Homeless Connect Summer Visits

During the summer months, Homeless Connect regularly visits with services provided by our member organisations. These visits give us the opportunity to meet with staff directly and to hear about what is happening on the ground. This helps us to be better advocates for the needs of services as well as knowing how we can better support staff working to make a difference. Our first visit this summer was to Triangle Floating Support Services in East Belfast.

Triangle Floating Support Services

We were met by Scheme Coordinator Suzanne Kelly at the City East Building and brought up to the bright Triangle offices in the City East Building. Team members Brian McLaughlin and Kristina McCormick and the floating support team manager Lucy Campfield met us alongside one of the clients the team they are currently working to support.

Triangle floating support services work to support around 800 to 900 individuals each year who have housing related support needs. They provide support across three areas: Belfast, Ballymena and Ballymoney. This covers the Northern and Belfast Health and Social Care Trusts. On average they will work with clients for around four months, although in some cases they can provide support up to two years.

What is floating support?

One of the first questions we asked the team was what floating support involves for people they are working with. As we often find when speaking with staff working in floating support, it is not simple to describe what floating support involves due to the sheer breadth of different ways in which support can be provided. The thread which ties together the kind of support involved is that it focuses on providing a person with what they need to live independently.

It was manifestly apparent throughout our conversation that Triangle Floating Support has a person-centred philosophy which seeks to tailor support to the needs of the individual. What struck me about the support provided was the flexibility involved depending on the client. So the kind of support offered can include assisting with housing management; support to ensure that a person is receiving the benefits they are entitled to; help with budgeting; and helping to connect people with the services they need to live well.

During our visit, we had the opportunity to speak with David*, a client that Triangle is currently supporting. David had moved out of a temporary accommodation facility to a new social tenancy in Belfast. In describing the support he had received, he referred to help he had in understanding the area he was moving in to; assistance in accessing support and services such as a Home Starter Pack; and support to ensure that he received the benefits he was entitled to. It was uplifting to hear about the difference that Triangle had made in his journey. He provided a great example to us of the kind of difference floating support can make for people.

Working in the homelessness sector

One of the questions we asked the team was about the journeys the staff had taken before joining Triangle and why they wanted to work in the sector. The responses showed a team of professionals from diverse backgrounds who were united in their evident desire to make a difference in supporting people. In talking with them, I knew that I was talking with compassionate, skilled and empathetic staff who diligently get on with the job and who will go the extra mile for their clients. The fact that three of the staff had been with the organisation over many years was illustrative of an organisational culture which values and supports staff.

It was remarkable to discover that the manager of the service, Lucy Campfield, was the first floating support worker in Northern Ireland in the late 1990s. When she was pioneering the service back then, there was no roadmap for what it should look like. Services have evolved considerably since then but the core idea has remained the same: providing support to people with housing needs. I know that Triangle, and indeed the wider sector, continue to benefit from Lucy’s experience and expertise.

Challenges

In our conversation it was clear that Triangle floating support services, in common with many other homelessness services across Northern Ireland, is facing real challenges. The underinvestment in the Supporting People programme, which funds the service, over the last decade has negatively impacted the level of support Triangle can provide. The level of need- and the excellent reputation that the service has- sees Triangle regularly having to run waiting lists for new clients. The lack of move-on accommodation and the growing housing crisis impacts on the ability of the service to help people to access the homes they need. Even with the challenges, I know that the staff at Triangle will continue to do all they can to support those they are working with.

Conclusion

I came away from the visit to Triangle so thankful that services like this exist. Triangle Floating Support Services has provided and continues to provide a vital service to thousands of people living here. The support provided truly can have a transformative impact.

We are hugely grateful to the team at Triangle for facilitating our visit. You can follow the work of the team on Triangle Housing Association’s social media accounts: X, Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as on their website.

*Name changed to protect identity

Mark Baillie is Head of Policy and Programmes at Homeless Connect