We’re asking residents to share their views on tackling homelessness and rough sleeping in the city. Your responses will help shape the council’s approach over the next five years.
The survey on developing the city’s new Homelessness & Rough Sleeping Strategy 2020-25 is open until 8 December.
We’re after views on the three core priorities the strategy will focus on - prevention, intervention and sustainability. We are also seeking views on a homeless bill of rights for the city.
The new strategy will bring together two current strands of work, in line with the government requirement for local authorities to review and combine their homelessness and rough sleeping strategies.
As well as residents, we’ll be talking to community and faith groups, voluntary and public sector partners and the business community.
Following the engagement process, a draft strategy will go to the Housing Committee for approval in the new year. The final strategy will be in place by April 2020.
With 9,000 households on the housing waiting list and more than 1750 households currently in emergency and temporary accommodation, tackling homelessness and rough sleeping is a key priority for the city.
Early intervention is a key part of the strategy. In 2018/19, the council’s early intervention team helped nearly 400 households avoid becoming homeless.
Support services have also helped more than 500 people sleeping rough in the city in the past year.
The latest street count in September showed 78 people sleeping rough in the city – the exact same number as in September 2018.
