QSA shines spotlight on homelessness
QSA aims to identify areas of unmet need within the field of homelessness response, provision and prevention.
Quaker Social Action (QSA) has said that it plans to resume the mobile library run by Quaker Homeless Action (QHA) this year, when it is safe to do so.
The news was shared in a report into homelessness, which QSA undertook last year.
The study, Homelessness – unmet needs in a time of crisis, also says that QSA will facilitate ‘a regular online forum’ to help Quakers plan their own response to homelessness. The first was on 17 March.
The charity undertook the research from August to December 2020 in preparation for its merger with QHA in December. It aims to identify areas of unmet need within the field of homelessness response, provision and prevention. QSA said it was particularly keen to understand what had changed due to lockdown and Covid-19.
According to the research, there have been reports of an increase in ‘illegal evictions’, particularly with those less likely to know their rights.
Despite the government enforcing ‘eviction bans’, they have not protected certain vulnerable groups. The report notes that both the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme do not include vulnerable people such as those on zero-hours contracts.
There have been ‘a number of stories of success’, it says, due to ‘The ‘Everyone In’ initiative, a ‘bold and innovative move’ which demonstrated ‘a shift in the government approaching homelessness as a public health issue during the first lockdown’.
The initiative involved funding given to councils with the aim of housing every rough sleeper in emergency accommodation, including hotels where necessary.
‘However, the initiative was not without its issues’, says the report, ‘many of which centred on a lack of clarity to local government about whether they could and should be using the funding to help those with No Recourse to Public Funds.’
According to the report, the pandemic has also affected how the homelessness sector delivers its services, with some stopping and others going online.
