This article asks what the resettlement process is and is trying to achieve.
This Handbook sees resettlement as a process with a start and a finish and as a discrete area of work separate from generalist hostel work, from counselling, keyworking, from outreach and from long-term tenancy support work. It does link in with these areas of work but needs to be understood as separate from them. We could say that resettlement support is where the client is still on the learning curve. At the point at which this levels out, and is just maintenance support it becomes housing, or tenancy support.
These distinctions are by no means crystal clear in all services. The original handbook noted three recent definitions, all of which remain relevant:
This report takes the view that resettlement work should be done by a designated specialist resettement worker.
To seek to empower the client and facilitate long-term solutions to their needs around rehousing.
To identify the best available options for the client's rehousing.
To make best use of the often scarce housing resources available, as fairly as possible, and without discrimination to those who will make best use of them.
To ensure that clients nominated or referred to other organisations are suitable for those organisations.
To seek to equip clients, either through training and advice given by the resettlement service or by referral to appropriate agencies, with skills and knowledge in the following areas:
- Welfare benefits - seeking to maximise the client's income.
- Training and employment/career options.
- Tenancy rights and responsibilities.
- Cooking/domestic/home maintenance skills - if these are sought.
- Social skills/networking.
- Budgeting skills.
To recognise that some clients have needs other than a home.
and that some have no need other than a home.
To recognise that accommodation will only be sustainable where the client Is able to function in the community.
To promote positive relationships that overcome isolation and encourage Interaction with the wider world.
See also the section on the skills needed by resettlement workers
This handbook defines move on as “a positive, planned move from a hostel or temporary supported accommodation, utilising one of a whole range of housing options as appropriate for the client.”
It differs from resettlement in that the move may be to any form of accommodation appropriate for the client at that point in time, not just long-term housing solutions.
However, most aspects of the resettlement process outlined in this handbook will be relevant in supporting clients, regardless of the accommodation type to which they are moving.
This section focuses on how homelessness providers, working in partnership with local authorities and other relevant stakeholders, can find appropriate accommodation to enable their clients to move on.
It covers the following areas:
The information contained in this section is drawn from the Move On Plans Protocol (MOPP) pilot recently delivered by Homeless Link with funding from Communities and Local Government.
A toolkit to support local authorities and homelessness providers in addressing move on issues through implementation of the Move On Plans Protocol (MOPP) will shortly be available on the MOPP pages of our website.
This section is taken from Mike Seal's 'Resettling Homeless People", Russell House Publishing 2005". It explores an aspect of resettlement work that is the need for change and levels of change.
The central tenet of resettlement work is that it is possible to intervene usefully in situations where homelessness is the result of something more than difficulties in accessing accommodation.
Making the right decisions about how and where to live is fundamental to an individuals chance of succeeding in their aims (Dane 1998) A repeated cycle of accommodation breakdown can often be the result of a poor evaluation of options and unrealistic expectations given the choices. The development of decision making skills can lead to lasting solutions that are arrived at by the individuals themselves (Millner and Rollnick 1991)
The way we feel about ourselves, other people and the place that we live, plays a large part in our ability to sustain any given lifestyle. (Rowe 1999) Negative emotions, whether the result of a bad experience in our past, or of coping with the present, can lead to people repeatedly giving up their attempts to change accommodation at a similar point, even if they made an appropriate decision. Moving home is considered to be in the top 20 stressful events (Holmes and Rahe 1967) Enabling people to be aware of and cope with their feelings can take away the blockage and help them to proceed.
Changing accommodation often requires the adaptation of old skills and the need to learn new ones. Competence or adequate support in these things is essential for someone coping in their new environment. There are also practical changes that need to occur., often external to the individual such as the acquisition of furniture, the connection of amenities., etc.
Resettlement practitioners have to work with a number of tensions and dilemmas and some of these feature in the Handbook. How to balance up the principle of client-centred working with the working practices of Your organisation? How to encourage and motivate your client while facing the realities of severe housing shortage and the prospect of long waiting lists? Where are the boundaries between Outreach, housing support and resettlement? When does the resettlement process begin - when the client moves into a hostel, after a few months in a hostel? What can you do when a client needs some sort of Ongoing support after resettlement, support that isn't available in your area? There are no simple answers and each service will need to address these difficulties in its own way.
The housing situation is different around the country, and we want to point out very clearly that lack of local move-on resources may affect the range of opportunities that the resettlement worker can access. Having said that, it is certainly part of the resettlement role to ensure that new resources are identified and made available whenever possible.
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