The number of people sleeping rough in England has risen each year since 2010, with the highest number of homeless in London. A period of homelessness is a dangerous and isolating experience for anyone. Homeless people are around 17 times more likely to be the victim of violence, and are far more likely to experience bad health outcomes. There are many causes for homelessness: a lack of affordable housing, unemployment, unexpected life events, complex Local Authority support systems, and much more. Single people are also more at-risk of homelessness, as councils prioritise couples and those with children, leaving single people to fend for themselves.
In 2016, Brent was in the top 10 boroughs in the UK that had the biggest gap between house prices and earnings. It also has a growing population but one that often does not move to other boroughs, meaning some specific challenges around the housing market.
Investable Solution
The Single Homeless Prevention Service (SHPS) Brent is a collaboration between a group of organisations and the London Borough of Brent around a common goal: to provide support to adults at-risk of homeless in Brent. It will do this by two means: Prevention, where a beneficiary is at risk of being evicted or falling behind with their rent and need support to maintain the tenancy; and Relief, where a beneficiary is not in stable accommodation and needs help to identify some and sign a stable tenancy agreement. The programme will also work with each beneficiary over the long-term to sustain whatever positive arrangement was made.
This project has two core delivery partners, Crisis and Thames Reach, who together have over 80 years’ experience of working in the homelessness sector, engaging and supporting people to secure and sustain accommodation suitable for them.
Outcomes
Outcomes will be measured against each homelessness prevented and each accommodation sustained for a pre-determined period. Outcomes are measured and paid along a simple three-step plan:
Completion of the Personal Housing Plan
Initial prevention or relief of homelessness
Sustainment of accommodation for eight months with no identified risk of homeless
