WGPlus (Archive)
Increased priority with the colder weather |
Peter Smith (Head of Partnerships at Homeless Link) looks at how partnership working is enabling a new approach to rough sleeping prevention; As Head of Partnerships, I’m always very interested in getting involved with new and different ways of working to prevent homelessness, particularly when it involves a number of partners. One example of this is a particular piece of work that has been undertaken across the three London Boroughs of Hackney, Tower Hamlets & the City of London Corporation called No First Night Out. Since becoming responsible for our national partnership work in July, I have had the pleasure of being part of the steering group for this initiative, and it has been great to see how taking a new approach can start to make a difference. This is further demonstrated by the reference to No First Night Out in the recently announced DCLG Homeless Prevention Programme. It is obvious to all of us that prevention & early intervention really can make a difference in someone’s life, and actually preventing somebody from sleeping rough at all while offering them a clear alternative is surely the best possible response. With No First Night Out this has already been achieved in a variety of ways. |
Researched Links: |
Homeless Link: No First Night Out demonstrates early successes – (HL: How innovative legal help is supporting destitute migrants DCLG Homeless Prevention Programme Street Legal January 2016 - Homeless Link What is the cost of not ‘fixing the problem’? ‘Housing’ is not just about ‘home ownership’ The basic issue is that they often find it hard to ‘cope with life’ |