The Full Story Behind That Letter Telling a Person with Mental Health Issues They're 'Resilient' Enough to Be Homeless

Yesterday, Torbay Council reportedly sent a letter to a young homeless person with mental health difficulties in which it explained its decision to not define theirs as a "priority need".

In the letter, the assessor stated, "I believe that you are resilient enough to manage a reasonable level of functionality and I am not satisfied that your ability to manage being homeless, even if that homelessness were to result in you having to sleep rough occasionally or in the longer term, would deteriorate to a level where the harm you are likely to experience would be outside of the range of vulnerability that an ordinary person would experience if they were in the same situation as you."

The notion that anyone would – or, more importantly, should – be resilient enough to deal with sleeping rough is obviously nonsense, so I got in touch with the council to see what they were playing at. A spokesperson told me: "We cannot disclose personal information about individual cases, but with regards to the letter that has been shared online, what has been shared isn’t the full content. What has not been shown is an explanation of who would be considered in priority need and why this person is not. The letter also includes a clear explanation on their right to request a review of this decision, and we encourage the person concerned to exercise this right if they feel the decision has been made incorrectly."

"Priority need" refers to those approaching a housing authority in need of accommodation assistance who fall within a set of categories, as set out in guidance provided by the government.

According to the guidance, those who would normally be deemed of priority need include pregnant women, those with dependent children and people who are vulnerable due to old age, learning disability or mental or physical illness. The interpretation of these guidelines may differ among different authorities, with the guidance stating that "it is a matter of evaluative judgement whether the applicant’s circumstances make them vulnerable".

Torbay council didn't answer my questions about how exactly they define someone as being resilient enough to sleep on the streets, instead saying: "When anyone comes to us stating they are homeless we try to help them as much as we can. There are parameters set by the government with regard to the current homelessness legislation. These parameters include five criteria that we have to consider as part of a homelessness decision. The application of the law and the legal tests that are applied are complex and we do our best to explain our decision clearly and in a way that people can understand what it means for them."

Since the implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act in April of last year, housing authorities now have a legal obligation to take "reasonable steps" to prevent or relieve homelessness for all eligible applicants.

The act is part of a government plan to tackle spiralling rates of homelessness after almost nine years of austerity. Figures from homelessness charity Crisis show a 98 percent increase in rough sleeping since 2010, with a 103 percent increase in those living in tents. The charity states that those living on the street are nine times more likely to take their own lives. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that 449 people died while homeless in the year up to October, 2018. In December of last year, a homeless man died on the pavement outside the Houses of Parliament.

In Torbay, figures released last year showed rough sleeping was on the rise, with 169 people sleeping rough in 2016/17. Those figures indicated that 51 percent of those who were sleeping rough had a mental health issue that would make it hard for them to live independently.

Paul Spencer, Policy and Campaigns manager at mental health charity Mind, told me, "Homelessness and mental health often go hand-in-hand, and people with mental health problems are at a greater risk of homelessness. Too often it is the most vulnerable people who slip through the net, and the consequences can be catastrophic. Healthcare and local services need to be properly resourced and integrated so people get the right support for their mental health in a coordinated and understanding way, and can start rebuilding their lives – this includes having somewhere to live. Lots of people with mental health problems tell us that stigmatising attitudes and a lack of understanding of mental health from those who are meant to help make it really difficult to find appropriate, or even any, social housing. All these things can put people with mental health problems at greater risk of becoming homeless and ultimately reaching crisis point."

Torbay council's 2015-2020 Homelessness strategy adopts ten "local challenges", including adopting "a corporate commitment to prevent homelessness which has buy in across all local authority services" and a "no second night out" model to help alleviate homelessness.

In relation to yesterday’s letter, the council said: "While we were carrying out our investigations and assessment of this case we did accommodate this person for a period of four weeks. During this time we continuously provided information on how to find appropriate accommodation, including information on financial assistance and our deposit bond scheme. This is with the aim of helping them to find the right accommodation for them. We are continuing to support this person to find accommodation."

Last year, Torbay received £279,785 from the government to help tackle homelessness – one of just four Devon councils to receive funding. The Conservative-led council had not responded to my questions about the use or allocation of those funds at the time of publishing.

@bencsmoke