The accreditation follows months of rigorous scrutiny to evaluate the project’s fidelity to the Housing First principles for Wales.
The award was presented to the team by Welsh Government’s Jayne Bryant MS, in a special visit to the service in April.
Many of of the Housing First principles fall neatly in line with The Wallich’s approach as a trauma-informed organisation – themes such as safety, collaboration and choice.
Housing First Swansea services have been delivered by The Wallich since 2019.
The team has supported 30 people into their own permanent homes since it began and works closely with drug and alcohol agency, Kaleidoscope.
The team also works well alongside Swansea Council’s Housing Options team, the Dyfodol substance use specialist nurse, healthcare providers and other The Wallich hostels and services.
This is The Wallich’s second Housing First Wales accreditation following its Ynys Mon Housing First award in 2022.
Full evidence from the report can be found via the Cymorth Cymru website.
“One client, during their interview, affirmed the idea that their support worker acted as an advocate and was clearly ‘on their side’.”
“The Wallich team will ‘always advocate for the client and challenge [landlords] whenever necessary’.”
“Personalised budgets are made available for clients to decorate their accommodation and create places that feel like ‘home’.”
“No client has expressed issues with accommodation prior to moving in (which would be acted upon by support workers, as their advocates) which suggests the process by which properties are found and viewed by clients works well. Any issues with the accommodation that clients report afterwards are acted on in the appropriate way, and the clients interviewed expressed satisfaction with the way this has worked.”
“The team will not turn anyone down on the basis of being ‘too complex’. Several examples were provided, including a client who needed long-term substantive mental health support.”
The team was applauded on their collaboration with the healthcare sector; nurses and substance use specialists.
One person we supported through Housing First stated they’d previously “spent nineteen months on the streets”.
“Organisation-wide alcohol and drug policy documents make it clear that abstinence has to be ‘client choice’, meaning that such an approach to substance use would never be forced on any client”.
“The alcohol policy for Housing First clients is exemplary, written in a person-centred and trauma-informed way.”
“Housing First workers have developed strong relationships with the various local authorities, Registered Social Landlords, and other partners key to managing accommodation.”
“Whatever the situation, context or origin of the complaint or issue, clients are actively involved throughout.”
“Support plans associated with clients highlight the deep level of flexibility and variety inherent to the support that is planned with each person, and then delivered.”
“A commitment to support that is not only flexible, but that does not have time limits associated with it.”
“The case closure documentation is another exemplary feature of the support being delivered by The Wallich… it makes clear that clients are unlikely to have their cases closed, but rather would go ‘dormant’ and still be able to access flexible support according to their needs”.
“The Wallich is an organisation that has long been committed to psychologically informed environments (PIE), and this practice is clearly demonstrated by staff at the Swansea service”.
“Clients affirmed that they felt accepted and celebrated for who they were, and were offered opportunities to determine and pursue goals they’d chosen”.
“The Wallich is very grateful to the Housing First Wales team at Cymorth Cymru for their time taken to assess the success of Housing First Swansea, and to the Minister for coming to meet our fantastic team in-person.”
“The accreditation team have provided some valid and constructive recommendations for how it can be improved even further in the future.
“We look forward to supporting more people off the streets as part of the ambition to reduce homelessness and help people live safer, happier and independent lives.”
