Homelessness and Social Housing Allocation Bill – Stage 4

I should have noted this last week, but the Bill went through its Stage 4 process (Welsh here) last week.  That means that the Bill has passed its stages in the Senedd.  There is now a four week wait to determine whether the Bill should be sent to the UK Supreme Court to determine whether it is within the competence of the Senedd; but, that should be no more than a formality.  There has been consent from the Westminster government, and the Presiding Officer has stated that the Bill does not relate to a protected subject-matter.

It’s worth watching the debate (it’s about 15mins).  Jane Bryant spoke passionately about the purposes of the Bill, and gave thanks to all who had participated in its formation, including her predecessor, her officials, and the Expert Panel led by Prof Suzanne Fitzpatrick.  She spoke, as did others, about the significance of the measure and the “monumental step forward” in this “world-leading step for Wales”.  All sides supported it, and recognised the multi-dimensional nature of homelessness, and the significance of the ask and act provisions.  One or two notes of dissent were registered.  For example, Sian Gwenllian noted disappointment that the Bill had not included Plaid’s amendment regarding the quality of temporary accommodation (the use of TA with a Category 1 HHSRS hazard).  The Conservatives were disappointed that veterans were not exempt from the local connection test (as in England), which, he said, were discriminatory.

We should also note that the Bill does not amend or deal with eligibility.

As Sian Gwenllian said, “Now it’s time to move from legislation to action”.  And that, really, is the point.  I don’t want to be the cynic in the room, or the one that seeks to undermine what we all regard as the fundamentally well-intentioned nature of the Bill (as opposed to the intentions of those who debated the original Bill in 1977 in Westminster), because this has been the most important and well-researched intervention in my lifetime after the 1977 Act.  It has been welcomed by all the charitable organisations (eg Llamau, the Wallich, Cymorth Cymru, and Shelter Cymru) which have had input into it (one of the reasons why I admire Welsh government so much).  Anything that I say or write is designed to push policy-makers to consider the robustness of their provisions, not to question their motivations.  My broad question now is whether the intentions and motivations of the outstanding teams that have put together this Bill will be met with the intended action which has those same motivations and intentions especially given that the Bill does not increase supply of temporary or other housing.  That will be an interesting research question.

In terms of the aspiration to end homelessness, there is an interesting and important article which came out this week (which includes Suzanne Fitzpatrick as author) in Housing Studies called: “What does it take to end homelessness? Tweaking or transforming systems”.  The argument is put as follows in the introduction:

We propose that ending homelessness – especially broader forms of homelessness beyond rough sleeping – requires transformation to fundamental domains of society, including housing and social welfare systems. In this way, ending homelessness must be seen as part of a larger and more fundamental conversation about values and what people deserve, on the one hand, and what responsibility we owe to fellow humans, on the other hand

They emphasise that homelessness is a social and structural challenge, and they have trenchant comments to make about the salience of randomized control trials (which tend to focus on micro interventions, rather than broader structural questions).  While efforts to end homelessness are noteworthy and can achieve good outcomes in reducing homelessness, they tend to be micro level and often when homelessness has occurred.  In their conclusion, the authors argue:

The urgent and more challenging question to answer is, what is required to transform societies to invest in and support greater supplies of affordable housing? … The task is now to develop an understanding of what incremental or radical change is required to realize this viable alternative elsewhere [other than Finland]. The framing of the role of housing as necessary to end homelessness, and what this means for society, is critical.

Anybody interested in this subject should read that paper.