Homeless Link
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Early action to reduce homelessness and improve health

Blog posted by: Helen Mathie Wednesday, 8 July 2015 - 9:30am

At our conference today, we publish a fresh look at how partnership between health and homelessness sectors could be used to prevent homelessness and benefit health and wellbeing.

What can health services do to prevent homelessness? This was one of the questions Homeless Link set out to answer we were commissioned last year by Public Health England to conduct a review of homelessness prevention activity developed in response to health and wellbeing needs, delivered by or in partnership with the wider health workforce.

A new perspective on health and homelessness

It gave us an opportunity to take a fresh look at the evidence for what can be done, at a much earlier point, to address someone’s housing need before it reaches crisis point – preventing their homelessness but also benefiting their health and wellbeing.

Preventing homelessness should be seen as the business of a range of local services, so the review focused particularly on where this happens in health based settings, such as GP surgeries and other community locations not traditionally associated with housing.

The review, published at our conference today and available for download below, is an important contribution to a growing base of evidence about the benefits of links between health and housing.

It makes no sense helping someone get well in hospital, only to discharge them to damp, inaccessible accommodation, or worse still straight to the street. It makes no sense trying to treat somebody’s long-term mental health issues without taking steps to identify if there are other contributory factors, such as the anxiety someone might be experiencing over insecure housing or problems with debt.

Evidence into practice

We have been working with Public Health England to look at how this evidence can be turned into practice, contributing recommendations to help ensure it translates into action.

At a time when local areas are looking to spend money more efficiently and join up local agendas more effectively, we hope the examples of what works can be replicated more widely to put prevention at the forefront of how we commission and deliver services.

We are grateful to all the Homeless Link members and other agencies who shared their examples of what works. We hope these inspire other areas to do the same.

Cross sector alliance

The importance of prevention is just one of the messages shared by an alliance of national bodies across the NHS, social care and housing sectors that have come together to support joint action on improving health through housing.

At its heart, this Memorandum of Understanding recognises that the right home environment is essential for everyone’s health and wellbeing. It commits members of the alliance to working collaboratively across sectors to enable this.

With signatories including the Department of Health, NHS England, Department for Communities and Local Government and the Home and Communities Agency, we’re pleased that Homeless Link is one of the partners in this alliance.

Effectively preventing and ending homelessness is crucial to the vision the alliance.

We are working with these agencies to ensure policy and strategy are coordinated nationally, alongside practical actions across sectors that all too often operate in isolation.

To see some of the priorities identified so far, please download the Memorandum of Understanding below.

Preventing homelessness to improve health and wellbeing

Evidence review into interventions that are effective in responding to health and wellbeing needs in households at risk of homelessness. Rapid review commissioned by Public Health England.

Downloads

Memorandum of Understanding to support joint action on improving health through the home

Outlines commitment to a practical partnership between health, social care and housing.

Downloads

 

Channel website: http://www.homelesslink.org.uk

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