Approximately 900,000 children live in overcrowded accommodation in the UK, according to the housing charity Shelter.
The effects of this poor housing on their health and emotional development can be enormous. Children in temporary accommodation have high levels of depression and bedwetting, are more prone to asthma and tuberculosis and are more likely to end up in hospital with burns and scalds. Many report bullying because they are unable to invite friends to their home, which can damage their ability to form relationships.
Shelter's report Generation Squalor, published last year, recommends that social services and children's agencies work more closely together with housing departments. But, despite the Children Act 2004 encouraging services to work together, there is no duty on providers to work as a team.
However, local authorities across the country are taking the onus upon themselves to join forces with other organisations to try to ensure that the needs of children are receiving top priority.
One of these is Sheffield City Council. Representatives from areas such as health, education and social services make up a homeless families multi-agency group whose aim is to look at the needs of families who are either homeless or in temporary accommodation.
With money from the Homelessness Innovation Fund, they employ a school nurse, a playworker and an education and learning mentor for children living in temporary accommodation. Following a discovery by the nurse that a large number of children were missing school, a system was set up to ensure that all children in temporary accommodation are referred to the nurse.
Moving in
A similar system was set up at the Shelter Families Project in Edinburgh.
Here both a children's worker and an adult worker are employed to look after the needs of children and their parents.
The project aims to reduce repeat homelessness of families by providing support for approximately six months after a tenancy is secured. Project manager Linda Dickson explains, 'We help families who have presented themselves as homeless to the housing department, and who have become unintentionally homeless. Previously, tenants were simply given the keys and left to get on with things. Often the state of the tenancies was awful, with wallpaper hanging off the walls.'
As well as helping with painting and decorating, and providing furniture and 'white goods' like refrigerators, the project helps families with other concerns that may have arisen. Ms Dickson says, 'The children's worker and adult worker look at issues which might have come up from being homeless.
Once the practical issues have been dealt with, the emotional issues come to the fore, and we need to ensure that people are helped to move on and that they have the strength to maintain things once we have gone.'
The team links with other agencies and is constantly in touch with housing, social work and health visitors so that everyone knows what is going on. Ms Dickson says, 'We all attend core group meetings where various professionals involved in the family discuss requirements and are kept up to date. We are continually ensuring that communication is kept up and that everyone is aware of their responsibilities.'
Play support
Other projects help ensure that children living in temporary accommodation are given something to focus on. One such project is the play support scheme run by the New Charter Housing Trust Group in the Tameside area of Manchester.
Steve Moss, who runs the play scheme, says, 'When the Children's Fund was launched, we put in a joint bid with Tameside Library Services for funding for a play support scheme for five- to 12-year-olds. The key objective is to get the children reading and going to the library, with a wide range of other activities available on site.'
The service is provided at vital times - for a couple of hours after school, at the weekends and during the school holidays. Up to 35 children are involved at any one time.
Much praise has been given to the scheme. The National Children's Fund has described it as a positive way of using its funds, and in 2005 it reached the final of the UK Housing Award run by the Chartered Institute of Housing.
Elsewhere in Tameside, Hazel Clarke is a young parents support worker with the Tameside Teenage Pregnancy Strategy Board. She works with parents under the age of 25, particularly those under 18.
Ms Clarke explains, 'Working with up to 14 clients at a time, I make sure that their housing application is going through okay and that they receive support. From the housing department's point of view, having an outside agency involved gives them more confidence that the rent will be paid, and that problems won't occur with gas or electricity payments.'
The project prevents young parents from going into temporary accommodation or becoming homeless. Often it is the boyfriend's name on the rent book, as the mother may be under 16.
The project helps give young parents confidence. 'Simply having a home to call their own brings about a positive change in them. They are more keen to better themselves, to get more qualifications, and to go for better jobs, making a better life for them and their children,' says Ms Clarke.
She is convinced of the importance of working with other agencies. 'We work in partnership with Tameside Council and with several other groups - Connexions, local housing associations and Tameside Youth Service. We work closely with the aim of preventing homelessness, and hold regular meetings to ensure we are all working towards the same outcome.'
CASE STUDY: THE MULTI-AGENCY APPROACH
Teresa Hunt, senior housing needs officer in homelessness prevention in Torbay, Devon, credits the area's success in preventing evictions and repossessions to multi-agency working.
Teresa works with various agencies, including social services, mental health, probation, and the Citizens' Advice Bureau. She is in regular contact with the local housing trusts, which greatly benefits tenants who are in danger of being evicted.
'The Housing Trust will e-mail me when preparing an eviction case for court,' says Teresa. 'This then allows me to contact the tenant and advise them to do something, or else they will be deemed as having made themselves intentionally homeless. The positive results achieved are amazing.'
For disputes over housing benefits, Teresa has ensured that communication between her office and housing benefit is smooth. 'For the past 18 months we have had a housing benefits officer based in our office. Previous to that, it was often difficult to make contact, but now all I have to do is walk across the office. I can find out if anything is holding up an application, and advise the tenant if anything else is required.'
If the problem does go to court, Teresa still doesn't give up. 'In 2003 we managed to set up a system whereby all eviction and repossession hearings are heard on every second Tuesday morning, so that I can attend. I have right of audience with the district judge. Prior to this I will have spoken to the client and agreed action. I can challenge the time given by the mortgage company for a repossession, and can help negotiate an agreeable course of action. Although the judge has the final decision, he will usually go by my recommendation.'
Teresa says that early intervention is the key. 'There are all sorts of ways to prevent homeless if it is prevented from the start.'
At the heart of Torbay's attitude to multi-agency working is the Common Assessment Framework which it will shortly be piloting. This shifts the focus from dealing with the consequences of difficulties in children's lives, to preventing things from going wrong in the first place. Its aim is to improve multi-agency working and it has been developed for use by practitioners in all agencies so that they can communicate and work more effectively together.
Teresa is very optimistic that the Framework will be a good thing. 'If a problem is picked up we will call a multi-agency meeting to discuss and take action. Someone will be given the lead role to follow things up, and more importantly to ensure that a repeat of the Victoria Climbie case does not happen.'
