Shelter Scotland today (Tuesday) announced the closure of one of its most successful and oldest projects.

The Edinburgh Families Project has worked with 415 homeless families during its 10-year history, helping 810 children from those families deal with the trauma of homelessness.

This breakthrough service was the first of its kind in Scotland, delivering support specifically to meet the needs of families struggling to leave behind a history of homelessness.Its success was the driver behind three more Families Projects being set up in other parts of the country by housing and homelessness charity, Shelter Scotland (1). The projects recently received high grades in an independent inspection by the Scottish Care Commission.

In 96 per cent of cases, even the most vulnerable families were able to achieve lasting changes in their lives, transforming the life chances of children who were sometimes the third or even fourth generation of their family to become homeless.

The value-for-money model of the Shelter Families Project often shatters the ‘revolving door’ of homelessness, meaning a breakthrough for families caught in a cycle of homelessness, and a saving for local authorities having to house families whose tenancies have failed.Figures from the charity show the savings to local authority coffers thanks to the fourShelter Scotland projects totals around £2.1 million per year. (2)

The project offered intensive practical and emotional support to homeless families and families at risk of homelessness, for anything between three and 12 months, and was designed to help them cope with the uncertainty and upheaval of homelessness, ensuring they could avoid homelessness in the future.

Trained Support Workers were employed to help adults who are homeless deal with living in temporary accommodation and settle into permanent housing. But the project was also unique in offering separate support and advocacy for children and young people through working with Child Support Workers, qualified in art, drama or play therapy.

The Edinburgh Families Project started in 1998 after the City of Edinburgh Council identified a worryingly high number of families caught in a revolving door of repeated episodes of homelessness.At the same time, the Council was also concerned that little or no support was offered to new tenants and that as a result, months after moving in, families were failing in their tenancies and presenting as homeless again. A proposal was submitted to the City of Edinburgh Council and an agreement was set up to fund the project for a year. The first project began with a small team of four people in Edinburgh but its success meant the Families Project model was rolled out across Scotland, and – up until the closure of the Edinburgh service - employed over 40 paid workers, and over 40 volunteers.

The closure of the Edinburgh Families Project comes after Edinburgh City Council did not re-award Shelter Scotland the contract for providing homelessness support services in the Capital. The new tendering process has come about as a result of the new concordant with the Scottish Government.

Alison Watson, Head of Services at Shelter Scotland, who announced the closure of the project, said: "Since Edinburgh City Council’s decision to pull funding for this successful project, which supports some of the most vulnerable adults and children in Edinburgh and the Lothians, we’ve been desperately trying to find a lifeline to continue it and our support for these vulnerable families.”

“But this has proven impossible and this project, which was ironically started with the support of Edinburgh City Council, will now have to close. Our worry is that the repeat homelessness this project is so successful at breaking, will start to emerge again in the future.

“It is with a real sadness that I have to announce we’ve come to the end of the road and support for the families we had been working with will transfer to Edinburgh City Council’s new providers. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our staff at the project for their dedication and hard work over the years."

Malcolm Chisholm, Edinburgh MSP and former Communities Minister, said: “I was very sorry to hear that such a valuable and successful service has had to close. The Edinburgh Families Project has provided a tremendous service to those vulnerable adults and children who have unfortunately found themselves homeless over the last ten years.”  

Service user Lily *, aged 29, who was supported by the project when she found herself homeless after fleeing domestic violence, said: "Everyone at Edinburgh Families Project has been fantastic.”

Lily had been housed in a new rented property but her children were continuing to receive support from the project. This will now end. She said: “I’m so sad that the project is closing. I can hardly believe it. If it hadn’t been for Shelter, I’m not sure myself, or my four children would have made it through being homeless.”

Paula Robertson, Manager at Edinburgh Families Project, who has been with the project since shortly after it started, said: “I’m devastated the project is closing, not just for those families we are currently helping, but also for those whom we could have helped in the future.

“We know that the Shelter Families Project model works and it’s awful for a service that is proven to work to have to close. I’m also sad for all the staff that have given their all to help families through homelessness and I thank them for all their hard work.”

Staff from the project have either found new employment or will transfer over to the new providers where possible. People using the service will be helped by the new providers of housing support that have been appointed by the council.

The other three Families Projects in Glasgow, South Lanarkshire and Dumfries and Galloway, remain operational.

* Names have been changed.

Notes to Editors

1. Edinburgh Families Project is 10 years old this year (opened 1998). The service has worked with 415 families during that time (810 children). Glasgow Families Project is six years old (opened 2002). The service has helped 230 families during that time (526 children). South Lanarkshire Families Project is nine years old (opened 1989). The service has helped 351 families over the last five years (527 children). Dumfries and Galloway Families Project is two years old, during which time the service has helped 90 families (177 children). More information on our specialist services can be found here.
   

2. External research has indicated that high rates of tenancy failure (i.e. a homeless person being re-housed but reapplying as homeless again) are due, in part, to a lack of even the most basic tenancy support. Figures show local authority tenancy sustainment rates (over the first two years) of a new tenancy post-homelessness vary between 50 and 80 per cent (i.e. 20 to 50 per cent of people become homeless again). Shelter Scotland’s success rates are 96 per cent (over a five year period) i.e. only 4 per cent of people become homeless again.

Research by CRISIS in 2003 revealed that the cost to local authorities of a failed the region of £22,000. If we assess the above-mentioned external research on tenancy failures, in combination with the CRISIS research, we can show that by greatly reducing tenancy failure rates, Shelter’s Families Projects save the local authorities, whose areas they work in, at least £2.1 million a year by keeping people in their homes.