in Greenwich has been able to secure commitments from the council about how tenants would like to be treated; their Shoe Shop video (below) is a fantastic metaphor for the experience of many temporary tenants.
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02
The London Housing Panel working group on temporary accommodation – an innovative collaboration with London Councils and the GLA – will be piloting an Encounters & Conversations project that connects officers and people affected by TA to seek solutions together.
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03
Collaborations that bring together people from different sectors and organisations including landlords to problem solve, such as those being successfully facilitated by Justlife.
These local groups bring together tenants, statutory stakeholders from across different bodies, and sometimes invited parties such as landlords or those with a remit around safety. They are often pragmatically oriented around problem solving.
04
Ensuring that people’s access to WiFi while in TA meets a minimum digital living standard regardless of what type of property they are staying in or who owns it.
Trust for London’s Better Temporary Accommodation Initiative is supporting 11 projects currently to find ways to enable support and advocacy in temporary accommodation.
One of the projects, Creating Ground CIC, also supported by Citizens UK work in Lewisham/Greenwich, is discussing ways to ensure people have WiFi access as soon as they move into a property and to ensure that continues whenever they are required to move.
03
Collaborations that bring together people from different sectors and organisations including landlords to problem solve, such as those being successfully facilitated by Justlife.
These local groups bring together tenants, statutory stakeholders from across different bodies, and sometimes invited parties such as landlords or those with a remit around safety. They are often pragmatically oriented around problem solving.
04
Ensuring that people’s access to WiFi while in TA meets a minimum digital living standard regardless of what type of property they are staying in or who owns it.
Trust for London’s Better Temporary Accommodation Initiative is supporting 11 projects currently to find ways to enable support and advocacy in temporary accommodation.
One of the projects, Creating Ground CIC, also supported by Citizens UK work in Lewisham/Greenwich, is discussing ways to ensure people have WiFi access as soon as they move into a property and to ensure that continues whenever they are required to move.
Potential for change
All of these projects offer huge potential to achieve change where councils are willing, and people with lived experience are supported to, come together and problem solve. There are of course many issues that are harder and longer term, and there is work underway on these areas too, including London Mayor Sadiq Kahn’s Right to Buy-back campaign.
So, while the numbers make for grim reading, there is a lot happening – and there are ways to improve the situation now if both parties are supported to work together.
The Households in Temporary Accommodation All Party Parliamentary Group has been discussing the challenges faced by local authorities in addressing the issues.
Following on from the APPG’s report on the impact of TA for those living there, their next event will build on this evidence by hearing from local authorities directly on the challenges that TA represents for them and what needs to change to change this.
“While the numbers make for grim reading, there is a lot happening – and there are ways to improve the situation now if both parties are supported to work together.”
