WIREDGOV

This summer, 10 homelessness professionals from England & the United States took part in a Transatlantic Practice Exchange (TPE).  5 front line staff from England travelled to the USA, and 5 from the USA visited England, to explore different ways of delivering homelessness services.  All asked a single question: ‘what can we learn from each other's most innovative practices?’  Homeless Link has now published their answers in a single volume.

The nature of public services in England is changing.  The perception of and the public value that they create is being challenged.  The TPE was designed against this backdrop to provide a space for new thinking about the ways that we deliver services.  There are 2 overarching themes in the reports from the English participants – the need for therapeutic interventions and the need to challenge the short term nature of support in the UK.

• Homeless Link:  10 professionals, 2 countries - Transatlantic Practice Exchange 2014 - what can we learn from each other's most innovative practices?
• £23m to help homeless turn around their lives
• Lowest earners three times more likely to suffer from poor sleep
• The basic issue is that they often find it hard to ‘cope with life’
• What ‘training’ have they had in coping with running a home (that’s if they even get given accommodation)
• The Government has reduced the NEET numbers, can they do the same for the homeless?