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We must work together to keep up the progress made on homelessness and rough sleeping

The pandemic has demonstrated that we can find solutions to homelessness and rough sleeping, but working together will be key, writes Dave Smith

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The pandemic has demonstrated that we can find solutions to homelessness and rough sleeping, but working together will be key, writes Dave Smith #UKhousing

We’ve become so used to the headlines on rough sleeping and homelessness that it can feel like society had started to accept the situation is somehow inevitable.

For years, the conversation has been framed so that homelessness is perceived as largely the fault of the victims and their poor life choices, and that little can or even should be done about it.

The pandemic has changed that.

Over the past year, people have seen that homelessness and rough sleeping are neither normal nor inevitable.

They are preventable. We can provide the homes and support that homeless people need. But to beat it we need to focus on four key areas:

  • National, regional and local commitment and direction
  • Co-ordinated and targeted strategies and resources
  • The will from all partners to really work together
  • Partners to be willing to innovate and share risks to provide the affordable and sustainable solutions needed

Prior to COVID-19, the green shoots of partnership working were already making a difference to homelessness.


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In Greater Manchester, mayor Andy Burnham led the way with his rallying call to make rough sleeping a thing of the past and to end homelessness for all in the city region.

This has led to many successful GM partnership initiatives such as the A Bed Every Night programme, the social impact bond for entrenched rough sleepers, Housing First and the GM Ethical Lettings Agency.

These programmes are now delivering several hundred temporary and permanent homes, with wrap-around personalised support, to so many people who may otherwise be on the streets.

The COVID-19 crisis and the Everyone In scheme have showed that we can go much further and quicker by working together.

Nationally, much of the public and voluntary sector have worked in true partnership, with few organisational boundaries, to accommodate and engage with over 95% of rough sleepers.

In little more than three days we took nearly everyone off the streets and provided the homes and support they needed, with many now in sustainable permanent homes.

“The COVID-19 crisis and the Everyone In scheme have showed that we can go much further and quicker by working together”

We did this through the power of partnerships between councils, housing associations, private landlords, hoteliers, charities, care and support providers – all underpinned with the support of health, education, training and employment service providers.

At Stepping Stone Projects (SSP), we have seen first-hand the benefits of these partnerships. We reached out to many local authorities and commissioners to see how we could work together and do more at a time of real national crisis.

Through collaboration – and an understanding of shared values – we were able to act very quickly and were innovative in our approaches to provide solutions to the issues being faced.

Prior to COVID-19, SSP provided about 260 self-contained furnished supported homes benefiting around 800 homeless and vulnerable people each year.

In the past year we have added 125 more homes providing accommodation and support to a further 250 rough sleepers and homeless people.

The total cost to local authorities of providing this additional supported accommodation has been roughly £400,000 – with much of this coming from homelessness and COVID-19 grants. This represents very good value for money compared to the costs of people being accommodated in often unsuitable temporary accommodation – or worse still, on the streets.

We also have at least another 50 new permanent homes being acquired, leased and prepared using new, innovative models in partnership with councils, housing associations, private landlords and developers.

Little of this would have been possible without the real strong and trust-based partnerships we have been striving to deliver.

In Rochdale, we worked with Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) and private landlords to increase the number of beds we provided through the A Bed Every Night programme by 14 in just three days.

RBH also provided much of the permanent move-on accommodation that we needed so that people could move into more permanent homes, and has completely renovated a 15-bed hostel to improve the quality of the accommodation during lockdown.

“We’ve seen what can be done when good folks come together around a common cause. Councils, housing associations, private sector landlords, charities and developers all have a role to play”

Mosscare St Vincent’s provided an empty HMO so we could offer homes for people with no recourse to public funds and seven flats for people with mental health issues at risk of homelessness.

Across Manchester, Oldham, Bury, Burnley, Hyndburn and Blackburn we’re working with councils and social landlords to find more supported housing options for vulnerable people.

We’ve seen what can be done when good folks come together around a common cause. Councils, housing associations, private sector landlords, charities and developers all have a role to play.

But to be successful we all need to commit to that cause, working in a co-ordinated, innovative way that allows us to take risks to find new solutions and ways of working.

This means putting some of our own organisational and commercial interests to one side – and certainly not acting solely in self-interest and competition.

We have already shown we can do this – together!

Dave Smith, chief executive, Stepping Stones Projects

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