Local Housing Authorities must create and publish a strategy at least every five years that outlines how homelessness and rough sleeping will be prevented and relieved. This strategy has been developed in collaboration with the Leeds Homelessness Prevention Forum, our valued partners, and people with lived experience. This strategy replaces our Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2019-2022. It is designed to be a working document for the Council, the City, and our committed stakeholders, to reduce homelessness and rough sleeping and achieve our vision statement:
Leeds City Council is proud that the evidence from our data, and conversations with partners and those with lived experience indicates that we take the right steps for 90% of the people, 90% of the time, but we want to increase our success to build and develop our offer to get it right, all of the time, for everyone. The scope of this strategy will help the City deliver on upstream prevention priorities and provide the right support to people whether they:
The content in this strategy sets out how we will deliver our four ambitions over the next five years. It is important that our ambitions are flexible and adaptable to national and local changes and meet the needs of Leeds. The key to success will be in partnership working.
Education throughout the City to promote self-help options and accessing services at the earliest point, with a focus on under & overrepresented groups.
Reaching people whose homelessness is hidden from services and to prevent and reduce, repeat homelessness, rough sleeping, and youth homelessness in Leeds.
The Homelessness Prevention Forum has identified four key themes to enhance our intervention and recovery offer, particularly for rough sleepers or those at risk. We will drive forward the actions identified in partnership with the City.
Our approach must be integrated to make every person matter, and every contact count. We will expand our private sector offer and build on having the right and varied temporary and supported accommodation options.
A review was completed in January 2023 into homelessness and rough sleeping in Leeds which has informed the development of this strategy. The information and data analysis we have looked at covers both the period before and after the Covid-19 pandemic. Some homelessness statistics have been used from 2021/22, a year impacted by the pandemic where homelessness trends changed with some continuing into the 2022/23 financial year. We have summarised the key findings of the homeless review in this section.
Between the census of 2011 and 2021, the population of Leeds increased by 8.1%, higher than the average for England at 6.6%. There were 751,000 residents in Leeds in 2011, which has now increased to 812,000 in 2021.
The labour market profile on the ONS report highlights that 3.8% of the population of Leeds is currently unemployed. This is slightly higher than the average in Yorkshire and Humberside, which is 3.7%. In Leeds, 4.3% of the population is in receipt of Universal Credit, which is reflective of the main benefit people report being in receipt of when making homelessness applications. This compares higher than the national average of 3.7% and regionally, 4% in receipt of Universal Credit.
The percentage of the Leeds population living in social rented housing decreased by 1.5% between 2011 and 2021. The percentage living in private rented accommodation however, increased by 3.9% in the same period.
These have been consistently the main causes of homelessness throughout the term of the 2019-2022 strategy. Internal data for 2022/23 to date confirms this trend is continuing. We expect the end of private rented tenancies to increase over the term of this strategy with the introduction of the Renters Reform Bill, the cost of living crisis and the increased level of possession proceedings being seen now that the Covid-19 legislation has ended.
Experiencing domestic abuse or being at risk of was the second highest reason for approach during 2021/22. Significantly, approaches for applicants fleeing domestic abuse have increased by 5.4% since 2019/20. There is an ongoing Domestic Abuse Needs Assessment, and we will incorporate the findings into our approach.
75% of households approaching Leeds Housing Options at the point they are homeless, rather than when early intervention options are available, are single people. 55% of relief duties are owed to single males, and 20% of relief duties are owed to single females.
In 2021/22, 22% of prevention and relief duties were owed to young people between the age of 16 – 24. In particularly, 16/17-year-olds were over-represented with 3% of homelessness applications being made by this cohort. This is higher than the average in England of 1% and in Yorkshire and Humberside of 2%.
Black African, Caribbean, and Black British applicants are represented as 12.2% of homeless approaches during 2021/22, although account for 5.6% of the population in Leeds in the 2021 census. This indicates this group of people are overrepresented within homelessness and are therefore an at-risk group.
The number of homelessness applications from people disclosing physical ill health or a disability are increasing each year, with applications increasing by 2.8% in 2021/22 in comparison to 2019/20. During 2021/22, 28.4% of all households approaching as homeless stated they had a history of mental ill health, which is similar to previous years where 29.3% of all applicants disclosed the same support need.
Having reviewed the sexuality disclosed by people making homelessness applications, 65% of people ‘declined to answer’. This does not likely give us a full picture of how sexuality could be linked to homelessness in Leeds. We will review the way we collect this information and look at how and when we ask the question to make responses easier and more comfortable for people.
People who make a homelessness application must have their support needs assessed following the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017. Effectively being able to manage a tenancy and property is a core focus on preventing repeat homelessness. Whether an applicant is affected by mental or physical health conditions or struggles to manage the day-to-day upkeep of a home, having the right support in place can be vital for many people to keep them safe and in accommodation.
Not everyone will have a need for support, whilst others may have a variation of numerous or complex needs. Alongside working towards rehousing, areas for support are identified and partner referrals are made for specialist assistance. Of all homelessness applications received since 2018, three common themes for areas of support are emerging.
The Council currently has housing stock of c.53,500 which is reducing year on year through right to buy sales. Between 2020/2021 and 2021/2022, housing stock reduced by 795 units. The property type that was allocated the most in 2021/22 was one-bedroom flats, followed by two and three bedroom houses.
Through our Nominations Framework, the council has good existing relationships with partner Registered Providers. Our ambition is to expand this framework to maximise nominations to our customers. Our partner Registered Providers allocate 60% of their overall lets and 100% of new build lets (for the first three years) through Choice Based Lettings to our customers in priority need order.
Following the introduction of the Registered Provider Responsive Re-Housing Scheme, Registered Providers endeavour to directly allocate 5% of their overall nominations performance to urgent cases, for example, people that are homeless, in temporary accommodation or would be homeless within 3 weeks.
Leeds currently has two Council owned managed sites totalling 49 pitches. The Leeds Core Strategy (Policy H7) set an additional 62 pitch Gypsy and Traveller accommodation need for the period 2012 – 2028. The Council has an up-to-date Local Plan for Traveller’s through the Adopted Core Strategy (2014) and Leeds Site Allocations Plan (2019). The programme board for the delivery of future Traveller provision has been meeting since 2022 to deliver the provision of further settled accommodation as per Policy H7 of the Leeds Core Strategy. Funding is currently being investigated to deliver pitches on sites consulted on through the Councils Adopted Site Allocations Plan Policy HG-3. A recent bid to secure central government funding was unsuccessful.
The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 introduced two new duties that may be owed when a homelessness application is taken. These are the prevention duty, and the relief duty, defined by s.195(2) and s.189B(2) of the Housing Act 1996 (as amended). In both duties the Council must take ‘reasonable steps’ to assist the applicant to secure accommodation.
When the prevention duty is owed, the Council must first explore whether a stay put solution can be achieved in the applicant’s current home, where suitable. If this is not possible, help is given to secure alternative accommodation in a planned way. The relief duty is owed to applicants who are already homeless, and the Council must help secure suitable accommodation.
The reasonable steps that the Council will take in performance of both duties is agreed in a ‘Personal Housing Plan’ alongside actions an applicant may take themselves, or any partner agencies will take. The plan must be centred around the assessment of the households housing circumstances, support needs, and housing needs.
There are three main indicators of success that can be used as a national comparator: -
Prevention to Relief ratio – people approaching for assistance before they become homeless allows early intervention outcomes to resolve a threat of homelessness before a point of crisis. A higher ratio of prevention duties accepted to relief duties is seen as a positive.
Positive Prevention Outcome – Securing existing or alternative accommodation that is available for at least 6 months is considered as a successful outcome to end the prevention duty.
Positive Relief Duty outcome – where someone is homeless, securing accommodation for 6 months or more is considered as a successful resolution.
Leeds has maintained a strong prevention model over the last five years with the offer to people threatened with homelessness expanding and adapting. In 2021/22, Leeds saw 68% of people approaching for help at an earlier stage, compared to 46% nationally, with a positive outcome achieved in 84% of these cases, compared to 56% nationally. 74% of prevention duties were successfully ended by securing existing accommodation, and 26% by moving to alternative accommodation. On a national level, only 33% of prevention duties are successfully ended by securing existing accommodation, which highlights the high performance of the ‘stay put’ offer in Leeds. It is important that Leeds Housing Options continues this level of success by improving and adapting our prevention offer to overcome any potential disruptive factors identified in the homeless review during the term of this strategy.
Leeds successfully ended the relief duty by securing accommodation in 2021/22 in 53% of cases which is above the national average of 39%. Some examples of our prevention and relief activity targeted at the different stages of a customer journey are:
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| Advice Aid | Leeds offers an online self-help tool called Advice Aid that provides hundreds of pieces of tailored information to those in housing need. Through the Council’s website, people can answer a few questions about their situation to receive Leeds area specific proactive, supporting, and accessible online advice on their housing options, tenancy rights, and supporting agencies who could assist. It is a tool that can be utilised both before and after a homelessness application is made. |
| EvictAlert! | Leeds has a service for landlords to notify Leeds Housing Options of tenancy issues such as arrears that have or could lead to the service of a notice to end a tenancy. |
| Duty to Refer | Pathways, processes, and partnership working have been strengthened to increase referrals from public authorities under the duty to refer. The same process has been mirrored, with training offered, to our valued partners who are not under a duty to refer but are working with people experiencing homelessness or have a housing need and need an intervention. |
| Training | Leeds Housing Options offers training to other services and partners so that basic advice, and early signs of homelessness can be identified and referred at an earlier stage |
Leeds Housing Options work with households owed a prevention duty to assist them in either retaining their current accommodation or moving to alternative accommodation. We do this through a homelessness assessment where we learn about housing circumstances, housing needs and support needs. We then develop a 'Personal Housing Plan' setting out the reasonable steps the customer and Leeds Housing Options will take to try to prevent homelessness.
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| Landlord Support Team | Our specialist team negotiates and mediates with landlords and tenants where a notice has been served, or will be served, or when relationships have broken down to prevent evictions and offer a tenancy sustainment solution. This includes assistance with tackling rent arrears or providing interim financial topups to meet rent payments, with discretionary housing payment application support provided. Through partnership with the Department of Work and Pensions, the team help organise alternative payment arrangements of housing costs for those in receipt of Universal Credit. |
| Partnership working | To maximise support to people, referrals are made to partner and third sector agencies, including supported accommodation providers. Co-location is in place with some partners to support completion of assessments and knowledge building |
| Identification and resolution of barriers | Thorough assessments capture support and housing needs to inform tenancy sustainment approaches. We take a customer centred and restorative approach to assessing income and expenditure where affordability is a barrier. |
| Social housing supported in a planned way | Help is provided to join the Leeds Homes Register with appropriate priority awarded in accordance with the Council’s published lettings policy |
| Illegal eviction intervention | Officers provide advice to landlords intended for them to comply with due legal processes to prevent a tenant becoming homeless. Where this intervention is unsuccessful, referrals are made to the Private Sector Housing service to investigate further and consider prosecution. |
| Negotiation with friends and family | Discussions, mediation, and support to enable a household to remain at home and make a move to alternative accommodation in a planned way. The homeless review has highlighted this as being a strength in Leeds |
| Private sector consultation | A specialist team provides extensive advice on steps to be taken by the applicant to help secure affordable and suitable accommodation. The consultation includes capturing income & expenditure and the financial assistance that may be available from the service. |
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| Landlord Letting Scheme |
We promote landlords joining the scheme at no cost to access benefits such as:
Having a portfolio of landlords who make properties available to Leeds Housing Options allows us to resolve homelessness through safe, suitable, and affordable private sector offers to people in housing need. Leeds Housing Options facilitates the tenancy sign up and appropriate applications of benefits. |
| Private Sector Support | In some cases, the service may pay one month rent in advance and a deposit to secure a tenancy that a person has taken a reasonable step to find. The property must be inspected by Leeds City Council and the deposit held in a protection scheme to ensure it is suitable. |
| Registered Providers | Through the Responsive Rehousing Scheme, Registered Providers are assisting with the allocation of suitable accommodation to customers on the Leeds Homes Register in urgent cases, for example, that are homeless, in temporary accommodation or would be homeless within 3 weeks. |
| Hospital discharge | We have dedicated officers who work closely with hospitals and Adults and Health to identify inpatients who are ready for discharge, and are currently bed blocking, but with either no accommodation to return to or unsuitable accommodation. They also work with rough sleepers who have attended Accident & Emergency. The referral pathway via Duty to Refer enables Health departments to notify the team to ensure a swift solution can be achieved, temporarily or longer term. |
| Prison release | We have a small team who complete assessments for prison leavers. Our goal is that every prison leaver has had an assessment and a personal housing plan created before release. We have operated an Accommodation for Ex-Offenders Project since October 2021, specifically targeted towards re-housing offenders who are assessed as ‘not in priority need’. |
| Sanctuary Measures | Leeds Housing Options manages the Sanctuary scheme which enables victims and survivors of domestic abuse to feel safer in their homes by offering a range of security measures. These measures may ensure a victim-survivor can stay in their home long term or provide additional security while they source alternative accommodation. In Leeds, this support is offered by the Sanctuary Support Team which is made up of Domestic Abuse Practitioners from a range of community and third sector organisations who can offer ongoing support to people around their experience of domestic abuse. |
| Refugees | Early assessments for refugees who have received a positive immigration status decision from the Home Office and are required to leave NASS accommodation within 28 days. Swift housing solutions can be achieved with joined up housing and personal support with partners such as RETAS & PAFRAS. |
The Council is under a duty to provide suitable temporary accommodation (TA) to households who are homeless and have, or may have, a priority need. Priority need is defined in section 189 of the Housing Act 1996 (as amended) and outlines automatic priority need groups. An example of priority need is households with dependent children, or some single people dependant on their individual circumstances. Temporary accommodation is intended to provide a short-term option for people when there is no other accommodation available to them. We use the term ‘off-street’ provision to describe direct access accommodation available as a first point of offer.
In December 2022:
In December 2021:
The year-on-year comparisons show a significant increase in temporary accommodation need, with over a 580% increase in family placements. This has resulted in the use of bed & breakfast accommodation for families given the scarce availability of direct access family units to the Council. The City has seen an increase in families being evicted from the private sector since the short-term Covid-19 measures introduced by the Government to suspend possession proceedings and evictions came to an end. There continues to be effective, proactive, and early intervention partnerships working to take single people and rough sleepers into off-street accommodation and this has increased our single households in temporary accommodation. We see this as a positive in a step forward to achieving our overarching priority of reducing rough sleeping in Leeds.
When comparing the need for temporary accommodation provision against current availability, maximising throughput is an essential in meeting the continued need. Throughput is maximising the rate of move on from Temporary Accommodation into settled accommodation. This priority is challenged however, by the lack of available social and affordable private sector housing in Leeds, even more so for households who require three or more bedrooms. In adapting to this challenge, 2022 saw the creation of two roles within Leeds Housing Options which are dedicated to expanding our Private Sector Lettings Scheme, with a focus on procurement of landlords and property and maintaining relationships.
| Accommodation type | Provision |
|---|---|
| Family Supported Accommodation | 25 units across the city with varying number of bedrooms offered. |
| Off Street Provision | Somewhere Safe to Stay – this is a female only provision |
| St Georges Crypt – this offers two types of bed space, 9pm till 9am, and single person bed spaces in a lockable room | |
| Kingston Hotel (onsite support) | |
| Supported Accommodation and Move On Options from Off Street Provisions | Somewhere Safe to Live |
| Kirkstall Lodge | |
| Our Way Leeds – supported accommodation provision for 16-25 with an emphasis on young people and care leavers. There is one Intensive Supported Environment (Seacole) and 200+ dispersed units. | |
| Beacon Housing – 2 male Intensive Supported Environments (Oakdale, Grace Lodge), 1 female staffed intensive supported environment (Cross-Francis Street). 200+ units of dispersed supported accommodation. | |
| Regents Lodge | |
| Don Robbins | |
| Rough Sleeper Accommodation Programme (19 current in use units) | |
| Next Steps Accommodation Programme | |
| Ashlar House – an Intensive Supported Environment providing 15 bed spaces. |
Leeds is proud of the current level of provision it can offer and wants to continue maximising this to meet the increasing needs moving forward. Where placements are currently made outside of these provisions, it highlights the gaps in Leeds to set the basis for our future ambitions. We are also understanding of the cohort of rough sleepers that, for a variety of reasons, do not want to, or struggle to maintain, off-street placements.
Where demand or specific needs mean that our current provision is not available or suitable for a household, we are noting the level of unmet need. This is evidence to inform future procurement decisions.
In March 2020, the governments ‘Everyone in Directive’ as a result of the pandemic, not only brought challenges but also opportunities and locally, partners worked tirelessly to reduce risk, threat, and harm to people during this period. The city was able to undertake detailed consultation with people in hotels and supported accommodation to understand what would help them to move away and not return to the streets. The results of this helped shaped and influence local thinking as part of the ‘Leeds Asks’ the Leeds Transition and Recovery Framework’ and inform discussion with government representatives. Ten examples of the improvements and change are listed here:
Informed by our needs analysis, review of year-on-year comparisons, by our City stakeholders and our ambition to support rough sleepers, our vision is to take steps to achieve the following:
This ambition will improve the offer and increase the choice for people through having more specialist, gender, trauma, and psychologically informed environments. Leeds believes this is key in maximising engagement from service-users and a necessary step to reduce rough sleeping.
There are approximately 1,600 people in non-commissioned exempt accommodation. Through our recent bid for the Supported Housing Improvement Project, we will have dedicated staff seeking to engage with providers to improve the quality and support.
In September 2018, Leeds City Council’s Executive Board agreed a ‘step-change’ in how the city collectively approaches issues relating to people sleeping rough and/ or begging. As a result of the presenting issues at the time, the operational Leeds Street Support partnership was established. This is an integrated multi-agency approach for the ‘day to day’ function and delivery of services through Street Support. It connects with a range of statutory services, commissioned third sector organisations, charities, and community groups, who offer general and/ or specialist support services for people who are rough sleeping, and is an integral part of the wider homeless provision in the city. Since its inception, the one-team person-centred approach of ‘high support/ high challenge’ approach has developed within an adult social care risk management framework.
In January 2023, partners connected to Leeds Street Support have undertaken a review of what’s working, what’s promising and what requires improvement to identify and agree where local collaboration can achieve better outcomes. This work has informed and shaped the response to this new strategy.
Many lives have and continue to be turned around but as a city we are not complacent and there is a recognition more can be done. It is well documented that sustained rough sleeping on the streets is inherently harmful to the health and wellbeing of individuals and their personal safety. Rough sleeping is the most acute and visible form of homelessness. As such, locally reducing the scale and prevalence of rough sleeping will continue to be a priority, as no-one should have to sleep rough.
Are you concerned about people sleeping rough in Leeds? You can help and support change. You could be the one that opens a door to assist an individual on their personal recovery journey. If you do want to give help, donate to a local #homeless charity, or reach out 24/7 and tell Streetlink who will alert a local #LeedsStreetSupport service.
The Leeds Street Support Team carries out monthly single night outreach headcounts on the number of people found rough sleeping (asleep or bedded down) in the city. The graph here shows the trends of these counts, and the average ‘headline’ year count remains stable, lower than period before lockdown. Detailed analysis takes place, including a monthly return to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DULCH), to aid understanding and identify areas for improvement, so the partnership can focus on more efficient in supporting people.
Click to enlarge image
| Full Year | Individuals in Headcounts | % Change from 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 270 | – |
| 2020 | 186 | -31% |
| 2021 | 172 | -36% |
| 2022 | 231 | -14% |
The significant drop in rough sleepers during 2020/21 COVID lockdown periods reflects the impacts of “everyone in” agenda and increased funding and emergency accommodation provision.
In February 2023, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities published the Rough sleeping snapshot in England: autumn 2022 - GOV.UK.
| Autumn Count 2018-2022 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
| Leeds | 33 | 40 | 35 | 25 | 37 |
| Rate per 100,000 population | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
| Leeds | 4.2 | 5 | 4.4 | 3.1 | 4.6 |
The annual rough sleeping count is a ‘snapshot’ in time and like many other cities reducing the scale and prevalence of rough sleeping remains a significant challenge. The Leeds numbers do reflect the national increase when compared with 2021. Leeds is holding a ‘steady position’ when a per 100,00 population Core Cities comparator figures is used, with 5 cities recording a higher figure.
| Local authority | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol, City of | 86 | 82 | 98 | 50 | 68 | 58 |
| Manchester | 94 | 123 | 91 | 68 | 43 | 58 |
| Birmingham | 57 | 91 | 52 | 17 | 31 | 39 |
| Leeds | 28 | 33 | 40 | 35 | 25 | 37 |
| Liverpool | 33 | 15 | 17 | 10 | 20 | 36 |
| Nottingham | 43 | 34 | 30 | 31 | 23 | 27 |
| Sheffield | 20 | 26 | 29 | 24 | 18 | 15 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 10 | 15 | 21 | 13 | 9 | 14 |
Rate of people sleeping rough per 100,000 people by local authority district (Core City) Autumn 2017- 2022
| Local authority | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol, City of | 18.7 | 17.7 | 21.1 | 10.7 | 14.4 | 12.3 |
| Manchester | 17.2 | 22.5 | 16.5 | 12.2 | 7.8 | 10.5 |
| Nottingham | 13.1 | 10.3 | 9 | 9.2 | 7.2 | 8.4 |
| Liverpool | 6.7 | 3 | 3.4 | 2 | 4.1 | 7.4 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 3.4 | 5 | 6.9 | 4.2 | 3 | 4.7 |
| Leeds | 3.6 | 4.2 | 5 | 4.4 | 3.1 | 4.6 |
| Birmingham | 5 | 8 | 4.6 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 3.4 |
Of those recorded and found rough sleeping across Leeds in the last 12 months:
Like all population groupings, those on the street, at risk of and/ or returning to rough sleeping are not homogenous, they are ‘People First’ with unique personal experiences, histories, and circumstances. On average 12% new people are reported each month.
| Multiple and Complex needs | Housing, physical/mental health, and substance misuse are common factors, often combined with being in the criminal justice system. |
| Experience of Trauma | Often experienced in childhood/early adulthood, trauma regularly impacts self-care, and can lead to ‘destructive’ or ‘non’ forms of engagement with support. |
| Substance Misuse | Substances that may be used as a coping mechanism are linked with long term physical and mental health problems and escalatory behaviour/criminal activity. Linked to extended social network/community and the ease and availability of substances on the streets, it can reduce the likelihood of engagement in treatment & support. |
| Risk of Exploitation | Experiencing homelessness can increase vulnerability and bring about multifarious challenges – exploitation, risk of violence and abuse, trafficking, and involvement in organised criminal activity. |
| Mental Ill Health | Self-harm and general poor health is evident, with a variety of mental ill health problems impacting motivation for change, willingness to engage and, connect with support from friends, family and the wider community. |
| Crisis and Crime | A disproportionate number of people who are in contact with the criminal justice system and have been homeless are neurodivergent. ‘Push and pull’ factors keep people in a ‘revolving door’ cycle and a psychologically informed response is needed as an enhancement to conventional routes of support. |
| Social Network & Community | People living a street-based life make connections, form relationships, and feel part of an extended community. Most people want their own tenancy, but do not want to be isolated. |
These core commitments set out our intent to reduce the scale and prevalence of rough sleeping in Leeds. In everything we do, we will seek to adhere to and promote the principles of equality, diversity, and inclusion as outlined by Leeds City Council, with partners and with the people we serve.
A detailed Partnership Rough Sleeping Delivery Plan 2023/2024 will be developed, building on the work already in place, to enable the city to make the next ‘step change’ improvements. Our approach is designed to ensure that people are:
Services will renew and refresh their commitment to workforce assertive outreach practice (high support/ high challenge) through a strengths-based and risk management approach.
Working with and for people, to build trusted relationships and find solutions for individual needs.
Strengthen the city’s strategic partnership infrastructure to support the delivery of the new local strategy.
Focus on integration and added value in the system and/or pilot innovation programmes of change
Engaging and consulting with the community and partners through a ‘Team Leeds’ approach is fundamental in achieving our best City ambitions and reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. Delivered through Leeds’ quarterly Homelessness Prevention Forum, control was given to practitioners, service providers, partners and residents with lived experience all who had significant influence over the strategy, the priorities and the detail.
The Council took a new and innovative approach in consulting the City to better understand the priorities, the themes arising, and multi-agency actions needed to improve the offer. This process was designed to achieve qualitative data by the Council creating an open door setting for the community voice to feedback on issues and ambitions to overcome them. The collective forum identified four key themes –
The forum then divided into four sub-groups with members choosing the theme they wanted to contribute to. Each sub-group then elected a chair who was responsible for organising the sub-group over several months to agree on key areas and agree targets, plans and actions through a series of activities. One activity each sub-group completed was the review of two anonymised case studies to determine what would be the ideal outcome and how could it be achieved. Throughout the consultation process, the sub-groups took ownership of the work and using a bespoke framework, provided feedback to the Council.
The framework directed sub-groups to identify three main issues they’d like to address and for each issue consider:
Consultation reflected that the City successfully supports homelessness prevention for 90% of people threatened with homelessness or rough sleeping 90% of the time, but we must strive to also get it right for the 10%.
Leeds is proud to be nationally recognised as an example of good practice in tackling all forms of homelessness and this strategy aims to be a working document for Leeds to continue to strengthen our offer, but also deliver positive change on adapting our offer for small groups of people to ensure they get the right assistance at the right time.
Our ambition is to use this strategy to build stronger links with stakeholders and install ownership on the services in the City holistically, to deliver our ambitions together.
The needs analysis echoes feedback that the City effectively supports people experiencing homelessness, but the data is quantitative and recorded from those who approach the Council. It doesn’t reflect those who experience barriers in accessing services or under-represented small groups.
The data analysis for informing the themes and ambitions in this chapter is based on qualitative data collected from stakeholders and the Homelessness Prevention Forum. Using case studies, information held by services, and feedback from people with lived experience, the data collected was central to the sub-groups in defining their themes and actions.
It may be that more people are vulnerably housed or sofa surfing than we knew, and it is particularly apparent that certain, potentially vulnerable, groups are disproportionately affected by hidden homelessness and its negative impacts.
Our challenge is to reach those people affected in the first instance and ensure they then have access to the appropriate services and interventions; we are particularly interested in making help and services more accessible for young people, sex workers, and people from an LGBTQ+ background. We are seeking to ensure that pathways into services are accessible to those we know are hardest to reach and they take account of their specific support needs and characteristics.
There are people who frequently move through the homelessness system without progressing to a long-term housing solution. In some cases, securing accommodation is not an action alone that achieves a resolution to underlying causes of homelessness.
Underpinned by putting people at the heart of what we do, we strive to deliver compassionate and caring services, that reduce inequalities, overcome accessibility barriers for potentially vulnerable or under-represented small groups, and builds in homelessness education for the City. In achieving this ambition, the sub-group highlighted the importance of:
We will:
To deliver a holistic approach citywide, services will work jointly to utilise each of their specialisms to achieve early statutory intervention
A reduction of approaches at the point of crisis where early intervention options are limited and a reduction of general approaches due to the success of tenancy sustainment
Quick, effective, one-time homelessness assessment pathways that avoids repititon and re-living trauma whilst meeting statutory obligations
Common quantitative data reporting by stakeholders to quantify hidden and repeat homelessness in Leeds. Monitoring this data to understand impact on people and how successful the city actions are.
Services must be approachable, accessible and through specialist joint third party work, trauma and gender support should be integrated into services.
Engagement with under-represented groups experiencing homelessness to better understand barriers to accessing services and adapting the offer to meet the needs of everyone.
Leeds is fortunate to have so many different services, offering expertise and support on various aspects of prevention and responding to homelessness.
Whilst there is already a strong partnership approach in Leeds the vast range of services can present us with issues in terms of effective pathways and coordination, and duplication. It is therefore a priority through this strategy to further strengthen integration between services, ensuring as much efficiency as possible and effectiveness in terms of ensuring clients get the specific support and assistance they need.
To deliver the best service to people, which recognises and adapts to the diversity of our community, we want services and partners working together effectively and efficiently with an open communicative approach with a shared central goal of maximising homelessness prevention and relief. In achieving this ambition, the sub-group highlighted the importance of:
We will:
The different available housing pathways are mapped out showing how people can access housing and support services in a way they feel their needs are met. Pathways are clear and accessible and designed to be understood by services and people to promote intervention at the earliest opportunity.
Ability to capture all information at a point of engagement through a 'one-assessment' approach. The assessment would seek relevant permissions for referrals, and be the referral form itself allowing services and the housing authority to offer support, carry out statutory obligations without people having to repeat experience or re-live trauma.
To most effectively support people, information sharing and partnership working is key. Having one, central, GDPR compliant system for services supports stronger needs-lead approach in resolving homelessness through effective wrap-around support.
Demonstrable examples of people fluidly moving through clear housing pathways having had an awareness of which service will provide support at each stage, both prior and after re-housing.
The pandemic has helped services across the City to understand what the ‘right offer’ of accommodation looks like, both at an urgent intervention stage and a second, longer term stage. When decent accommodation, with food, wraparound support and most importantly its own front door, was offered to people, they accepted.
Drawing on extensive consultation with our service users, we are looking to ensure we have the right mix of accommodation available which will ensure sustainable tenancies and support our efforts in reducing the number of people sleeping rough in Leeds.
Having more choice of the type of emergency accommodation that can be offered and caters to the needs of people is key for increasing engagement, reducing rough sleeping, and achieving sustainable accommodation outcomes. In achieving this ambition, the sub-group highlighted the importance of:
We will:
The learning from the Covid pandemic highlighted that more choice of accommodation allowed the 'right offer' to be made. More choice will create more engagement and achieve more positive and sustainable accommodation outcomes
An increased availability of emergency accommodation that is informed by our needs analysis to achieve the right mix in meeting people's needs.
Maximising throughput from supported accommodation (in particular young persons supported accommodation) into permanent housing will maintain an increased level of availability in supported accommodation making it more accessible, and available sooner to those who need it.
Successful delivery by a working group on a new creative accommodation provision, such as Portable Housing Units, being used in Leeds
This priority recognises that eradicating homelessness, and specifically rough sleeping, isn’t only about a lack of accommodation.
Offering accommodation without addressing someone’s health and wellbeing needs is short sighted and often leads to tenancy breakdown, repeat homelessness and an already disadvantaged client becoming more so.
Through the strategy we will continue to broaden the system’s understanding and response to rough sleeping so that the health needs of individuals along with drug, alcohol and sexual health services are given additional importance.
In forming stronger links and information sharing between housing and health services, and where health needs and homelessness are linked, we aim to achieve earlier health interventions, tenancy sustainment, and successful accommodation outcomes by holistically delivering the right health, and housing support. In achieving this ambition, the sub-group highlighted the importance of:
We will:
Compliant with GDPR, robust and efficient data sharing in 'one system' that allows services to effectively work together, to ensure the right support is available at the right time for people.
Successful tenancy sustainment and facilitation of permanent accommodation informed by people's health needs. The approach will provide ongoing health support before and after an accommodation outcome with an ongoing focus on sustainment.
Housing and health services are able to support people to access the right housing assistance or right healthcare and mental health support they need through effective partnership working, that achieves successful tenancy sustainment and sustainable accommodation outcomes for people.
There needs to be clear and accessible information to increase the knowledge and understanding of homelessness in the City, and the various housing options available on a local level. Advice and information must support people to self-help, but also provide clear information about where and how to access services for assistance in resolving their housing need. Leeds has a strong network of partners, and we need to make sure that organisations can identify when a housing need may be arising and have the right information to give early, basic advice, and signpost to Leeds Housing Options for early intervention. Our homeless review has identified under and over represented groups of people, and we must make our service as welcoming, diverse and approachable to reach everyone and deliver the right support and housing options.
We will:
Identifying people who are at a higher risk of experiencing homelessness at the earliest opportunity is imperative. We must also be able to identify people who are at higher risk of repeat homelessness and work with partners to make housing solutions sustainable and long term by providing the right support at the right time. There are different groups of people whose homelessness is hidden from services and their approach to Leeds Housing Options is delayed until a point of crisis. It will be even more important to reach people at the earliest stage with the medium and long term impacts the cost-of-living crisis will have on people.
Reducing the scale and prevalence of rough sleeping remains a priority for the city and at the core of our ambition is preventing rough sleeping happening in the first place.
We will:
Our City Priorities section of this strategy explained how we consulted the City and set out the emerging key themes that were identified by Homelessness Prevention Forum. The City wants to develop how we work in partnership in these areas and by doing so, enhance our homelessness intervention and recovery offer. We must have the right services working with people at the right time to help people keep their homes, or quickly find a new one that is sustainable. For some people homelessness is a symptom of other difficulties happening in their life, such as drug & alcohol dependency, mental or physical health issues, domestic abuse, and lack of support. The recovery element to homelessness must be delivered in partnership with other statutory services, so that a housing option can be sustainable and long-term by concurrently addressing support needs and experiences.
Any instances of rough sleeping should be rare, brief, and non-recurrent. This must be a collective responsibility across the ‘system’ so:
When we work together, we have a better impact and can move closer to realising our ambitions, thus assisting people in turning their lives around and enabling them to make informed choices and decisions on their road to recovery.
We will:
The homeless review has highlighted how the affordability of the private sector is a barrier to people on a lower income or benefits, now exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis. Our Landlord Letting Scheme has been a great resource to secure someone quick affordable accommodation in the private sector to prevent or relieve homelessness, but the need for this outweighs the availability of properties on the scheme. Two Housing Procurement and Partnership Officer roles were created in 2022 which will be dedicated to expanding this scheme.
The ‘everyone in’ response during the pandemic created more choice for people who were rough sleeping or at high risk of doing so when being offered temporary accommodation and therefore, increased the levels of engagement. Having more temporary accommodation choice that meet the different needs of different people is important to maximise engagement and start the ‘homelessness recovery’ process to achieve longer term housing solutions.
Where possible, the experience of rough sleeping should be brief, and not recurring, so throughout the ‘pathways’ from street to home the ‘system’ must enable:
We will:
We will drive the Council and City ambitions through a devised action plan created and led in partnership with the Leeds Homelessness Prevention Forum. The chair of the forum and the Service Managers of Leeds Housing Options will jointly hold accountability for this.
We will put customers at the heart of what we do, where we learn from lived experience and effective handling of complaints to achieve a resolution within our published timescales and implement continuous learning throughout the service. We will continue with our open-door approach to listen to the community voice so that qualitative data and feedback can help shape future design but also benchmark our progress in this strategy.
By using two frameworks of top level performance metrics, we will monitor the success of our strategy and make progress available on an annual basis for call in to the Scrutiny Board, Leeds Strategic Housing Partnership, Strategic Housing Board, and Executive Board. The metrics used for rough sleeping in Leeds will go through quarterly reviews with performance and progress reported into the Leeds Street Support governance and accountability arrangements.
| Performance Measure | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Ratio of prevention applications accepted | Accepting a higher ratio of prevention duties indicates homelessness approaches are at an earlier stage and early interventions can be achieved. | 70% of cases accepted at prevention stage |
| Percentage of duties accepted vs ended | If more duties are accepted than ended, then open cases increase resulting in service pressures. Our aim is to successfully end equal or more duties than we accept. | Duties ended are equal to or greater than duties accepted. |
| Positive prevention rate of securing long-term accommodation | Securing existing or alternative accommodation for 6 months or more is a positive prevention outcome. Maximising this rate at the prevention stage is critical and helps manage temporary accommodation pressure | A positive prevention rate of 70% + |
| Ratio of prevention duties ended by retaining existing accommodation | Due to the availability of accommodation, securing existing accommodation for 6 months or more is important in managing cases and reduce pressure on temporary accommodation. | End 50% + prevention duties by retaining existing accommodation |
| Percentage of relief duties ended successfully through accommodation | Securing accommodation for 6 months or more is a positive outcome to relieve homelessness. | End 45% + relief duties by securing accommodation for at least 6 months |
| Percentage of single people homelessness prevented or relieved who are not in priority need | Ending prevention and relief duties towards single people not in priority need successfully, for example through utilisation of the AFEO scheme. | Increase % of successful ends to prevention and relief duty |
| Percentage of single people owed main housing duty | Monitoring the number of single people reaching main duty decisions to ensure that prevention and relief models are working effectively for single people. | Decrease main duty decisions for single people |
| Youth homelessness | In establishing effective joint protocols for young people with Children Social Work Services, particularly 16 and 17 year olds, we should be reducing the currently above national average numbers of homelessness duties owed to young people. | Reduce to 1% of applications in line with national average. |
| Use of Bed & Breakfast as temporary accommodation for customers with family commitments | Bed and Breakfast should only be used as temporary accommodation in exceptional circumstances where there is no other available temporary accommodation. Its use should be minimised as much as possible | Reduce numbers of households with children in B&B and no households with children in B&B for more than 42 days. |
A suite of new rough sleeping information and performance metrics will be introduced in 2023, and all local authorities will be expected to monitor and report on them as part of the government ambition to end rough sleeping. The intention is for a total of 8 new metrics to be introduced, but the initial requirement will be to report on 5 set out below. It is recognised that totally preventing anyone from sleeping out is an unlikely ambition, so the aim is that any instances of rough sleeping are rare, brief, and non-recurrent.
Leeds will use the following outcome framework to monitor the success of the rough sleeper elements of this strategy in its commitments to reduce confirmed numbers.
| New Performance Metrics |
|
| Rare R1 |
Number of people rough sleeping in your area (count and rate per 100,000 population)
|
| Prevent P1 |
Number of “new” people seen rough sleeping in your area
|
| Prevent P2 |
Number of people seen rough sleeping after being discharged from institutions in last 85 days.
|
| Brief B1 |
Number of people experiencing Long-Term rough sleeping
|
The Strategy has been designed in the context of a challenging financial backdrop and the financial risk to the council has been considered should homelessness pressures increase further, particularly temporary accommodation costs. Existing service delivery and the resourcing of the target outcomes of this Strategy is largely budgeted for by grant funding.
The two largest grants received by the Council for delivery of homelessness and rough sleeping reduction are from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities. These are the Homelessness Prevention Grant and Rough Sleeper Initiative. The Homelessness Prevention Grant is used for the running of the homelessness service covering spend on staffing, homelessness prevention and relief activity, and temporary accommodation. The Rough Sleeper Initiative is used for funding support staff and accommodation, including specialist provision.
The preventative and early intervention themed Strategy aims to prioritise homelessness prevention, tackling root causes of homelessness to minimise the need for temporary accommodation. Temporary accommodation costs are high with almost all placements being above the local housing allowance. The Government Housing Benefit subsidy rules for temporary accommodation leave a financial gap for the council and an increase in this would see further cost pressures on the council.
Temporary accommodation costs at current levels can be accommodated by the council, but any increase would put spend pressures on the authority.
In 2023/24, the Council is set to receive a total of £5,056K grant funding to support activity in reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. This equates to 54% of the total Leeds Housing Options budget.
Successfully achieving our ambitions and target outcomes set out in this Strategy is important in achieving both the best outcomes for people in line with our Best City Ambition, but also reducing the risk of increasing further, the existing cost pressures on the council.
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