Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) Follow Up

Report

Covering Period 16.04.2012 – 29.04.2012

Introduction.

Julian House produced a short report of service users who accessed the day centre and night

shelter during the cold weather, when Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) was

initiated. The report highlighted the high numbers of service users who accessed services at

Julian House in addition to crisis Night Shelter accommodation. Some explanation was

given as to the reasons for 101 people access the services during this two week period.

Following on the original report, Julian House monitored the use of both the Day Centre and

Night Shelter over a two week period (16.04.2012 – 29.04.2012) to compare with the SWEP

period to highlight any trends and to research the impact on numbers when the service

returned to regular provision.

Night Shelter

During SWEP, the 21 beds at the shelter were augmented by additional beds (4) at the YMCA and by

the use of office space. Since SWEP, Julian House has begun to roll out the “two tier” approach to

Night Shelter provision, as described in the Homeless Transition Fund (HTF) bid and strategically

agreed by B&NES Homelessness Partnership. An additional 4 tier two beds have been established at

Corn Street, making a total of 25 Night Shelter bed spaces. A further 5 beds will be added to this

arrangement in the next month. Part of the reason for developing tier two accommodation at this

point is that for four months between the end of June and October, the Night Shelter itself will be

closed and a temporary facility established in Manvers Street Baptist church Hall whilst major

refurbishment takes place at Julian House.

Number of clients who accessed the night shelter during SWEP : 46

Number of clients who accessed the night shelter during second recording period: 35

Only 15 clients accessed the night shelter during both periods, highlighting constantly

changing client base.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

16thApril

17thApril

18thApril

19thApril

20thApril

21stApril

22ndApril

23rdApril

24thApril

25thApril

26thApril

27thApril

28thApril

29thApril

TotalMenFemale

Nightly Stays 16.04.2012 - 29.04.2012

Local Connection of Night Shelter Users

Trend:

Julian House follows B&NES Local Connection Policy and guidelines to establish the area

where a client can access full service provision and where their support network would be

strongest. It offers up to 28 days of service provision while it works to reconnect a client to

their local area, ensuring that a client has suitable accommodation options to return to. This

can prove problematic due to the lack of housing options in the receiving area. The policy

24

3 1

1 1

8

1

2 1

3 1 BANES

Bristol

Exeter

Gloucester

Hertfordshire

Transcient

London

Mendip

Stroud

Wilts

Preston

19

1 1

1

1

1

1

2

1

1

1

1 1

1 2

BANES

France

Swansea

Gwynedd

Mid Devon

Preston

Stroud

Swindon

Cambridge

Oxford

Cheltenham

Torbay

Bristol

Wiltshire

Transcient

Local Connection of Night Shleter Users 16/04/12 - 29/04/12

SWEP

acknowledges that some people have no local connection and allows clients to establish

B&NES as their local area, thereby giving the client the opportunity to settle and move away

from homelessness and the risks it presents.

Both graphs show that over 50% of users of the night shelter have a local connection to

B&NES. The second highest group in both periods were people who were assessed as being

transient with no clearly established local connection anywhere.

Age Range

During SWEP

16th April – 29th April 2012

There is a high degree of correlation in the ages profiles of clients who stayed in the night shelter

during the two different periods. The report reflects the national statistics of older clients accessing

services now or being the largest percentage in the near future. Julian House has recognised the

needs presented by an aging population and now provides seven supported accommodation units

for the over 50’s, managed by the Supported Housing Team. 85% of these spaces are filled by clients

who have previously stayed in the Night Shelter.

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

16-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60 60-70

1

3

5

4

8

7

9

5

2 2

AGE RANGE

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

16-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 55-60

Gender.

Julian House provides a total of 25 beds spaces at present (21 in the Night Shelter and 4 at Corn

Street). At present three of these beds are female only spaces.

During SWEP

16th April – 29th April 2012

Women are at present under represented in the Night Shelter for a variety of different reasons. We

hope that the refurbishment will make the option of staying at Julian House more acceptable for

women through the increased levels of privacy given by the individual pods, four of which will be in a

women’s only section with separate washing facilities. Should the need arise Julian House will

designate one of the Corn Street houses as women only accommodation. Our commitment within

the HTF bid was that “no woman will need to spend a night on the streets in B&NES”. The flexibility

offered by the single rooms at Julian House and the reconfiguration of services means that we are

confident that we can achieve this aim.

41

5

MaleFemale

Gender Split

30

5

Male

Female

Consistency of Bed Usage by Client

During SWEP

16th April – 29th April 2012

Julian House aims to increase the nightly usage of the Night Shelter by clients who have a history of

intermittently staying in the project. 28% of clients using the Night Shelter during the second

reporting period stayed each night compared to 19% during SWEP. We expect that the

refurbishment of Julian House will further address the issue of intermittent and interrupted usage of

crisis accommodation. Research and feedback from clients indicated that the dormitory element of

the Night Shelter was one of the primary reasons why clients did not access and usage was not

consistently sustained. The dormitory is being replaced by separate rooms (pods). The day and night

teams are working hard on “targeting” intermittent stayers and looking at flexible approaches to

encourage, tempt or cajole clients into staying on a more regular basis. Successes included an

entrenched rough sleeper who used the day services but refused to access the Night Shelter. Three

weeks before SWEP was put into place the staff persuaded him to “pop into” the Night Shelter for a

hot drink or to dry his clothes. He was then encouraged to eat a meal and eventually to stay the

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

9

7

1 1 1 1

2 2

4

2

0

5

4

7

Number of Clients

Number of Nights Stayed

0

2

4

6

8

10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

1 2

3 2

5

2

0

2 2 2 1

3

0

10

Number of nights stayed

night. Following a period of regular night stays (including during the SWEP period) his engagement

improved to the point of being accepted into Barnabas House. He moved in last week.

Primary Presenting Issue

Julian House remit is to provide temporary /crisis accommodation to meet the needs of single

homeless people. To understand the reasons for the individual homelessness, each client is assessed

to find the underlying factors which have led them to access the services of Julian House. The graph

beneath records the primary issue that has led to homelessness but it is understood that many

clients have complex or multiple needs.

During SWEP

16th April – 29th April 2012

The comparison of data shown in the two graphs reflects the changing nature of users of the Night

Shelter. Tracking back through records shows no discernible trends in primary needs over the years.

It highlights the need to have a knowledgeable and flexible staff team who can respond to the wide

range of issues faced by clients. More clients are able to access rapid treatment from the drugs

service and can be prescribed quickly. Unfortunately, clients with alcohol issues have to wait longer

for assessments and have more limited treatment options.

Day Centre 16th April – 29th April 2012

Introduction

The implementation of SWEP in January 2012 led to the Day Centre being open for extended hours

allowing Julian House services to remain open for 24 hours a day. It also gave the organisation an

opportunity to carry out a comprehensive analysis of visitors to the day centre. The severe weather

encouraged a wide range of clients into the project, some of whom had limited previous

involvement with the service. Given the extreme circumstances surrounding the previous report,

Julian House repeated the analysis of clients accessing the Day Centre, to give a reflection of a more

typical usage period.

SWEP ran for 14 days. This report covers an equivalent two week period but without the additional

opening hours and with only 12 day centre sessions,(no Day Centre on Sundays).

Local Connection

16th April – April 29th 2012

41

1 1 1 1 1 1 2

1 1

1 1

1 1

1 1

2

20

1

4 3

BANES

Bristol

Cambridge

Cheltenham

France

Gloucester

Manchester

Mendip

Mid Devon

North Wales

Oxford

Portsmouth

Preston

Stroud

Sunderland

Swansea

Swindon

Transient

Torbay

Unknown

Wiltshire

Presenting Issue

Gender Split of day centre users 16th April – 29th April 2012

Age

0 5 10 15 20 25

Alcohol

Alcohol / Drugs

Benefits

Care Leaver

Domestic Abuse

Drugs

Drugs / MH

Relationship Breakdown

Gambling

Mental Health

MH/Alcohol

Physical Health

Prison Leaver

Rough Sleeper

Traveller

Unknown

15

72

Female

Male

0

5

10

15

20

25

Reason for Accessing Day Centre

Boat Dweller: It is unusual to only have one boat dweller access the Day Centre. We are aware of

the difficulties this community faces in accessing some of the services in Bath and their difficulty in

“proving their address” and claiming appropriate benefits. Some rough sleepers have bought very

cheap boats that are static due to the lack of engines and are barely habitable. Most lack basic

facilities such as toilets. Clients who are living on boats have stressed that despite the difficulties

they face, living on a boat, amongst an accepting and tolerant community is preferable to rough

sleeping on the streets of Bath. A number of our staff live within the boat community and are

establishing closer links with both the Canal Trust and British Waterways.

Crisis: Day Centres are often a magnet to people in crisis, offering the opportunity to address their

basic needs such as food and showers, with limited hurdles put in the way of accessing the service.

Julian House accesses each individual and then call in appropriate services (including mental health,

social services and the police).

Medical: The Homeless HealthCare Team (HHT) provides a surgery in the day centre. A nurse is

present five days a week, with a GP providing support on three days. The HHT also provide

methadone scripting and drug counselling for up to 20 clients.

Post Restante: Julian House has provided this service for twenty years. The service is used by

vulnerably housed clients and those without a safe mailing address. Members of the travelling

community are some of the most regular users of this service due to the transient nature of their

lives and the insecurity of having mail delivered to sites.

Rough Sleepers: This client group uses the Day Centre to address their basic needs, collect post,

access the medical service, use the laundry facilities and occasionally to store their belongings (space

permitting). Reach floating support service provides a drop in service on Tuesday mornings between

10 -12 am. At other times Julian House staff provide crisis intervention, prior to referring on to Reach

and continue to offer and manage a day to day service for this client group.

Site Dwellers: There are at least three different sites in Bath and the surrounding area. The numbers

of site dwellers can fluctuate greatly. The majority of this client group state that they are new age

travellers rather than members of the ethnic traveller community (including Romani and Irish

travellers). Travellers from two of the sites use their vehicles for accommodation while the third site

(Hampton Row) is tent or bender based. Living on site has also been seen as preferable to living

rough on the streets of Bath to a number of service users and Julian house in partnership with other

agencies has been successful in moving clients off site and into supported housing. Two recent

clients are successfully addressing addiction and mental health issues while living in the more stable

environment offered by Barnabas House.

Service User Volunteers: Julian House actively encourages service users to help out in the project

while they are staying here. Once they have successfully settled in their move on accommodation,

they are offered the opportunity to volunteer at Julian House or other projects across the city.

Daily Usage Of Day Centre

References

B&NES Re-connection Policy & Procedure – published 2010 (Reviewed 2011)

No Second Night Out – DCLG 2011

Inequalities Experienced by Gypsy and Traveller Communities 2009 – Equality and Human

Rights Commission.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45Daily Day Centre Usage