Opinion: Not enough to meet the rising needs of our city’s homeless population

As Crisis highlight, prolonged periods of rough sleeping have a significant impact on a person’s mental and physical health and well-being. The longer someone experiences rough sleeping for, the more likely it is they will develop additional mental and physical health needs. The more complex needs someone has, the more help they will need to move on from homelessness and rebuild their lives.

As research shows, rough sleeping is a dangerous and isolating experience. People sleeping rough are more likely to be a victim of crime and almost 17 times more likely to have bern victims of violence in the past year compared to the general public. Women are particularly vulnerable, nearly one on four have been sexually assaulted whilst rough sleeping.

High levels of mental health conditions including depression, anxiety and panic disorders are common and other conditions like psychosis is fifteen times higher amongst rough sleepers too. Furthermore, government data shows that where people have been sleeping rough for over a year, 50 percent of these people are also experiencing mental ill health.

So the recent, £3.2m investment to fund some specific support to rough sleepers, although still far below the sustainable funding needed in real terms, brings with it, some limited service development for rough sleeper.

In yet another postcode lottery initiative, Sheffield and Doncaster, are two of 14 others areas selected for support, having been recognised as being localities in England with high rates of homelessness. These South Yorkshire cities, have been selected to have allocated to them, a specialist NHS mental health care outreach team.

This initiative is part of co-ordinated efforts to ensure that rough sleepers have better access to NHS mental health care and support. The initiative joins up mental health care with existing outreach, accommodation, drug and alcohol and physical healthcare services.

These newly formed teams will consist of NHS – led teams of doctors, nurses and other clinicians acting to coordinate treatment, interventions and other forms of support. The new NHS-led teams will be working with local authority staff, who will identify rough sleepers in need of help and assistance. They will support these vulnerable people to access a GP and to move onto the new expert mental health support and care services. This initiative will also be working with local community support groups and charities, whom alongside Local Authorities in both Sheffield and Doncaster have been the back bone in reaching out to and meeting the needs of people who are homeless and rough sleeping.

The NHS led initiative therefore, will be operating in tandem and collaboration with existing support for rough sleepers.

Professor Tim Kendall, NHS England clinical national director for mental health, said: ""While the NHS cannot solve homelessness on its own, we are trying to reach out to homeless people and working hard to ensure that those who need mental health support get it.

"To do that, we are making it as easy as possible to access services, designed and built around patients' needs.".

It should be remembered that the £3.2m plan is coming at a time of warning of there soon to be even deeper council budget cuts to homelessness budgets, which the policy director of Homeless Link described as a process of “ robbing Peter to pay Paul” as the context of these cuts, would lead to reductions in support for rough sleepers overall in a case of “robbing Peter to pay Paul” as Sophie Boobis policy director of Homeless Link describes it. Government underinvestment in Councils, with its knock on effect in Council’s making reductions in support for rough sleepers will in fact lead to an extension in there needing to be more mental health support for this vulnerable grouping.

Initiatives, such as this new NHS led one cannot be seen as a replacement for proven permanent housing solutions such as Housing First that people need as Matt Downie, the chief executive of the homelessness charity Crisis has said.

While the Government is recognising that Sheffield is in the midst of a homelessness crisis, under investing in our council is counterproductive.

It is shocking that the UK is fifth largest economy in the world, yet we are seeing homelessness and rough sleeping on the rise. Alongside this we now have more than one fifth of our population living in poverty too and over 40 percent of our children are living in poverty. There is now also a much needed proliferation of food banks in every town and city across the UK, including here in Sheffield, all striving to meet ever increasing need and demand.

The policies of austerity introduced in 2010 continue largely unabated, despite the tragic social consequences. Harsh and uncaring hostile environment policies, along with austerity cuts, including culling funding to Local Authorities, have all resulted in the removal of the social safety net and sadly and shockingly members of our Sheffield family who have been thrust into experiencing homelessness, including our Sheffield family’s rough sleepers, are frontline victims of this.

So whilst the bit of money being proffered is welcome, it’s not enough for the bigger picture or to replace monies taken through cuts. Nor is it enough to meet the current and rising needs of our city’s homeless population and one of our societies most vulnerable groups too- rough sleepers.