Funding Homelessness Prevention

The Funding Homelessness Prevention research report, published in September 2024, aims to define the parameters of an ideal voluntary and community sector funding programme to advance homelessness prevention in England.

It is the second of two outputs of the project ‘Prevention into action: a route map to local solutions’, which aims to produce a step-change in efforts to prevent homelessness in England through a more coordinated and upstream approach to policy and funding.

The project is led by Homeless Link, in collaboration with Cardiff and Heriot-Watt universities, and funded by the National Lottery Community Fund.

The research had two key objectives:

1. To assess the current scale of grant funding available for homelessness prevention activity across England
2. To collaboratively define the parameters of an ideal programme of sector support to radically advance the prevention of homelessness at local level across England

Underpinning this analytical work was a five-stage typology of homelessness prevention comprising universal, upstream, crisis-stage, emergency-stage and repeat prevention levels.

The research is based on an analysis of funding awarded to homelessness projects by National Lottery distributors and grantmaking organisations and an in-person workshop with representatives from funders, local authorities and Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) providers.

This report (downloadable below) is accompanied by the first project output, the Prevention Into Action report, which identifies gaps and opportunities for locally-led homelessness prevention in England.

Key findings: Voluntary and Community Sector funding landscape

• Almost £78M of funding was allocated to by grantmaking organisations to homelessness prevention activities across England during the calendar years 2021-23.
• The overwhelming message is that funding is concentrated downstream, and a very low proportion is oriented towards universal and upstream prevention. More than £27m was spent on emergency-stage projects, equivalent to nearly 35% of all spend. By contrast, upstream prevention accounted for only 0.7% of all funding – approximately £530,000.
• This downstream focus reflects a context whereby funders and VCS providers are targeting those in most immediate need of assistance, often filling service gaps that statutory homelessness services ought to be meeting
• Nearly three quarters (73%) of all projects are funded for twelve months or fewer although there are a number of projects clustered at longer, annual intervals (24, 36, 48 and 60 months), showing that longer-term funding is not uncommon and some funders are clearly supportive of this approach.
• Short-term funding often creates challenges, for example in relation to staff recruitment and retention, but it is likely to be even more challenging if any future funding is targeted at more upstream interventions, where entirely new services might need to be developed, embedded and sustained.
• Research participants overwhelmingly support a potential upstream prevention funding programme but cautioned that it that any future upstream-oriented funding must not be implemented to the detriment of emergency- and crisis-stage spending. Local authority and VCS partners are facing considerable challenges and they were very clear that upstream funding should be additional to any existing support.

Key findings: towards an ideal programme of sector support

Reflecting on the findings of our analysis of funding data, and the perspectives of local authorities, VCSE partners, and funders, the following parameters of a future funding programme emerged:

1. Act on universal prevention. Support local actions to promote more universal measures that reduce homelessness risks at a community-wide level by addressing poverty and bolstering key protective factors in the housing, work, welfare, education and relationship spheres.
2. Focus on upstream prevention. The focus should be on upstream prevention but only if funding is additional to support for existing emergency-stage provision and careful consideration is given to the scope of upstream interventions.
3. Support collaborative working, with the VCS and people with lived experience at the centre. There should be support for effective and impactful collaborative approaches, involving a wide range of potential actors from the outset. The VCS and people with lived experience of homelessness will need to play a pivotal role in this approach..
4. Enable innovation and flexibility. Funding should enable flexibility, innovation and a degree of risk across the life of a project, including through core/unrestricted funding where appropriate.
5. Provide longer-term funding. Providing longer-term funding of at least 3-5 years would enable partnerships to develop, capacity to build, services to embed, and eventually impacts to be realised. Funding may include development grants and project sustainability should be considered from the outset.
6. Support longer-term, impact-focused, evaluations and share. Evaluation expertise should be funded to enable assessment of longer-term project impacts and lessons should be shared, potentially through some form of nationally-led, programme-wide forum.
7. Consider place-based approaches. Consider including place-based approaches, where projects clearly complement existing provision and are shaped by evidence of local need.
8. Make funding accessible to a wide range of organisations across England. Ensure funding application process are accessible to all sizes of organisations, avoiding overly bureaucratic and burdensome processes. Moreover, organisations across all English regions should be encouraged to access the funding.