Inventing our future Collective action for a sustainable economy

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Chapter 3 – Effective interventions
The most effective means of tackling homelessness is to strengthen prevention measures and increase
housing supply (SO6: 4). The Homelessness Act 2002 strengthened rights for homeless households and
placed increased duties on local authorities, including the duty to develop a homelessness strategy. The
purpose of such strategies is to prevent homelessness and ensure that accommodation and support is
available for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Building on the development of more
mature sub-regional housing structures and relationships, a number of sub-regions are exploring the
option of developing sub-regional homelessness strategies.
Recent research (Homelessness Statistics June 2007 and Local Authority Survey of Homelessness
Prevention – Policy Briefing 19, Communites and Local Government, 2007) reflects the shift in emphasis
towards prevention of homelessness. The five most successful prevention measures (in order) were rent
deposit schemes, mediation, advice on housing options, dialogue with landlords and home visiting. The
top three reported by local authorities in the East of England mirrored the national picture (rent deposit
60%; advice on housing options 40%; home visits 29%).
The Regional Homelessness Advisory Panel (RHAP) was established in July 2006 with the aim of providing a
regional focus for homelessness issues, including effective regional communication and co-ordination across
agencies and strategies and the sharing of good practice. The RHAP is one of a number of task groups that
support implementation and delivery of the Regional Housing Strategy and is expected to play an important
role in contributing to the evidence base for the next Regional Housing Strategy to be published in 2010.
Promoting mixed sustainable communities
Nationally, two-thirds of social housing is still located within areas originally built as council estates (Ends
and Means: The future roles of social housing in England, Hills, ESRC Research Centre for Analysis of Social
Exclusion, 2007). Over the past ten years social landlords have introduced a range of initiatives to promote
mixed tenure on both new and existing developments to support increased household mix and reduced
stigmatisation – the key to long-term sustainability. The recently published Planning Policy Statement 3,
Housing (2006) provides the planning framework for achieving these objectives. Specific outcomes include
a mix of affordable and open market housing, particularly in terms of tenure and price to support a wide
variety of households in both urban and rural areas, and housing developments in suitable locations, which
offer a good range of community facilities and with good access to jobs, key services and infrastructure.
A feature of the housing market in recent years has been the growth of the ‘intermediate housing market’ which
reflects the growing affordability problem. In 2005 the Government’s five-year sustainable communities plan,
Homes for All, established HomeBuy, a low cost home ownership programme aimed at people on lower incomes
who cannot afford to buy without this support. It builds on and incorporates the Key Worker Living Programme
which was launched in 2004 and targeted public sector key workers such as teachers and nurses.
The Government is currently supporting a number of mixed communities demonstration projects that build
on the learning from programmes such as the New Deal for Communities and aim to tackle the three main
drivers of area deprivation: a weak economic base, poor housing and local environment and poorly performing
public services. EERA has recommended that a proportion of housing investment during 2008-11 is allocated
to support innovative projects that contribute to the promotion of mixed, sustainable communities, drawing on
the learning and good practice emerging from the demonstration projects.