APPENDIX 1
Draft 1
New Forest Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2026–2031
Contents
Homelessness and Rough Sleeping in New Forest
Homelessness pressures in New Forest
The New Forest District Council Corporate Plan
Early Intervention and Prevention
Meeting health and support needs
I am proud to introduce this new Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy for New Forest District Council. It is based on our past achievements and future ambitions including almost putting an end to rough sleeping since 2018, whilst improving our temporary accommodation and support services, and remaining committed to tackling homelessness in all its forms and preventing its causes going forward.
Ending rough sleeping in the District was the ambition of our existing strategy produced back in 2018. This new strategy updates our position, highlights our successes, and strengthens our ambition to further improve our proactive, compassionate, and sustainable approach to homelessness. It builds on our long-standing commitment to tackling homelessness and reflects the evolving challenges and expectations placed on local authorities like ours at the present time.
It is anticipated that Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) and the proposed Hampshire Mayoral Strategic Authority may start to reshape our homelessness service delivery from 2027. Nevertheless, we are committed to work collaboratively and seek opportunities to ensure homelessness priorities are embedded in any new unitary council structure created by LGR whilst remaining responsive to any future government policy changes.
Our mission to ensure that every resident has access to safe, secure, and affordable accommodation, and that homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring remains and will live-on through this strategy. We identify our priorities as prevention first, rapid responses to homelessness and rough sleeping, and providing timely personalised assistance to support households at risk of homelessness.
Despite uncertainty, NFDC remains focused on delivering secure, warm, and affordable homes, preventing homelessness, and supporting residents through life’s challenges. This strategy aims to protect the most vulnerable, strengthen communities, and create a foundation for long-term housing stability.
We recognise that Homelessness is a complex and deeply personal issue. Behind every statistic is a story of hardship, resilience, and hope. Our strategy recognises that preventing homelessness is not just about housing. It’s about working together across services, sectors, and neighbourhoods to build a safety net that catches people before they fall.
As Portfolio Holder for Housing and Communities, I am proud to present our Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy. This document sets out our commitment to ensuring that every resident has access to safe, secure, and sustainable accommodation, and that no one in our community is left without support.
We know that temporary accommodation, while essential in crisis situations, must be a stepping stone—not a destination. That’s why this strategy focuses on early intervention, wraparound support, and long-term housing solutions that restore stability.
I want to thank our dedicated officers, partners, and voluntary organisations who work tirelessly to support those at risk of homelessness. Their compassion and commitment are the foundation of this strategy.
Together, we can create a future where homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring—and where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
Cllr Steve Davies
Portfolio Holder for Housing and Communities
Homelessness and Rough Sleeping in New Forest
This five-year strategy comes at a time when statutory homelessness has been rising nationally and the number of households in temporary accommodation are at record levels.
178,560 households were owed a homelessness relief duty in England during 2023/24, up 12.3% from 2022/23 and up 27.01% from 2019/20
146,430 households were owed a homelessness prevention duty in 2023/24, up 3.1% from 2022/23 but down 1.9% from 2019/20, the last year before COVID.
In December 2024, 127,890 households were accommodated in temporary accommodation (TA), the highest ever figure, up by 13.6% since December 2023 and 44.8% since December 2019. The December 2024 figure includes 165,510 children in TA.
The latest rough sleeping snapshot statistics show that in Autumn 2024 there were 4,667 individuals recorded as sleeping rough on a single night in England, up 19.7% from 2023 and up 91% since 2021. The 2024 figure equates to an estimated 8.1 people sleeping rough on a single night in England per 100,000 population. The number of people sleeping over the course of a month is estimated by local authorities to be roughly twice the single night figure[1].
It is too early to say what the impact of the new government from May 2024 will be on homelessness.
A national homelessness strategy is expected before the end of 2025, which may bring radical changes to national homelessness policy.
There has already been a significant increase in local authority homelessness funding and the promise of much greater capital funding for social housing. The total national Homelessness Prevention Grant (HPG) has increased over a number of years and rose significantly from £440m in 2024/25 to £633m in 2025/26, including a significant uplift in HPG funding for New Forest.
The Renters’ Rights Act became law in
2025 and will be implemented from 2026 onwards. This will make it
significantly harder to evict private rented sector tenants and
over time to improve accommodation standards.
The new regulations on supported housing, implementing the
Supported Housing Act 2023, are also expected to come into effect
in 2026.
National government introduced the Ending Rough Sleeping Data Framework[2] from December 2023 which is designed to move beyond the single‑night snapshot by tracking whether rough sleeping is:
Local authorities report quarterly on five key
indicators showing progress in each of these areas.
However, the fundamental causes of increased homelessness and rough
sleeping, such as the lack of affordable accommodation available in
both the social rented and private rented sectors, do not look set
to improve in the near term, with Local Housing Allowance rates
frozen in 2025/26 while rents continue to rise, and with the
decades long growth in the private rented sector having come to a
halt.
The introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Action Act from April 2018 has widened the legal responsibilities on local authorities to provide help to prevent and relieve homelessness for a larger group of households, including in some cases, people approaching from outside the local area.
Homelessness pressures in New Forest
The independent homelessness and rough
sleeping review carried out to support the development of this
strategy highlights the great success of New Forest in achieving a
dramatic reduction in rough sleeping and reducing its use of
temporary accommodation. In both cases this has been achieved
against rising national trends.
The review also makes clear that the team at New Forest District
Council have a high level of professional integrity, strongly
recognised by partner agencies, and are administering homelessness
duties fully and proportionately within both the letter and spirit
of the law.
The geography and demographics of New Forest are quite unusual
compared to national and regional averages. Much of the district is
within a National Park, which places significant restrictions on
new housing development. The level of owner occupancy in New Forest
is high at 75%[3]
with the proportion of private rented accommodation at 15%
and social housing stock lower than average at 11%.
However, the Council has retained its social housing stock and the common allocations policy in New Forest allocates to 100% of social and affordable rented accommodation in the district, including Registered Provider (RP) accommodation.
Housing affordability in New Forest is low, as measured by the ratio of median house prices to median earnings, with a ratio of process to median earnings of 10.6 in 2024, compared to an average of 8.9 for the Hampshire district authorities and 7.7 for England as a whole.
In the period April 2023 to September 2024 1,380 households in New Forest were assessed to establish if they were homeless or at risk of homelessness, with 1,135 households (82%) assessed as being owed a homelessness prevention duty due to risk of homelessness within 56 days or a relief duty due to homelessness at the time when they approached the council.
Compared to local authorities in Hampshire, regionally and nationally. New Forest had less households owed a prevention or relief duty per thousand households living in the area than England, the South East or the South West. However, New Forest had slightly more prevention and relief duties than the Hampshire district average and the average from a group of ‘nearest neighbour’ local authorities with similar demographics to New Forest based on Office for National Statistics (ONS) data[4]
Compared to other local authorities, New Forest had proportionally more people approach them when at risk of homelessness within 56 days and less people approach when already homeless. This is positive as it offers a greater opportunity to prevent homelessness.
Although, as in most of the country, homelessness as a result of loss of a private sector tenancy has been increasing, the trend has been less marked in New Forest than in many other areas, with the largest cause of homelessness in New Forest being the result of family and friends no longer being willing or able to accommodate (37% of relief duties and 33% of prevention duties) followed by loss of a private sector tenancy (13% of relief duties and 38% of prevention duties), with homelessness as a result of domestic abuse being the third most common cause (20% of relief duties and 6% of prevention duties). Homelessness a result of leaving an institution with no accommodation available (prison, childcare, or hospital) was also important (10% of relief duties and 4% of prevention duties).
Compared to other areas, the biggest difference is that New Forest had proportionally lower homelessnes risk from the ending of a private sector tenancy and higher risk from friends and family evictions.
Following a spike in rough sleeper numbers in 2020, there has been a considerable decline in Rough Sleeping in New Forest, with only one person sleeping rough on a single night in Autumn 2024.
The fall in rough sleeping in New Forest contrasts with an increase nationally and regionally.
The fall in rough sleeping is due to Council’s proactive work in responding swiftly and professionally to any reports of rough sleeping in the district, the development of specialist temporary accommodation for people with experience of street homelessness, and good partnership working with Hampshire social services, prison and probation services and helath services.
The introduction of the Duty to Refer in the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, has been a success in New Forest, with 10% of all homelessness duties accepted by the Council being as a result of referrals from an organisation included in the Duty to Refer legislation, significantly higher then the national average. The highest number of DTR referrals come from the National Probation Service, children’s social aervices, and hospital in patient services.
The use of temporary accommodation to accommodate homeless households in New Forest has been falling since June 2022, with 296 households in TA in March 2025, including 169 families with children.
This fall is against the national trend of
rising TA over the period, but the number of households in TA in
New Forest is still high compared to the hampshire district
average.
Almost half of the TA New Forest uses is private sector leased
accommodation, with a further 28% in properties owned by the
council. Less than 1% of New Forest’s TA is outside the
district. New Forest has a much lower proportion of nightly paid
accommodation than most neighbouring authorities.
However in December 2025, New Forest still had 64 households in
nightly paid Bed & Breakfast accommodation of whom 44 were
families, at an estimated net cost to the council of around
£1.4 m in 2025/26. Based on 2024/25 financial data, the cost
to the council’s budget of a household in B&B is around
10 times the cost of a private sector leased placement.
Despite the demands, the number of households in B&B is expected to reduce during 2026 while operational procedures , resoruces and structure are reviewed.
Areas of
success
New Forest has been extremely successful in recent
years in reducing rough sleeping to almost zero. Rough sleeping in
New Forest has for the most part become rare, brief and
non-recurrent. However, there is no room for complacency. This has
been achieved due to ongoing hard work by the Council and its
partners.
The Council has managed to reduce the use of temporary
accommodation against an increasing national trend, with TA down
25% in the 3 years to March 2025, compared to an increase in TA of
38% nationally over the same period.
New Forest has also improved the quality of its TA including
through the development of new, council owned TA and improved
accommodation standards in private sector leased
accommodation.
The Council also enjoys an excellent
reputation with Hampshire Children’s Services, Adult
Services, the Probation service, local housing associations and
voluntary sector organisations for strong partnership working and
the care and professionalism with which it supports people who have
experienced homelessness.
There are very low rates of homelessness from
the loss of social housing tenancies in New Forest and there is
effective use of the Duty to Refer.
The homelessness and rough sleeping review, which supports this strategy, identified a number of areas where we want to improve over the life of the strategy, including:
·
A stronger housing advice offer for people who are not yet homeless
or at imminent risk of homelessness
·
Better success rates for homelessness prevention, especially
prevention which allows people to stay in their existing home
·
Earlier intervention to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping,
including reducing the number of households who become
homeless through eviction by family and friends
·
More transparent communication to support people at risk of
homelessness getting the information they need to help them,
including online and in person.
·
Improving the proportion of people owed homelessness relief duty
who have homelessness relieved successfully within 56
days
· Reducing the use of B&B to as close to zero as possible, including through more provision of better quality, more cost-effective TA
The New Forest District Council Corporate Plan
This strategy comes under the strategic priorities for New Forest as set out in the New Forest Corporate Plan 2024 to 2028[5]. The vision expressed in the plan is:
“To secure a better future by supporting opportunities for the people and communities we serve, protecting our unique and special place, and securing a vibrant and prosperous New Forest”
The Corporate Plan has three priority
areas:
People: Helping people in
the greatest need and creating balanced, resilient, and healthy
communities who feel safe and supported with easy access to
services.
Place: Delivering growth,
opportunity and services that shape our place now and for future
generations, within a unique environmental context, to ensure we
remain a special place to live, work and visit.
Prosperity: Promoting a strong local economy that delivers its inclusive aspirations through effective partnerships, attracting investment, and increasing skills and employment opportunities.
All three themes are important to delivering a successful homelessness and rough sleeping strategy.
Key commitments in the corporate plan, which are directly relevant to this strategy include:
·
Provide more quality, temporary accommodation for single people and
families and work with our partners to tackle homelessness.
·
Support community engagement, working with partners and our town
and parish councils to help resolve local issues, including those
associated with the cost of living, homelessness and community,
health, safety and resilience.
·
Provide increased numbers of affordable homes by 2026 and explore
innovative models with landowners, partners and developers to
enable sustainable and affordable homes for the future.
· Work with partners to best support our residents to access employment opportunities regardless of the barriers they face.
Our vision for homelessness and rough sleeping over the five years of this strategy can be summarised as:
Family homelessness is prevented wherever possible, including through co-ordination between different services and effective use of data to identify and address homelessness risk.
No families are placed in B&B accommodation except for very short periods in an emergency.
Disruption to children’s education as a
result of homelessness is minimised and support to meet
children’s needs is provided for families in TA at least as
effectively as in other forms of accommodation.
Early
Intervention and Prevention
All parts of both the district and county councils actively look for risks of homelessness among those they are working with, including through effective use of data and artificial intelligence.
Where risks of homelessness are identified these are met by implementation of an agreed approach which cuts across departmental boundaries to achieve the best outcome for the household and prevent homelessness wherever possible.
This approach extends beyond the council to include the Council’s main partners in both the statutory and voluntary sectors.
People using hospital or other health services, who are at risk of homelessness have their needs assessed as early as possible so that a planned approach can be agreed to preventing homelessness upon discharge and ensuring needs for support and care are met.
Support needs of all those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness are assessed and met.
There is enough provision of housing related
support, floating support and other services to meet the needs of
those experiencing homelessness or risk of homelessness.
There is enough suitable and affordable accommodation available to meet the needs of existing and emerging households within New Forest for those who cannot afford to buy their own home or to rent privately without financial assistance.
Temporary accommodation is of consistently high quality and used only when necessary and as briefly as possible, until settled housing solutions can be found
Clear information about the range of services available to support people who are experiencing homelessness or may be at risk of homelessness in the future is widely available in a range of formats, including online.
This includes not only services provided by
New Forest District Council but also by Hampshire County Council
and the voluntary sector as well as information to support
self-help.
All written communication from the council to people who access
homelessness and housing advice services is written in a clear and
accessible format.
Strong partnerships are actively maintained between the Council and
all relevant partners including children and adult social services,
health services, prison and probation services, housing
associations, and voluntary and community sector organisations.
Rough Sleeping in New Forest is prevented wherever possible and remains rare, brief and non-recurring.
People who do sleep rough are assisted quickly and provided with the support they need to be able to move on with their lives and not return to the streets.
Services working to tackle and prevent rough
sleeping are co-ordinated across the whole system in order to
achieve the best outcomes, including housing and homelessness
services, social services, mental and physical health services,
drug and alcohol services, police and the voluntary sector.
The large majority of successful homelessness
preventions in New Forest are achieved by helping people to move
into alternative accommodation in the private rented sector.
The council has had much less success in assisting people to stay
in their existing accommodation or, where appropriate to move into
supported housing. The difficulty in securing moves into supported
housing reflects the lack of supported housing in New
Forest.
This is partly because resources for homelessness prevention have
until recently been relatively low. However, there is an
opportunity to address this through effective use of the increased
homelessness prevention grant from 2025/26.
This allows us to increase the staffing resources available to
prevent homelessness within the council, to provide additional
staff training and to provide additional funding and support to
voluntary and community sector groups across New Forest.
We also want to add to the New Forest District
Council website, so that it provides a clearer and more
comprehensive set of options for those seeking housing advice or
who are at risk of homelessness.
We recognise the potential to make better use of data and rapid
advances in artificial intelligence (AI) to be able to identify
people at risk of homelessness earlier and provide more tailored
interventions to help people address who may be at risk of
homelessness to achieve better outcomes.
We are very aware that a large percentage of homelessness in New
Forest is the result of young adults leaving their family home
without the resources needed to obtain their own accommodation and
wish to develop more effective ways to address this issue over the
life of the strategy.
·
Increase the size of the Council’s homelessness prevention
team to include a dedicated team leader and additional homelessness
prevention floating support workers working in a variety of ways to
help people keep their existing accommodation or move to the
private rented sector.
·
Invest in enhanced and specialist staff training, including through
the Locata Academy
·
Revamp the homelessness and housing advice section of the New
Forest District Council website to provide more user friendly and
comprehensive information, promote self-help, signpost to
organisations offering specialist advice, and make it easier to get
in touch with council officers when this is the best option.
·
Review and refine the Council’s approach to homelessness
prevention which helps people to stay in their existing home
·
Explore options for earlier intervention to prevent homelessness,
including exploring alternative accommodation pathways for emerging
households.
·
Working with partners, make better use of data and AI to identify
homelessness risk, and develop intelligent and tailored solutions
to meet those risks.
·
Review the Council’s telephone triage service to encourage
access to help and advice at an earlier stage before homelessness
is imminent
·
Encourage community-based housing and homelessness prevention
advice in all parts of New Forest, building on our existing
partnerships with organisations including Citizens Advice, The
Crossings, and Youth and Family Matters (Totton)
·
Establish family mediation services, including home visits, to help
reduce the number of family and friends evictions which lead to
homelessness
· Conduct an options appraisal of young people’s pathways into housing in New Forest
The Council has been successful at reducing
rough sleeping to a minimum through effective use of government
revenue and capital funding to provide comprehensive outreach
support and specialist accommodation for people sleeping
rough.
The Council has also invested in specialist homelessness officers
working with the NHS on mental health and with probation on
ex-offenders.
·
Continue to provide a responsive and effective in-house rough
sleeping outreach service.
·
Maintain and strengthen links with Hampshire adult social care,
NHS, probation and the police, to prevent and tackle rough
sleeping.
·
Work closely with MHCLG as the RSI or replacement revenue funding
programme is relaunched from April 2026 to ensure the continuation
and development of New Forest’s successful rough sleeping
services.
The Council has been successful in improving
the quality of TA and reducing the use of both total TA and
emergency accommodation, but still has too many households in
emergency accommodation, including some families.
There is an acute shortage of accommodation in both the social and
private rented sectors which is affordable to New Forest residents
on low to moderate incomes.
Although there is access to Extra Care accommodation in New Forest
in partnership with Hampshire Adult Services, there is a shortage
of supported accommodation for people who do not meet the Care Act
threshold, including people who have experienced homelessness.
·
We will reduce the use of Bed and Breakfast and other emergency
accommodation for people experiencing homelessness to as close to
zero as possible, so that it is only used briefly in an emergency
and never for families with children for longer than 6 weeks.
·
We will review the Homesearch allocations scheme to ensure that it
is meeting housing need as effectively as possible, including the
needs of households experiencing homelessness.
·
We will continue to work with housing associations and developers
to maximise the development of new affordable housing in New Forest
and will work with the government to increase the planned total
beyond what is expected in the current development pipeline
·
We will build on our success of delivering 76 new units of council
owned TA between 2018 and 2024 through acquisitions, development
and conversions, by delivering more TA during the life of this
strategy. This will include taking advantage of new government
capital funding schemes such as the Local Authority Housing Fund
and any new capital funding to provide accommodation for people
with experience of rough sleeping.
·
We will review the terms of our current PSL scheme with a view to
expanding it as a means to reduce the use of emergency
accommodation in the future. This will include consideration of 10
year plus leasing schemes which have the potential to attract
additional housing benefit subsidy.
Over 90% of those assessed as being owed a homelessness prevention or relief duty in New Forest between April 2023 and September 2024 were assessed as having at least one support need including 62% with a history of mental health problems, 43% with physical ill health or a disability, 31% with a history of rough sleeping, 29% with a learning disability, and 28% who were at risk of or had experienced domestic abuse.
New Forest has access to Supported Living schemes in partnership with Hampshire adult services.
Funding for housing related support in New
Forest from Hampshire County Council has been ended from 2025/26
due to budget pressures.
There is limited access to floating support or supported housing
for people experiencing homelessness who do not meet the Care Act
threshold.
The Tourlands House scheme developed with the
support of MHCLG Capital funding provides accommodation for people
with complex needs and a history of sleeping rough, but does not
have on site support provided
The council has approved a domestic abuse strategy 2025 to
2028[6]
for formal consultation which is aligned to the Hampshire Domestic
Abuse Strategy 2023 to 2025[7],
and sets out how New Forest is implementing the Domestic Abuse Act
2021.
This includes a statement that: ‘NFDC Housing Services is at
the forefront of delivering services to survivors of domestic abuse
including providing early housing advice, housing options,
prevention and homelessness services to survivors. We also
engage with alleged perpetrators of domestic abuse, signposting to
specialist support services. We also provide a fully funded
additional security scheme, allowing victims survivors to remain in
their homes through enhanced security measures, should they
choose.’
·
The Council will provide additional tenancy sustainment support to
people at risk of homelessness and move on support to people in TA
through the recruitment of two additional homelessness floating
support workers to create a team of four workers in total
·
The Council will review its Extra Care community agreements to
ensure that extra care support can be delivered a cross a full
range of support needs
·
The Council will conduct a supported housing needs assessment and
develop a supported housing strategy in line with the requirements
of the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023, which
will include an assessment of housing related support needs for
those with experience of homelessness and rough sleeping
·
The Council will continue to work with partners to provide support
to people with mental health issues and ex-offenders who are at
risk of homelessness through the employment of specialist officers
in the homelessness team.
·
The Council will put the commitments in its domestic abuse strategy
into practice by strengthening measures to support victims of
domestic abuse to remain in their existing home if they wish to or
to move through a management transfer in order to avoid
homelessness and moves into TA for those victims.
New Forest District Council’s
homelessness service already works well with both county council
adult and children’s social services on both a strategic and
operational basis.
However, there are opportunities to develop this further, for
example building on existing joint work to provide housing and
support for Care Leavers which can avoid the need for the use of
homelessness temporary accommodation.
The common allocations policy in New Forest is effective at
ensuring that 100% of housing association properties, as well as
council properties, are let according to the priorities set out in
the policy.
New Forest enjoys good relationships with NHS services and Prison
and Probation services around homelessness and rough sleeping,
which has helped to reduce rough sleeping numbers and keep them
low.
The Council also works well with Citizens Advice and with The
Crossings and Youth and Family Matters, Totton to prevent
homelessness, including attendance of council officers to provide
housing and homelessness advice at voluntary sector led drop-in
sessions.
The Council now wants to do more work in partnership with schools and the County Council to help to prevent the likelihood of future homelessness.
·
The Council will explore ways to strengthen homelessness prevention
and early intervention through deeper relationships with Hampshire
children and adult services including clearer protocols, and making
better use of data to identify homelessness risk
·
The Council will review the quality of data collected from
applicants to provide improved analysis to inform service design,
and current and future partnerships.
·
The Council will explore opportunities to work more closely with
the voluntary and community sector to prevent homelessness and
provide relevant advice, including commissioning services when
appropriate. This will include developing relationships with groups
covering as much of New Forest geographically as is
practicable
·
The Council will consider expanding its work with Hampshire
children’s services to develop training flats for care
leavers and other vulnerable young people who would otherwise have
to go into mainstream TA.
·
Working with partners, the Council will explore opportunities to
deliver workshops in schools to help children to understand housing
pathways and learn important life skills including how to manage a
tenancy and how to budget.
· The Council will set up regular Homesearch partnership group meetings to strengthen joint work with housing associations
Performance and progress against each of the actions within this strategy will be reviewed annually in conjunction with members and stakeholders.
A transparent annual position statement will be produced to highlight our progress and how effective these measures have been in reducing homelessness and rough sleeping.
New actions and targets may be agreed if
further changes are made to national legislation and policy. It is
expected the Government will seek to work closely with Councils to
implement its new Homelessness Strategy, expected by the end of
2025.
The Portfolio Holder for Housing Services, working with the
Executive Head of Governance & Regulation and Service Manager
– Housing Options will lead the review of the delivery
plan.
In reviewing its strategy annually this council remains committed
to embracing amended policy direction and incorporating it within
annual updates.
|
Action |
Lead |
Timeline |
Resources |
KPIs |
|
Expand homelessness prevention team |
Housing Options Manager |
Q2 2026 |
HPG funding |
Team in place by Q2 2026 |
|
Staff training via Locata Academy |
HR / Housing Options |
|
Training budget |
100% staff trained by Q4 2026 |
|
Revamp website housing advice section |
Communications team and Service Manager Housing Options and Tenancy Accounts |
Q2–Q3 2026 |
Internal IT, Communications team and Housing Options staff |
Website live by Q2 2026 |
|
Review telephone triage service |
Housing Options |
Q3 2026 |
Internal review |
Increased early contacts |
|
Establish family mediation service |
Housing Options Manager |
Q4 2027 |
Commissioning budget |
Service operational by Q1 2027 |
|
Conduct Young People’s housing pathways appraisal |
Service Manager Service Manager Housing Options and Tenancy Accounts |
Q1 2026 |
Research budget |
Report published Q2 2026 |
|
Action |
Lead |
Timeline |
Resources |
KPIs |
|
Maintain in-house outreach service |
Housing Options |
Ongoing |
RSI funding |
<5 rough sleepers annually |
|
Strengthen links with NHS, probation, police |
Strategic Partnerships |
Q2 2027 |
Staff time |
Formal protocols in place |
|
Engage with MHCLG for RSI funding |
Service Manager Housing Options |
Q1 2026 |
Service Manager Housing Options |
Funding secured by Q1 2026 |
|
Action |
Lead |
Timeline |
Resources |
KPIs |
|
Review Homesearch allocations scheme |
Allocations Team |
Q1 2026 |
Internal review |
Scheme updated by Q1 2026 |
|
Deliver new council-owned TA |
Housing Strategic and Development Service Manager
|
2026–2031 |
Capital funding |
Increased units by 2031 |
|
Expand PSL scheme |
Service Manager Housing Options & Service Manager Resident Services |
On going |
Private Sector Landlord Liaison Officer |
New leases signed |
|
Reduce B&B use to near zero |
Housing Options |
Ongoing |
TA budget |
<10 families in B&B |
|
Action |
Lead |
Timeline |
Resources |
KPIs |
|
Introduce a Prevention Advice Service across the district |
Service Manager Housing Options |
Q1 2026 |
HPG funding |
Service in place. Number of users. |
|
Conduct supported housing needs assessment |
Service Manager Housing Options |
Q3 2026 |
Research budget |
Strategy published Q4 2026 |
|
Implement domestic abuse strategy |
Housing / DA Lead |
Q3 2026 |
DA funding |
Measures in place by Q4 2026 |
|
Action |
Lead |
Timeline |
Resources |
KPIs |
|
Develop clearer protocols with HCC |
Strategic Partnerships |
Q2 2026 |
Staff time |
Protocols signed Q3 2026 |
|
Review the quality of data collected from applicants |
Service Manager Housing Options / Housing Options Manager / Performance and Insight Manager |
Q4 2027 |
Staff time |
Requisite information is captured at receipt of application. Target KPI to be determined. |
|
Investigate developing “training flats” for care leavers |
Housing Options and Strategic / HCC |
Q4 2027 |
Capital funding |
Options available Q1 2028 |
|
Deliver school workshops |
Housing Education |
Q1 2026 |
Outreach budget |
4 schools reached by 2027 |
|
Set up Homesearch partnership group |
Allocations Team |
Q2 2026 |
Staff time |
Group meets quarterly |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Action |
Lead |
Timeline |
Resources |
KPIs |
|
Annual strategy review |
Service Manager Housing Options |
Annually |
Staff time |
Review published each year |
|
Bi-annual position statement |
Service Manager Housing Options |
Bi-annually |
Staff time |
Statement published Q2 and Q4 each year presented to Scrutiny Panel |
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rough-sleeping-data-framework-january-to-march-2025
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ending-rough-sleeping-data-framework-december-2023/ending-rough-sleeping-data-framework-december-2023?utm_source=chatgpt.com
[3] Based on 2021 data: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/datasets/subnationaldwellingstockbytenureestimates?utm_source=chatgpt.com
[4] There is a more detailed explanation of this in the New Forest Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Review