Sonia Denham, Petrus Managing Director, argues that to deliver the National Plan to End Homelessness, better support for the frontline staff who are key to ending and preventing homelessness is vital.
As with all articles in our Breaking the Cycle series, the views expressed by the author are their own.
Introduction
The ambition to end homelessness is one shared across the sector. Yet while much attention is rightly focused on housing supply, prevention and support services, there is another challenge that receives far less attention: the wellbeing and resilience of the workforce delivering these services every day.
During my MBA research at the University of Chester, I explored the factors affecting employee wellbeing and resilience within Petrus, a homelessness charity supporting people across Greater Manchester and Lancashire. What emerged was a clear message. Staff remain deeply committed to their work and the people they support but are operating within increasingly challenging systems that place significant pressure on their wellbeing.
If we are serious about ending homelessness, we must also be serious about sustaining the people working tirelessly to achieve that ambition. Findings from my research highlight why workforce wellbeing should be viewed not as an organisational issue alone, but as a sector-wide and system-wide priority.
What Petrus does
Petrus has been supporting people experiencing homelessness, poverty and social exclusion for more than 50 years. Working across Rochdale, Oldham, Burnley, Bury and Bolton, we provide Supported Housing, Homelessness Prevention services, Housing First, Employment and Training support, and community-based support.
Every day our teams work alongside people facing some of the most complex challenges in society, including homelessness, poor mental health, substance dependency, domestic abuse, offending histories and poverty. Supporting people through these challenges is rewarding, but it also requires staff to navigate increasingly complex systems and growing levels of need.
How local authorities, funders and government can deliver on their commitments
My research identified a significant tension. Staff reported strong levels of engagement, supportive relationships with colleagues and managers, and a genuine sense of pride in working for Petrus and within the sector. At the same time, they described increasing workloads, emotional strain and frustration caused by wider system pressures.
One of the most important findings was that resilience is not simply an individual characteristic. Resilience is shaped by the environment people work within. Factors such as staffing levels, decreasing funding, workload, access to support, leadership, reflective practice, housing availability and wider system performance all influence how well staff can sustain themselves within demanding roles.
This has important implications for policymakers and commissioners.
Too often, conversations around resilience focus on helping individuals cope better. While wellbeing initiatives have value, they cannot compensate for structural pressures that sit beyond the control of frontline staff or their employers.
To support a sustainable homelessness workforce, local authorities, funders and government should:
- Recognise workforce wellbeing as a critical component of service quality and organisational sustainability.
- Ensure contracts are funded realistically, reflecting increasing complexity and demand.
- Invest in long-term rather than short-term service models to reduce instability and uncertainty.
- Create commissioning approaches that support reflective practice, learning and staff development.
- Acknowledge the emotional labour involved in homelessness services and resource services appropriately.
These changes are achievable and would strengthen both staff wellbeing and service outcomes.
What needs to change
One of the strongest themes from the research was the impact of system pressures on staff wellbeing. Team members frequently described the frustration of supporting people to make positive changes but being unable to secure suitable housing or move-on opportunities because of wider shortages in the housing system.
In homelessness services, staff are often managing the consequences of system failures that sit beyond their control. They are supporting people through trauma and crisis while simultaneously navigating barriers relating to housing, welfare, health services and funding constraints.
Many participants described the emotional labour involved in the role. They spoke about carrying the emotional weight of supporting people through difficult situations, managing disappointment when positive outcomes were not achievable, and balancing compassion with professional boundaries while navigation the impact of cost of living pressures and often, short term funding and employment cycles personally.
Yet despite these challenges, there was also a remarkable level of commitment, purpose and pride. Staff consistently spoke about the difference they make, the support they receive from colleagues and managers, and their dedication to the people they serve.
This presents both an opportunity and a risk.
A positive culture can help organisations navigate difficult periods, but culture alone cannot compensate indefinitely for increasing demand, staffing pressures and under-resourced systems. If we continue to rely solely on goodwill and commitment, we risk burnout, recruitment challenges and workforce instability across the sector.
A call to action
The homelessness sector has a workforce filled with passion, expertise and commitment. My research found that what supports resilience most effectively is not asking people to become tougher but creating the conditions that allow them to thrive.
If we want to break the cycle of homelessness, we must also break the cycle of increasing pressure on the workforce responding to it.
That means moving beyond viewing wellbeing as an individual responsibility and recognising it as a shared responsibility between employers, commissioners, funders, local authorities and government.
The people working to end homelessness are one of the sector's greatest assets. Investing in their wellbeing, capacity and resilience is not a distraction from ending homelessness, it is essential to achieving it.
Article written by Sonia Denham, Managing Director at Petrus
Interested in learning more about the homelessness workforce? Homeless Link's 'Mapping the homelessness workforce' research, published in 2025, explores the profile and experiences of the homelessness sector. Homeless Link is also delivering part of the National Workforce Programme on behalf of MHCLG, you can read more here:.
If you are interested in writing your own Breaking the Cycle blog - outlining the changes you think are needed to deliver the National Plan to End Homelessness - please contact Stefan Donnelly using the details below.
