Two former Newcastle Labour councillors have called for the Lib Dem administration in Newcastle to build on the internationally recognised approach to preventing homelessness developed under the previous Labour administration, as Newcastle faces growing pressure on temporary accommodation.
In 2020, Newcastle was awarded the World Habitat Gold Award for its groundbreaking approach to homelessness prevention, one of only two projects in the world to receive the Gold Award that year.
The award recognised Newcastle’s Active Inclusion approach, which brought the council together with more than 100 organisations across the city to identify people at risk of homelessness and intervene before they reached crisis point.
Between 2014 and 2020, the partnership prevented more than 24,000 households from becoming homeless, giving Newcastle the highest proportionate homelessness-prevention rate among England’s core cities.
The difference this approach made was particularly stark when looking at children and families placed in temporary accommodation.
While Newcastle maintained the number of children living in temporary accommodation at around 100, figures elsewhere ran into the thousands, with more than 10,000 children in Birmingham and more than 4,000 in Manchester.
Those figures demonstrate why preventing homelessness before families reach crisis point matters. Keeping families in secure homes not only spared children the disruption and misery associated with homelessness and temporary accommodation, but also avoided the substantial cost of providing emergency accommodation.
These achievements came despite a decade of Conservative and Lib Dem austerity which severely reduced Newcastle City Council’s resources.
orld Habitat noted that the city’s municipal budget had been reduced by almost a third, while the judges specifically praised the political commitment and leadership behind Newcastle’s approach.
Joyce McCarty, former Labour Deputy Leader of Newcastle City Council, said:
“At a time when other major cities had thousands of children living in temporary accommodation, Newcastle kept that number remarkably low. That meant children and families were spared the misery and disruption of homelessness, while millions of pounds that could otherwise have been spent dealing with crisis were saved.
“We achieved that despite enormous cuts to council funding from the Tory and Lib Dems in Government because there was strong political leadership and a determination across the council and our partners to work together.
“Building more council and affordable homes is absolutely essential, and we welcome the Labour Government’s commitment to increasing housebuilding. But those homes will take time to build. In the meantime, Newcastle should be drawing on the lessons from an approach that was recognised internationally as one of the best examples of homelessness prevention.”
At the time the award was gained, Linda Hobson was Newcastle City Council’s Labour Cabinet Member for Housing.
Linda said:
“The World Habitat Gold Award was recognition of years of hard work by council staff, housing teams, voluntary organisations and partners right across Newcastle.
“What made our approach different was recognising that homelessness is rarely just about housing. Debt, low incomes, welfare changes, employment, health and family circumstances can all push somebody towards crisis. That is why bringing services together and intervening early was so important.
“The results spoke for themselves. We should be proud of what we achieved and make sure those lessons continue to inform those in power now how the city responds to homelessness today.”
The approach was not simply recognised within the UK, following the award, Newcastle’s work was shared internationally, including through presentations at the United Nations and the European Homelessness Conference.
Newcastle has shown before that homelessness is not something councils simply have to manage after it happens. With political leadership, effective partnerships and early intervention, it can be prevented and we hope the new administration in Newcastle will learn from our previous success.