Substance misuse and supported accommodation Supporting people within

Substance misuse and supported accommodation Supporting people within the law Katie Dalton – Director, Cymorth Cymru Kirsty Ellis – Board Member, Cymorth Cymru

This workshop Today we will be talking about: • The Welsh Government policy context • The Misuse of Substances Act • Tenancy legislation and Renting Homes Act • The risks of getting this wrong • Examples of good practice protocols / guidance from other parts of the UK • What would be useful to providers, landlords and commissioners in Wales.

Context: Working Together to Reduce Harm 200818 Priority Action Areas • Preventing harm: helping children, young people and adults resist or reduce substance misuse by providing information about the damage that substance misuse can cause to their health, their families and the wider community. • Supporting substance misusers: to improve their health and aid and maintain recovery thereby reducing the harm they cause themselves, their families and their communities. • Supporting families: reducing the risk of harm to children and adults as a consequence of the substance misusing behaviour of a family member • Tackling availability and protecting individuals and communities: reducing the harms caused by substance misuse related crime and anti -social behaviour, by tackling the availability of illegal drugs and the inappropriate availability of alcohol and other substances.

Context: Working Together to Reduce Harm 200818 “We highlight the importance of wrap around services, particularly housing, education, training and employment, which are pivotal to reducing the harm caused to individuals by substance misuse and to their ability to maintain or re-establish themselves in the community. ” “Housing and homelessness prevention services have a vital role to play in helping substance misusers to access the accommodation they need. ” “Without a decent home it is very hard for vulnerable people to escape the stranglehold of their misuse problem. Housing must therefore be seen as a core element of these wrap around services and be reflected in planning mechanisms. ”

Context: Supporting People Programme Guidance 2018 “an early intervention programme which prevents people from becoming homeless or helps homeless people to find and keep accommodation. It helps vulnerable people address problems, sometimes multiple problems, such as debt, employment, tenancy management, substance misuse, violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence, and mental health issues. ” Our members are telling us that substance misuse is increasing in its prevalence and having a greater impact on the people they support and the services they are providing.

Context: Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is the main law to control and classify drugs that are ‘dangerous or otherwise harmful’ when misused. The act lists all illegal (or controlled) drugs in the UK and divides them into one of 3 ‘classes’ – A, B and C – based on the harm they cause to individuals and society. The act makes it illegal for people to: • possess illegal drugs with intent to supply • supply or offer to supply illegal drugs (including giving them away for free or sharing with others) • produce illegal drugs • import or export illegal drugs • allow a house, flat or office to be used by people to undertake any of these unlawful activities

Section 8 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 Under Section 8 supported housing providers have a legal duty to prevent the manufacture and supply of controlled drugs on their premises. 8. Occupiers etc. of premises to be punishable for permitting certain activities to take place there. A person commits an offence if, being the occupier or concerned in the management of any premises, he knowingly permits or suffers any of the following activities to take place on those premises, that is to say— a) producing or attempting to produce a controlled drug in contravention of section 4(1) of this Act; b) supplying or attempting to supply a controlled drug to another in contravention of section 4(1) of this Act, or offering to supply a controlled drug to another in contravention of section 4(1); c) preparing opium for smoking; d) smoking cannabis, cannabis resin or prepared opium.

Prosecution under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 In 1999, Judge Jonathan Haworth jailed Ruth Wyner and John Brock of the Wintercomfort charity in Cambridge for 5 and 4 years respectively. They had been convicted of "knowingly allowing the distribution of a class A drug" at Wintercomfort, the day centre for homeless people that they ran in Cambridge - after two undercover policemen saw street people exchanging bags of heroin on the charity's premises. The prosecution argued that Wyner, the director of the charity, and Brock, the day centre manager, had known what was going on but hadn't done enough to stop it. The trial judge stressed that there was no suspicion that either was involved in, or had profited from, the deals in any way - only that they could have done more to make them less likely. There was a huge campaign to get them released. Their sentences were overturned, but the convictions were upheld.

How does this affect social landlords? Housing Providers have a responsibility to act within the law in relation to tenancy management and protecting the “community” from harm and behaviour associated with substance misuse. In addition, the regulator expects all tenancies (including those where housing management activity is delegated to a Managing Agent) to be managed in line with the law, and health and safety requirements. A multi agency meeting was convened late last year by Bonnie Navarra, in her role as Assistant Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales to begin to understand the risks poses to all parties and look to bring solutions. This included representatives from the police, the substance misuse sector, homelessness and housing related support providers, social landlords and Welsh Government. The groups agreed that we want to continue to support people in line with the principles of harm reduction and we want to avoid people becoming homeless because of their substance use.

What are the risks if we get this wrong? Prosecution of individuals and organisations working in supported accommodation schemes? Less support / fewer services available for people with substance misuse problems? Increased homelessness and rough sleeping? Loss of staff due to perceived risk of working in supported housing? Failure to manage tenancies in line with Renting Homes Act requirements, and protect vulnerable people? Failure to deliver harm reduction approach? Increased deaths of people with substance misuse problems? Failure to deliver psychologically informed services? (Use of S. 145 of RHA – 48 hour exclusions)

The ‘Spectrum of Possibility’ A Guide for Housing Providers Norfolk Drug and Alcohol Partnership, 2007 “This guide has been developed for providers and commissioners of supported housing services as a framework to use when thinking through the delivery of housing for people with drug/alcohol problems. It also provides benchmarks against which providers working across a broad spectrum can compare themselves. Its ultimate aim is to support housing providers and commissioners looking to make their contribution to increasingly successful outcomes for people with drug/alcohol problems, their families and the wider community. ”

The ‘Spectrum of Possibility’ A Guide for Housing Providers The guide says: “This is a difficult area requiring us to strike the right balance between agency policy, operational practice and criminal law. ” This guide aims to help providers and commissioners find that balance, within the context of: • the Cycle of Change • the Spectrum of Support • the Whole Systems Approach Cycle of Change

The ‘Spectrum of Possibility’ A Guide for Housing Providers Spectrum of support

The ‘Spectrum of Possibility’ A Guide for Housing Providers For this to work effectively, all aspects of the spectrum of provision are required to be in place at sufficient levels to meet need. It is also important that clear pathways through services are mapped and followed. People with drug/alcohol problems will require a mixture of specialist and generic support and on occasion other specialist support. Service providers will need to consider where they fit into the model. Whole systems approach

The ‘Spectrum of Possibility’ A Guide for Housing Providers The guide also includes: • Drug policy guidance • Four template drug policies for supported housing schemes

Drug Management Protocol – Safe Newcastle The work of Safe Newcastle is led by: • Newcastle City Council • Newcastle Primary Care Trust • Northumbria Police Authority • Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service The main aim of the Drug Management Protocol is to ensure that staff working in supported accommodation and in day centres in the city know how to deal with any incidents involving drug use and are able to resolve the problem without a service user being asked to leave, whilst abiding by the law.

Drug Management Protocol – Safe Newcastle

Drug Management Protocol – Safe Newcastle The protocol has sections on: • Drugs covered by the Protocol • Premises covered by the Protocol • Possession of drugs • Storage of drugs • Finding drugs on the premises • Supply of controlled drugs on or near the premises • Use of illegal controlled drugs on the premises • Disposal of drugs and drugrelated litter • Protocol for the collection of substances • The role of the Police

Group discussion: Is this affecting you? • Has this come up in discussions within your organisation? • Has it come up with your landlord/support provider partners or the local authority? • How confident are you that your frontline staff and managers understand tenancy/criminal law and the risks? Group discussion: What should we do in Wales? • How do we create PIE at the same time as managing risks? • How do we protect staff and tenants (s. 145 RHA) • What principles should guide any protocol or guidance? • Is there anything from the two examples that you like? • Is there anything we haven’t thought of? • Who should be involved in developing a protocol?