Homelessness: A More Local Focus.

The weekly blogs written so far on the First People Housing website have centred on national

coverage of the issues of homelessness, rough sleeping, mental health among males and

domestic abuse. With the recent election and subsequent promises of change, it made sense for

the blogs to focus on the national reality of the issues we aim to assist with.

At this time, with the election in the rearview, it makes sense to briefly outline the state of

homelessness at a local level.

At First People Housing, we open doors to those who have experienced homelessness. This

includes individuals who are currently sleeping rough or at risk of losing their homes. We help

those seeking recovery from substance misuse, providing a supportive environment for individuals

working towards overcoming addiction. Importantly, we also support those with a history of

offending behaviour as we believe in offering opportunities for change and reintegration into the

community. We are based in Hatfield, Hertfordshire and we aim to play an important role in the

county.

The county of Hertfordshire mostly receives positive media attention. As someone who grew up

there, it is a nice place to live with easy transport links to the capital and there are lovely towns

scattered throughout the area. Many would believe that Hertfordshire would not be an area of

increasing homelessness and rough sleeping. however, as we have seen elsewhere in the UK, the

numbers seem to be on the rise regardless of the location.

In January 2024, North Herts Council published their findings on homelessness in Northern

Hertfordshire and the findings indicate that the area is increasingly susceptible to rising numbers

of homeless residents and rough sleepers. The council indicated that children, short term tenants,

those suffering from mental health problems and people leaving prison and hospital are among

the most likely to be at risk of homelessness in the region.

Furthermore, the council’s findings state that a “significant proportion of households continue to

approach at the point of homelessness (relief duty) and the number of main housing duties owed

by the Council is almost double that in 2019/20.” Relief duty is a duty owed by the council to

those who have approached the body for assistance set out in The Homelessness Reduction Act

of 2017. The legislation placed duties on local authorities to intervene at earlier stages to prevent

homelessness in their areas. It also requires housing authorities to provide homelessness services

to all those affected.

Perhaps even more concerning than the findings of the council are the government statistics of

homeless children is Hertfordshire, published in March of this year. Government figures show that

at the end of March this year, 1,761 children in Hertfordshire were staying in temporary

accommodation. This is a rise of 261 from the figures published in March of 2023. Some areas of

Hertfordshire were worse than others, with the numbers of children more than doubling in Watford

in the last year. Regardless, the figures clearly indicate that homelessness is worsening in the

county. Out of the 117,450 homeless households living in temporary accommodation across

England, 1306 of those are in Hertfordshire - a total of just over 1.1%.

At First People Housing, we have seen an increase in demand for our services. We currently offer

48 beds across nine properties in Hertfordshire, however we will be expanding our services in the

near future, aiming to offer 50 more beds across Hertfordshire.

As previously mentioned, Hertfordshire is not typically a place that many would presume a crisis

of rough sleeping and homelessness would take place. Despite this, there is an increasing need

for social housing, children are increasingly at risk of homelessness and numbers of homeless

households are rising. Hertfordshire accounts for over 1% of homeless households across the

country.

The issue of homelessness and rough sleeping is gaining media attention and there has been

acknowledgement from the highest levels of government that action needs to be swift and

purposeful. We will see how the issues has developed at key milestones of the government

tenure. In our blogs, we will continue to shed light on the issues we aim to eradicate, both on a

national and local level.