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Finding the Way Home

Finding the Way Home “ Theo,uteayonoaraogrherchtniley s redttuaerdithery ’sot Views on iheg rovisiooiof g en-ended or ongoing supporttroppusponngnopntdivorPnelpnmosstnspjaalhutoawseth,uesasoerpwperplaierlptlotecpildkrsobwa decides to progress themselves, but there is so which is a core element of the housing-led approach also much dictatorship going on, and if the client tended to be uniform. Both people who were homeless and makes a mistake and guess what people make service providers thought that ongoing support was a good idea because it countered the risk of recurrent homelessness mistakes, then that’s it ‘goodbye’, that kind of among people who had settled and were living independently, dictatorial approach does not work with people and who had seen their support withdrawn only to then who have come through homelessness, or even experience a crisis with no-one to turn to. with any of us in the room, that type of approach. “ enough to keep you off the street, knowing that Service provider. Just knowing you can make that phone call is These views corresponded closely with the existing support is there, knowing that if I do have a slip international evidence base on homelessness services for or whatever, have a bad situation and drink, people with problematic drug and alcohol use. A number of knowing there is someone there you can phone longitudinal experimental (control group) and quasi- and there is some help, that alone can be an experimental (comparison group) studies in North America incentive. have shown low or very low rates of success in tackling Male, long term rough sleeper, aged 51. homelessness by services that insist on abstinence from people who were homeless. Higher rates of success in resettling and sustainably housing people are achieved by Service providers were not opposed to the idea of ongoing services following a harm reduction approach, quite often support in principle and generally supported this as an accompanied by reductions and stabilisation in drug and approach, but this was an area where they thought there alcohol use, although total cessation of drug and alcohol use is would be practical difficulties around resourcing. Ongoing not always achieved79. support from a service provider perspective was desirable, but also seen as costly. The issue of resources in the delivery of housing-led services is discussed in detail in the next chapter. 79 Pleace, N. (2008) op cit and see Chapter 2. 20


Finding the Way Home
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