The impact of voluntary out of area moves on housing security
We conducted an evaluation of the Homefinder UK intervention, which offers a voluntary out of area mobility support service. The service works with people at risk of or experiencing housing insecurity to move from areas with high housing demand to areas with lower housing demand. We conducted a randomised controlled trial of 262 participants between July 2022 and June 2024, combined with an Implementation and Process Evaluation (IPE) to understand how receiving the Homefinder UK intervention impacts housing security, social connectedness, mental health, physical health, access to services and contact with the justice system and employment. The evaluation was funded by the Centre for Homelessness Impact.
Findings:
Impact evaluation:
Despite being an out-of-area mobility scheme, our findings suggest that very few people moved out-of-area. Consequently, the planned primary analysis (complier average causal effect) was not carried out. The secondary analysis (intention to treat) did not show any meaningful relationships between being assigned to receive the intervention and any of the six outcomes of interest (Housing Security, Social Connectedness, Physical Health, Mental Health, Employment and Financial Security).This lack of observable differences is most likely attributed to the intervention not being delivered as intended, with trial participants receiving minimal to no support from HFUK.
Implementation and process evaluation
Findings from the qualitative interviews with service users suggest that HFUK applicants in the trial received little to no support. They had very limited contact with HFUK case workers or staff, and they reported being unable to bid for stable housing due to the perceived limited availability of properties on the HFUK’s website. Interview findings emphasise the need for support — service users frequently experienced poor living conditions and housing instability. The most common reasons applicants sought support from HFUK were the need for permanent, stable housing — often because they were living in temporary accommodation at the time — and the need for larger housing due to overcrowding. Qualitative findings suggest that moving to a different area was not necessarily fully accepted among all applicants, regardless of their poor housing situation. Reluctance was shown to move away from the current area if participants had children attending local schools, were employed locally, or needed access to their support networks to for sharing childcare responsibilities or due to health reasons. Participants had to indicate twice that they were willing to move out-of-area in order to join the study; nonetheless, for a subset of those interviewed this was not their preference.