Temporary Housing: The pilot journey begins
Introduction
There are over 100 families in Fife in temporary accommodation and due to the housing crisis families can often find themselves in this accommodation for extended periods of time. Last year Shelter Scotland published research that amplified the voice of children and young people who had experienced temporary accommodation, and it highlighted many opportunities for improvement for families.
The Team Around the Home project has been created to engage with families in temporary accommodation in the Cowdenbeath area and work collaboratively with our colleagues in Housing to identify opportunities to improve this experience, provide a whole family approach and better understand this journey from the perspective of families.
Listening & Learning
As the Project Coordinator for this piece of work I have spent the first month or so building my knowledge, relationships and developing a better understanding of the system. There is A LOT! A lot of different issues families are facing, a lot of housing roles to understand, a lot of people experiencing homelessness and a lot of people who want to make change happen. I have met with some families, Fife Council temporary housing team and Shelter Scotland to learn how we can work together and what each of us can do in this project.
Through these conversations I have begun to understand the scale of the challenge, but I feel hopeful when I engage with professionals at the willingness to make change happen. I look forward to building strong relationships with the temporary housing officers and learning about their roles and the challenges they face alongside the issues we encounter. I also met with the community navigators from Turning Point Scotland who are working with Fife council on another pilot project focusing on preventing homelessness and hope to continue sharing our findings.
I engaged with 56 people to ask them to describe what home meant to them, and the top three words were safe, comfort, and love. These are not just words; they are a feeling that is perhaps not tangible but is important for all of us. The words will shape the project.
My Reflections
This first month has been a whirlwind, such a lot to take in and think about. It’s really exciting to be part of a systems change project where our desire is to influence policy & practice in a shared and solutions-focused way. This month has highlighted how much I need to learn in order to understand our current housing system.
What’s next?
My best hopes for this project are to learn through action, by supporting families in temporary accommodation we hope to improve the experiences for those households and identify improvement opportunities within the system through partnership, listening and good practice.
This is a test & demonstration project so gathering data is critical to evidencing learning, impact, and measuring success. Fife Gingerbread have utilised Outcome Star as a collaborative tool to work with families, understand the challenges they face, celebrate the strengths in households and identify what is important to the family. I have identified that Home Star and My Star will provide effective measurement with families. You can read more about the outcome stars here Meet the Stars - Outcomes Star .
In addition to the test & demonstration with families in Fife, we are looking forward to working with Shelter Scotland to bring together like-minded organisations that support households experiencing challenges with their housing. Working together to understand what the issues are, thinking about how we can change our approach, and what collective action might look like. Shelter Scotland will co-facilitate four sessions, and we will be reaching out to 6-8 organisations in Fife to develop a joined up approach with the voice of children & young people at the heart.
Initial Thoughts
Temporary housing is a complex and challenging area of housing within an even wider housing system. I need to continue learning the organisational structure within Fife Council.
It is important I look at how I am recording data on processes and experiences to support measurement of my role and evidence any suggested changes.
I will continue looking at how my role fits in with whole systems approach and the no wrong door system that.
Going forward I need to ensure I record the voices of the children clearly.
Hopeful this project can gather meaningful information and support ongoing improvements.
I would love to hear any suggestions, thoughts, or experiences you have that would relate to this project. Please get in touch katy.omond@fifegingerbread.org.uk