Theory

Foreword

By Dominic Williamson, Homeless Link's Director of Policy, Practice and Campaigns

A lot has happened since Andrew van Doorn and I wrote the Emergency Accommodation for Homeless People Good Practice Companion. For a start, we have learnt to use snappier language; I hope the Hostels Handbook does what is says on the tin. Along the way, I’ve spent three years as a hostel manager, putting what we identified as good practice into actual practice. It is gratifying to see that the Companion has stood the test of time and that many of the ideas that were quite groundbreaking at the time have now become part of the mainstream.

Of course, we haven’t just put the same content up on the online version and left it at that. We have reorganised the content so that it works as a website, with clear, themed sections, and updated much of the theory. When I was a hostel manager, I would photocopy sections of the Companion and give it to hostel workers to encourage them to think about positive ways of working with people. As an online resource, we hope the Handbook will be an accessible and always-there resource for managers and frontline workers.

The prevention agenda has been a major focus of central government in recent years. For hostels, it presents challenges at both ends of what we have called “the journey”, to ensure that the journey does not become a circular one into repeat homelessness. When considering whether to admit someone, hostels should consider whether their homelessness might instead be prevented, including calling on the resources of local authorities. And at the end of “the journey”, it is vital to ensure that resettlement is a success; our separate handbook on “resettlement and move-on” covers this area comprehensively.

The prevention agenda also feeds into the “Places of Change” agenda, perhaps the major change in the theory and practice of hostels in the past few years. Hostels are now expected to offer meaningful occupation and positive activities to help homeless people, many of whom have complex needs that have resulted in or from their homelessness, to make the changes necessary to move on with their lives.

This new handbook exemplifies what Homeless Link is all about. It is often our member agencies who spontaneously develop new ways of working that subsequently turn into good practice. I hope that this will continue and that the good practice in the handbook will continue to develop and grow.