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Homelessness
Delivering innovative programmes to bring an end to repeat and chronic homelessness and rough sleeping
Tackling Homelessness
The city region is one of just three areas in the country delivering a Housing First programme specifically targeted at people experiencing entrenched homelessness and those with complex needs. It offers an alternative approach with intensive one-to-one unconditional support based on seven core Housing First principles. Providing a home is the starting point rather than an end goal and people are not expected to demonstrate they are ‘housing ready.’
In addition to Housing First, the Combined Authority also commissions and co-ordinates a range of other Homelessness support services across the Liverpool City Region, from prevention for those who may be at risk of homelessness, to outreach services for those who may already be rough sleeping or at risk of doing so.
Across all of our Homelessness services, individual, targeted support is helping people to deal with mental and physical health issues such as addiction and the effects of trauma and abuse and move forward out of homelessness.
How are our services funded?
The Liverpool City Region Housing First programme is funded by £2.6 million earmarked from the Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) taking the programme through to 2025.
The Combined Authority also receives a further £2m from the RSI to commission early intervention measures and the assertive outreach programme. This is delivered by homeless charity Whitechapel targeting rough sleepers in the city region.
Why is Housing First different?
One of the aims of Housing First is the desire to create systemic change in the homelessness sector. The more people who are open to or adopt a new approach based on our best practice, before long the system itself is changing and consequently the way homeless people are treated.
In the Liverpool City Region we are currently supporting more than 230 people with nearly 80% sustaining their tenancy. Many Housing First service users have personal histories characterised by multiple, long-term and severe trauma.
Is Housing First cost effective?
In February 2023, an independent study found that our Housing First programme, one of only three in the country, is saving taxpayers an average £34,500 a year for each person it helps out of homelessness.
Independent consultants Beyond Better monitored 20 service users being supported by the ground-breaking scheme over the course of a year – comparing the cost of the programme to the likely cost to the public purse if they had not received help.
Savings ranged from £27,000 to £66,000 a year which, taking into account Housing First programme costs, the annual saving to the taxpayer stood at an average £34,500 for each service user.
Landlords - We need you!
While the Housing First team works in partnership with a number of housing providers across the Liverpool City Region, we are always searching for prospective properties suitable for our service users waiting for a home. If you’re a Housing Association or even a private landlord, click below to find out more about how we could work together.
Assertive Outreach for the homeless
Separate to our Housing First programme which is directly delivered, the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority also commissions outreach support delivered by The Whitechapel Centre in partnership with Mersey Care. The team has its own registered Mental Health Nurse, and a Social Prescriber to provide interventions and support for rough sleepers.
Our Assertive Outreach team is active in Halton, Knowsley and St Helens, but support our other boroughs as required. They liaise closely with local authorities on both a strategic and operational level so that they can find, support and advocate for rough sleepers as well as offer temporary accommodation. Key to their successful approach is being flexible and adapting to the person’s changing needs.
The increasing complexity of the needs rough sleepers have led to funding for a Homelessness Social Worker role being piloted. They are able to support individuals who may need assessments or direction to access appropriate pathways.
Accommodation for Ex-Offenders
Another service included under our commissioned Homelessness services is the Accommodation for Ex-Offenders scheme. This dedicated initiative helps develop direction for prison leavers and ensure they do not experience homelessness upon release.
The service aims to increase access to tenancies in the private rented sector linking in with prison, probation and the local authority to ensure the accommodation is in place, along with appropriate support for the person to sustain the tenancy, which has been evidenced to ultimately reduce reoffending.
We support dedicated Housing Options officers based in the local authorities, as well as a commissioned service delivered by Crisis to support people into accommodation and provide help and training into employment, budgeting and managing a tenancy.
Rough Sleeper Accommodation Programme
The Rough Sleeper Accommodation Programme is a commissioned service where dispersed one-bed properties are purchased across the Liverpool City Region and allocated to rough sleepers.
The partnership includes property acquisition, housing management, and services which provide intensive support to clients to ensure they have the best chance at sustaining their tenancy.
Early Intervention & Prevention Service
Finally, the Combined Authority’s prevention and early intervention work targets those who have not yet become homeless, and aims to help people who are at risk of losing their home sustain their tenancy and remain in their property. This also helps reduce the number of presentations to statutory services.
The service was co-produced with all local authorities and is bespoke to their local needs to complement their wider homelessness provisions.
