Sector set to help solve prison overcrowding

The social housing sector is set to play a key role in the government’s drive to reduce reoffending and alleviate the shortage of prison places.

A government review is looking at leasing more supported housing for people who are on probation or have been bailed on condition of staying in supervised accommodation.

People on bail, who have not been convicted of any offence and may not even have been accused of a serious crime, are usually remanded in custody or housed in “approved premises” – either bail or probation hostels.

But keeping them in custody or hostels, which are staffed by at least two people at all times, is more expensive than using supported housing. For the year 2004/5, there are 2200 places in hostels around the country, which are costing £49.1m.

The government believes its money would be better targeted at placing high-risk ex-offenders in bail hostels, which the probation service is already starting to do.

The review will examine demand for approved premises across the country and whether there is a disparity in its provision across different regions.

It was initiated following a Public Accounts Committee inquiry into getting offenders to court, which is due to be published next month. The review is likely to say that the probation service is successful in getting people to court if they live in approved premises, but that the service should look at other ways of supporting people on bail.

It comes in advance of the merger of the prison and probation services into the national offender management service on 1 April.

Felicity Hawksley, head of approved premises and offender housing at the National Probation Directorate, said: “This is a first step to look at problems and say ‘are there people we could stop remanding into custody if we could get them suitably supported?’”

A move towards supported housing could help reduce reoffending and free up prison places, as well as saving money. Home Office figures found that stable accommodation reduced reoffending rates 20%.

Hawksley said: “It’s about focusing what is a large requirement for resources on public protection. We need to focus resources on high-risk ex-offenders because it can be more serious if they reoffend. The key driver is to reduce reoffending. We are not in the business of providing housing for the sake of it.”

She added that moving people on bail from custody to supported housing could also free up prison places but said the directorate did not yet know how many extra homes it would be looking for or how they would be funded.

One possibility would be Supporting People funding, but that’s being being cut back. Hawksley said: “There could be a bid [from the Home Office] for more resources in a future spending review.” She said it was too soon to say whether they would opt for the kind of bulk buying deals done by another Home Office agency, the National Asylum Support Service, with private and social landlords.