Commissioning Homelessness Services: Building Good Practice

Over the last two years, Homeless Link has co-ordinated a Community of Practice (CoP) for local authority commissioners of homelessness services across England. Commissioning is an essential ingredient in designing and delivering effective services to end homelessness and this forum created space for peer support and sharing good practice. The forum topics were informed by participants as well as

The Commissioning Homelessness Services – good practice guidance.

The below provides insights from the discussions held within the CoPs, covering five good practice areas: co-production, addressing the increasing complexity of need of service users, finding buildings for services, substance misuse in commissioned services, and the impact of the Supported Housing (Regulation and Oversight) Act on commissioning.

Who is this page for?

This information is targeted at local government officers responsible for commissioning housing-related support services (e.g. hostels, supported housing, outreach services) for single homeless people with support needs.

Commissioning and Co-production

Co-production is a way of working that involves people who use health and care services, carers and communities in equal partnership; and which engages groups of people at the earliest stages of service design, development and evaluation. Co-production acknowledges that people with ‘lived experience’ of a particular condition or situation are often best placed to advise on what support and services will make a positive difference to their lives and is therefore an important part of commissioning.

Challenges

Effective co-production in commissioning processes can be challenging, with attendees sharing that:

• tight timescales for developing and submitting funding applications often made it difficult to carry out meaningful co-production of service proposals;
• procurement rules can be a barrier to incorporating co-production into tendering and contract management processes.

Good practice 

During the session, a number of services shared their good practice examples, further details of which can be found in the Commissioning Guidance:

• Medway Council where commissioners actively engaged with service users to shape and develop service provision in the area.
• Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s GROW (Getting Real Opportunities of Work) programme, embedding trainees in policy and commissioning work.
• Leeds City Council and the involvement of people with lived experience in the development of the Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme (SHAP) service.

Top tips

From their experience, attendees also identified the following ways in which commissioners of homelessness services could develop co-production in their area:

• Use existing co-production groups rather than trying to set up completely new ones.
• Draw on the experience of colleagues in health and social care settings, where co-production is often more developed.
• Create a dedicated resource for developing co-production, e.g. in one area, a MEAM Co-ordinator post had been transformed into a Co-production Engagement Officer post.
• Plan some way in advance of anticipated funding announcements to allow more time for co-production groups to develop.

Addressing the increasing complexity of need of service users within commissioning

As Homeless Link’s recent research shows, the needs of people experiencing homelessness are becoming increasingly complex, with higher levels of mental ill health, substance misuse, physical health problems, and experiences of trauma. This can affect the commissioning of supported housing services by requiring more flexible, integrated, and specialist provision, as well as closer partnership working between housing, health, and social care services.

Challenges

Effectively meeting the increasingly complex needs of individuals in commissioned services can be challenging, with attendees sharing issues such as:

• Limited funding
• Rising demand for services
• Shortages of suitable supported housing to meet the needs of individuals

Good Practice

During the session, services who contributed case studies to the Commissioning Guidance shared their good practice examples:

• Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council where commissioners worked closely with Health and Social Care teams within their area, and embedded co-produce early within the commissioning process. Slides here.
• Changing Futures Sussex who spoke about their approach to exploring opportunities for a more coordinated service offer for homeless people experiencing multiple disadvantage. Slides here.

Top Tips

Attendees identified the following ways in which commissioners of homelessness services could work towards more effectively meeting the increasing complexity of need of service users:

• A sustainable solution needs a multi-agency approach
• Data collection is important to provide evidence of the financial benefit of multi-agency working
• Co-location of agencies is ideal e.g. within community hubs
• Clinical psychologists are playing an increasingly important role in accommodation-based services

Finding buildings for services

Commissioners must ensure that supported housing is provided in buildings that are safe, suitable, and appropriate for the needs of the people using the service. The right accommodation can promote independence, recovery and wellbeing, while also providing access to local services, helping individuals achieve better long-term housing and support outcomes.

Challenges

Attendees shared the challenges they were facing when finding appropriate buildings for services:

• Particularly difficult to find larger properties suitable for 15-30 bed accommodation-based schemes.
• High property prices and rental costs, making accommodation difficult to secure within budgets.
• Ensuring buildings meet health and safety, fire safety, and accessibility standards.
• Speed at which properties needed to be purchased, and time frames for maintenance work to be completed to bring them up to the high-quality homes standard set.

Good Practice

During the session, presentations were given from:

• Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council about their Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme and how they procured 60+ homes. Slides here.
• London Borough of Camden about how they secured a 12 bed ‘rest centre’ during a SWEP activation, using a council building. Slides here.

Top Tips

Alongside the presentations, attendees shared general tips for securing suitable buildings for services:

• Think about the needs of people who will be living in the building – consider location, layout, security, space for staff.
• Get support from others in finding buildings e.g. local faith and voluntary sectors; local authority estate; civil resilience teams; asset management; facilities management; NHS estate; Business Improvement Districts; Regional Government.
• Start planning early – ensure you have budget, contracts or other agreements, permission to use the building and planning permission.
• Communicate with service users – co-produce wherever you can.

Substance misuse issues in commissioned services

Substance use is the most common health problem among people accessing homelessness services in England — reported in almost three quarters of respondents to our 2025 Unhealthy State of Homelessness research. Substance use and homelessness are deeply connected. Each can cause and worsen the other. Both are closely linked to trauma, adverse childhood experiences and mental ill-health. Commissioners need to ensure services are equipped to provide appropriate support, including effective links with specialist drug and alcohol services, to reduce harm and improve outcomes for individuals.

Challenges

Attendees shared a number of challenges in addressing substance use in commissioned services:

• Difficulties in getting appointments with mental health services for people who are actively using substances – lack of dual diagnosis support offers.
• Getting substance misuse services to do outreach in hostels can be a challenge.
• Lack of pathway for people coming out of detox programmes.

Good Practice

At this meeting, a presentation was given by Mike Ward, Senior Consultant from Alcohol Change UK, on The Blue Light Approach: Commissioning Services to high risk and entrenched dependent drinkers. Slides available here.

Alcohol Change UK’s Blue Light project manual provides a comprehensive guide to the types of practical intervention to be used. These include harm reduction, dietary approaches and motivational interventions.

Top Tips

• Establishing good working partnerships with Public Health colleagues is critical to addressing substance misuse in services.
• Outreach is the best evidenced intervention – the best approach is multi-agency management plus outreach.
• Without appropriate accommodation, dependent drinkers will find it hard to achieve any kind of reduction in harm or long-term recovery.

Supported Housing (Regulation and Oversight) Act (SHROA) and commissioning

The Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 introduces powers to create a licensing regime for supported housing, set National Supported Housing Standards for England and link the payment of Enhanced Housing Benefit to holding a supported housing license. It also places a duty on local housing authorities to undertake a current and future needs assessment and produce a supported housing strategy.

Challenges

Attendees shared the challenges that they were facing with meeting the SHROA requirements for local authorities:

• Governance processes are a challenge, particularly in relation to the procurement of the consultants to undertake this work.
• The length of time needed to carry out a needs assessment was seen as a major challenge, e.g. one carried out in Mansfield in 2025 had taken ten months.
• Another challenge was Local Government Reform and what stage that was at in the different areas.

Good Practice

During the session, presentations were given from:

• Policy Manager at Homeless Link, who gave an overview of the main provisions of SHROA before focusing on the requirement for local authorities to carry out a supported housing needs assessment and develop a supported housing strategy. Slides here.
• Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC), who explained why and how a supported housing needs assessment had been commissioned at their local authority. Slides here. More information on this is within a case study in our Commissioning homelessness services guidance.

Top Tips

• Setting up a taskforce to meet every couple of weeks has proven effective in managing the additional work resulting from SHROA.
• Start governance early: evidence moves faster than decision-making. Ownership, consultation routes, and senior sign-off need to be mapped before commissioning.
• Procurement time is real time: business cases, approvals, and mobilisation often exceed the analytical work itself.
• Be honest about scope: narrow strategies are easier to deliver but may not meet whole-system expectations.
• Design for delivery: evidence alone is insufficient without aligned resources, authority, and capacity.
• Plan backwards from impact: statutory timelines now require compressed, realistic end-to-end planning.

Connecting with other Commissioners

The Commissioners Forum series has now ended. However, if you are interested in connecting with other Commissioners', we have a Microsoft Teams Channel. Please contact: joanna.turner@homelesslink.org.uk if you would like to be added.