Move-on

The issue of ‘move on’ from homeless supported housing has been an increasing challenge for services due, in the main, to the shortage of available affordable accommodation.

According to Homeless Link’s 2016 Annual Review, 30% of clients were ready to move on from supported housing but were not able to do so. In this context, homelessness service providers have had to innovate in order to increase the instances of successful move on for homeless people, and this report explores how organisations are responding to this challenge.

For the services and clients we spoke to, move-on meant many things: transitioning between accommodation towards more long-term housing, or to other forms of supported accommodation where this was needed. People also saw it as increasing confidence and resilience to become more independent. The report provides in-depth case studies about how different local services have approached the issue of move-on and some of the learning from what works.

Of course, move-on doesn’t happen in isolation from external factors which we know are creating pressure – high rental costs, low LHA rates and lack of resettlement support can all present barriers. But as the Government is looking for solutions to ending rough sleeping, we must see sustainable move-on as a key part of this. We hope the research provides some ideas and learning about how these can be achieved.