This is the second phase of a three-year project on the lives of homeless people living in what we describe as unsupported temporary accommodation – homeless households with limited access to local authority support, living in private short stay accommodation such as private hostels, guest houses, B&Bs and houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).
The practical and policy interventions in this report are structured around the four stages of a typical stay, with a view to providing support at each stage and break the cycle many people face as they move into, out of and back into unsupported temporary accommodation. We seek to repair the ‘control deficit’ that many tenants feel when they move into unsupported temporary accommodation, and also to build their experiences into a positive ‘feedback loop’ between tenants and local actors.
Rather than wait for the Westminster government to turn their attention to this problem, we propose local but system-wide changes designed to empower tenants to have more control over their own journey, and to have a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of the people who live in unsupported temporary accommodation.
