HOMELESSNESS
ACCESS DENIED
F or people experiencing homelessness, accessing substance use treatment is rarely straightforward. Fragmented systems, strict criteria and the limitations of borough-based boundaries often leave people excluded before they’ ve even had a chance to engage. At Phoenix Futures, our Regional Homeless Engagement with Substance Use Treatment( RhEST) service works to remove these barriers.
RhEST operates across 32 local authorities, each with its own structures and commissioning arrangements. The people we support
Why is treatment still so hard to reach for people experiencing homelessness, asks Chris Annison
frequently move across boroughs, often out of necessity rather than choice – traditional services, tied to specific geographical areas, can struggle to maintain contact when someone’ s life doesn’ t remain within one set of boundaries. Our role is to bridge those gaps and ensure that access to treatment doesn’ t depend on having a stable postcode.
TRUSTED RELATIONSHIPS Our team focuses on building trusted relationships with people facing multiple disadvantage. Consistency is vital, yet difficult to achieve within a system not designed for mobility. By working across boroughs, RhEST can stay alongside people no matter where they move, advocating for them when their circumstances don’ t neatly fit the criteria expected by commissioned services.
Recently we were involved in an initiative to develop a rough sleeper pathway, designed to provide immediate hospital care for people sleeping rough with urgent health needs. This shortterm project also included limited funding for residential treatment placements – the pathway enabled people to receive rapid access to physical and mental health assessments, stabilisation in a safe clinical environment, and the breathing space to think about accommodation and treatment options.
Because RhEST already works pan-London and has strong relationships with a wide range of services, we were identified as the most suitable team to coordinate referrals. We worked closely with partners including homeless health providers, rough sleeper teams, day centres, outreach workers and community treatment services. Together, we moved quickly, securing admissions within days of the funding becoming available.
During the short period the pathway operated, 15 people were admitted for hospitalbased stabilisation and 11 of those went on to residential treatment afterwards – a substantial increase on previous years when no equivalent pathway or funding existed.
FLEXIBLE SYSTEMS Throughout the project, we saw how fragmented and complex the system can be for people to navigate. RhEST played a pivotal role in bringing together the right agencies to make the pathway work. Most importantly,
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8 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • MAY 2026 WWW. DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS. COM