Look Ahead have responded to the Mayor of London’s call for evidence to shape his new Rough Sleeping Action Plan, which aims to end rough sleeping by 2030.
As a long-established provider of specialist homelessness and complex needs services across London and the South East – we delivered 17 in the year 2023/24 alone – Look Ahead welcomed this opportunity to share our perspective and expertise where we believe it can benefit communities, services and the housing and care and support sectors overall.
Here’s what we said:
We agree with the overarching principles behind the plan including its emphasis on:
- Preventing rough sleeping in the first instance.
- Making rough sleeping as brief as possible.
- Stopping people returning to rough sleeping with sustainable accommodation and ongoing support.
However, we highlighted the importance of working in close partnership with the NHS and social care as well. We believe this should be a key pillar of any rough sleeping support strategy, because managing mental and physical health and engaging with care services are key to both rough sleeping prevention and tenancy sustainment.
We evidenced this, by referencing our own hospital discharge, mental health crisis house and non-accommodation medication services, alongside our hostels that have integrated NHS professionals supporting residents on site.
We also shared our views that:
- Funding for rough sleeping services should be ring fenced, or at the very least, be given longer term contracts and funding allocations. Either of these would make housing and support services more sustainable for people who have experienced rough sleeping and help produce better outcomes for them.
- Specialist care homes for those with experience of rough sleeping aged 45+ that offer them a home for life, are an important service model to continue going forward.
- Allocating resources to provide services for individuals with no recourse to public funds, such as asylum seekers could also have an important impact on reducing rough sleeping.
We look forward to seeing the Mayor’s new Plan of Action when it is published and are always open to sharing our perspective with partners in the public sector.
