The age of drug users in Leeds continues to fall according to workers at a project that works to house and support active drug users in the city.
Leeds Housing Concern's Sinclair Project, which provides supported accommodation across Leeds, aims to house and support active drug users within the community by providing accommodation and a package of harm-reductive support.
Karen, of the Sinclair Project, said: "The people we are working with are so much younger now than they were a few years ago.
"The amount of contact we have with people who are in their teens is increasing: teenage drug use is a growing trend."
She said there were going to be two new flats specifically for housing and support of 16-18 year-olds built into the new property the Sinclair Project is shortly moving to.
The Sinclair Project works on the basis of harm reduction - and the project does not insist its users cease to abuse drugs- the workers encourage safer drug use, concentrating on reducing risks to health, and promoting the idea of community safety. The idea behind the project was to provide a good standard of accommodation and harm reduction strategies which would give drug users an environment in which he or she could contemplate change, and overcome difficulties.
A worker said said: "The aim was to give people accommodation where they were not at risk of eviction for their drug use.
"Our ultimate aim was that people would then begin to feel safe in what they could then call their own home to accept the responsibility that comes with that and ultimately to decrease their drug use."
The project accepts men and women drug users, 16 and above, a particularly chaotic client group, many of whom would have been thrown out of other projects for their drug use.
When the project started up Karen said there were concerns about the legal aspects of such a project, as it is illegal for clients to use or prepare drugs in their houses, and moreover under Section 8 of the Misuse of Drugs Act housing providers can be held responsible for some of the illegal actions of their tenants. She said having a good drugs policy, working within an agreed legal framework and operating good practice had kept this to a minimum.
Karen said since the project started it had experienced a high level of success, and seven or eight of the project’s tenants had gone into long-term rehabilitation and of the 27 service users Sinclair has Karen said there had been no more problems than in any other project.
A member of the four-strong team sees each tenant at least once a week. Tenants also often see one of the members of the project when they have reached crisis point.
Karen said apart from moving the project from its current location at Bridge House, Hunslet, and the two new 16-18 year-old's flats, there was going to be, aside from the office space, a residents' day room. The Sustain project would also be based there, a team working with people in their own homes.
Karen said: "It's going to be all change."
"It's about getting the person in a position where they can make a choice."
The Sinclair Project offers assured short-hold tenancies, information and advice, keyworking, informal counselling, help and advice on DSS, access to other services, and support to match the needs of the individual.
It takes referrals from all over, from probation services, hostels, to police and has properties suitable for a wide client group, from youth offenders to those who entered a housing crisis due to their drug use.
