The End of Emergency Night Shelter Provision.

A recent Upper Tribunal decision http://www.osscsc.gov.uk/Aspx/view.aspx?id=3706
is having some very nasty cosequences for the homeless, and you might have thought would impact the governemnts drive to ensure No Second Night Out priciples are applied through out the country.

It seems to me that it might also put at risk the continuance of some sheltered hostels.

The decision was whether Housing benefit could be paid on a nightly basis to a Night Shelter providing emergency homelessness provision. It hinged on wether the Homeless Person was occupying a dwelling for HB purposes.

The Judge concluded…..

“In my judgment, a person who is allowed to stay overnight (for a charge) at a night shelter but is not allowed to remain there during the day and so has to leave in the morning taking all his belongings with him, and has no right to stay in any part of the night shelter or indeed right generally to stay there (in the sense that if he turns up late and the shelter is full he will be turned away), is not occupying a dwelling as his home.”  so in effect was not entitled to HB…...

Now clearly these arrangemnts might seem a little odd to those NOT working in the homelessness field, but in fact afe fairly typical across the country, a night shelter worker out of hours (night time only cover) is confronted by a difficult situation, the police arrive with someone just released from the cells, a destite woman approaches in distress, the hospital has discharged from A and E as the patient does not require medical attention. 

What are they to do? In practice they will allow the customer to stay one night pending a proper assessment….There lies the problem. They will no longer be paid…

I worked with homeless teenagers in the 1980’s after being homeless myself on several occasions in the past so I retain a keen interest in this area.  I wasn’t surprised at the outcome in this case as the current law stands.  However, it’s far from satisfactory.  The only way forward I can see would be for homelessness charities and groups to lobby for an amendment to the regs to include a specific exemption for night shelters from the usually occupying criteria.

My guess is that in practice, this will simply move the homeless back to the hospital wards, the cells, the car parks and the squats. (Yes I know, it is now a criminal offence…...but criminalising an activity will not stop it, unless there is a viable alternative)