Housing, homelessness and rough sleeping strategy

Our vision is to ensure that homelessness is brief, does not reoccur, that the harm to individuals and our communities is minimised, and it is prevented where possible.

The Council’s homelessness review and consultation with our community suggests that the key priorities identified in our Housing and Homelessness Strategy 2019-2024 are still relevant today but require some refinement.

This strategy aims to build on the progress we have made since 2019 and enhance our services to meet demand that has risen in tandem with the national rate over recent years.

Our homelessness and rough sleeping work continues to operate with a series of constraints, such as limited resources to fund day-to-day services and a finite pool of emergency and temporary accommodation and social housing.

While this brings challenges, it does not need limit our ambitions to support individuals and families during periods of need that can have profound implications for their lives.

Our work and our residents are supported by numerous national and local organisations and charities. We will deepen our co-operation with our partners so that we can offer improved and tailored support to those that need it.

Local targets (through action plans) will include: Eliminate the use of B&B’s for Families other than short-term emergency and halving long-term rough sleeping by the 2029.

Supporting Individuals and Families

Early prevention: Central to our vision is the early prevention of homelessness through targeted early help to help people avoid a crisis that may lead to homelessness.

Crisis response: Where prevention is unsuccessful, we will provide personalised support for the household experiencing a crisis, accounting for their individual, and often complex, needs.

Re-housing and recovery: The council is then able to offer a range of emergency, temporary or supported accommodation to suit individual needs, as an interim measure before permanent re-housing.

Re-settlement: we will support people through the re-settlement process, including through tenancy sustainment advice and support.

Working with our partners, we will maintain contact with people so that early prevention support, information and advice can be offered to help prevent repeat homelessness.

To deliver our vision we have developed four main aims, which are to:

1. Proactively prevent and relieve homelessness.
2. End rough sleeping within the borough.
3. Maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of our services.
4. Enhance housing options to meet resident’s needs.