Housing First Swansea, led by The Wallich, has become the fourth project in Wales to be awarded the Housing First Wales Accreditation. This achievement was announced by Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government, Jayne Bryant MS, during a recent visit to Swansea, and follows months of scrutiny to evaluate the project’s fidelity to the Housing First principles for Wales.
Jayne Bryant MS (Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government), Rob Stewart (Leader, Swansea Council), and Andrea Lewis (Deputy Leader, Swansea Council) with the Swansea Housing First team and Cymorth Cymru Housing First policy team.
The Cabinet Secretary was joined by Cllr. Rob Stewart, (Leader of Swansea Council), Cllr. Andrea Lewis (Deputy Leader of Swansea Council) and Martin Nicholls (CEO of Swansea Council), who met representatives of The Wallich and Cymorth Cymru to discuss the importance of Housing First as part of the ambition to end homelessness in Wales. During the visit, the Cabinet Secretary also met someone who is being supported by the Housing First team, as well as a number of frontline support workers from the Wallich and Kaleidoscope, who talked about the support that is provided through the project.
Swansea Housing First becomes the fourth project to be awarded the accreditation, following a rigorous process to determine whether it is being delivered in line with the Housing First Wales principles. Led by the Wallich, the project works closely with Swansea Council’s Housing Options team, Kaleidoscope, Dyfodol, housing associations and healthcare providers, and has supported 30 people into their own permanent homes since it began in 2019.
As she presented the accreditation to the Swansea Housing First team, the Cabinet Secretary said:
“It’s a real pleasure to meet you and to present the Housing First accreditation. The team have put in a huge effort and I want to say a huge thank you for all of the work that you do day in and day out and the difference you are making to people. It gives me great pleasure to present this to the team – congratulations!”
The Housing First Wales Accreditation was developed to evaluate whether projects are being delivered in line with the Housing First principles for Wales. It is an extremely rigorous process, with scrutiny of the organisation’s policies and procedures, as well as interviews with Housing First tenants, staff, commissioners, landlords and partner organisations. An interim report and recommendations are then developed, with the project undertaking further work to strengthen its policies and practice. A final report is then considered by an independent panel of housing experts, who take a decision on whether to award the accreditation.
The final report for the Swansea Housing First project can be found here.
Cymorth Cymru Housing First Policy Manager, Alex Osmond, said:
“Swansea Housing First is a great example of partnership working, with clear buy-in from a range of organisations, including the local authority housing team, which works flexibly to meet people’s housing needs. This is the second project led by The Wallich to be awarded the accreditation, and it was really pleasing to see how the Swansea service has embedded learning and good practice from their colleagues on Ynys Môn.
“The service has benefited from strong leadership, a real commitment to delivering the service in line with the Housing First Wales principles, and a team of fantastic support workers who are clearly dedicated to improving people’s lives. Congratulations to The Wallich and all of the partners involved in supporting the service.”
Anna Hooper, The Wallich’s Area Manager for Swansea, and Karina Winter, Swansea Housing First Manager said:
“We’re over the moon to receive the accreditation, and the recognition of all the hard work the team put into the service. We couldn’t have achieved this without the support of all our partners here in Swansea. We’re very proud of our Housing First service.”
What is Housing First?
Housing First is a recovery-oriented approach to ending homelessness that is focused on quickly moving people experiencing homelessness into a settled home, while providing person-centred, multi-agency support for as long as it is needed. The model has been most successful with people with chronic and complex support needs, for whom traditional models of support have failed.
Housing First was developed in New York in the 1990s, primarily by community psychologist Sam Tsemberis. Tsemberis found that providing housing to vulnerable people who were living on the streets, without the kinds of preconditions usually associated with homelessness services, had a hugely beneficial impact on their lives.
Over the years, robust international evidence has proven how effective Housing First can be, with the model rolled out across many countries in Europe. Finland was an early adopter of Housing First, with the model being credited as a key factor in significantly reducing the level of homelessness in the Nordic country.
