Brighton Housing Trust boss: prevention is key to ending homelessness

Chief executive of Brighton Housing Trust (BHT) Andy Winter has described begging and drugs as “the elephant in the room” and said a “great opportunity” was missed during the first lockdown to address these problems.

He said: “Many of the people who didn’t take up the opportunity to move into accommodation were often those with addictions.

“They had a miserable time as begging returns went right down and they continued with the awful existence of being sick and tired due to their addictions.

“Those remaining on the streets should have been told that begging is no longer an option and this should have been enforced.

“Unless we actively challenge begging we won’t effectively address addictions, and without addressing addictions, we won’t end rough sleeping.

Andy Winter, chief executive of Brighton Housing Trust

“And unless the government and councils invest in abstinence-based residential rehab services, we will see increases in rough sleeping and deaths on the street.”

Mr Winter was speaking at the National Housing Federation’s Smaller Housing Associations annual conference, which was held online last week.

He said that while Brighton and Hove City Council did well to accommodate people during the first lockdown, a different approach is needed to end homelessness in the city.

Mr Winter said: “We need the government and local councils to invest in real prevention such as advice and information services and we need effective support services so that we can help people keep their homes.

"Ultimately, though, we need public investment in social homes, including council housing.

"If there aren’t the houses with rents that people can afford, the housing and homelessness crisis will continue and grow.”

According to councillor David Gibson, joint chairman of the council’s housing committee, there are more than 9,000 individuals and families on the housing waiting list and and more than 2,000 households currently in emergency and temporary accommodation.

He said: “Early intervention including support and advice to ensure we keep people in their homes and prevent people becoming homeless is always at the top of our agenda.

"This includes working with tenants and landlords to resolve disputes or breakdowns in these relationships.

“We have also invited private landlords to contact us early if they are considering evicting a tenant to see if we can assist with resolving matters so the tenant can retain their home. Now that the moratorium on evictions is passed we are keen to engage with landlords to avoid a surge in evictions.

"Our new Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy brings together two current strands of work, which includes working with other groups in the city to prevent alcohol and drug misuse.

“We are also investing money to provide 1,500 more homes which include delivering 800 additional council homes alongside 700 other new low cost homes over the next four years.”