In July 2024, we supported Rother District Council to carry out a refresh of their homelessness and rough sleeping strategy. Homeless Link Associate Consultant, Helen Lewis, led the delivery of this project alongside our Head of National Consultancy Development, Sophie Price.
The challenge
There were many factors to consider for this project, including: the increasing levels of people experiencing rough sleeping, continued pressures on local authority budgets and the scheduled end of the rough sleeper’s initiative in March 2025.
Councils up and down the country have seen a major increase in demand for services for housing, homelessness and temporary accommodation, sending costs’ spiraling.
The approach
As this project marked Rother District Council’s first standalone homelessness and rough sleeping strategy, they were keen to ensure a cross-working approach of engaging as many people as possible, including those with lived experience of homelessness, stakeholders and service providers.
We led this collaborative approach through facilitated group feedback sessions, quantitative surveys and individual qualitative interviews.
This cross-working laid the foundation for updating data, service, and commissioning information and developing recommendations within the existing homelessness and rough sleeping strategy’s themes of prevention, intervention, and recovery.
The results
The key areas of the new strategy include:
- Increasing housing accessibility
- Improving the supply and quality of temporary accommodation
- Preventing more homelessness and rough sleeping
- Reducing homelessness and rough sleeping for people with multiple and compound needs
- Improving the quality and suitability of housing.
Moving forward
Homeless Link Associate, Helen Lewis, said:
"Working with Rother District Council on a standalone homelessness and rough sleeping strategy was a testament to their commitment to collaborative working, particularly in integrating lived experience into strategy development. Our collaborative approach has ensured that the strategy addresses practical, everyday challenges, from access to temporary accommodation to long-term housing supply.”
Councillor Ruairi McCourt, portfolio holder for housing at Rother District Council, said:
"Councils up and down the country have seen a major increase in demand for services for housing, homelessness and temporary accommodation, sending costs’ spiraling. Given the enormous pressure our housing budgets are under, it’s even more important for us to have a robust homelessness and rough sleeping strategy in place to help us manage future service provision.
“I am delighted that the work with Homeless Link has provided better engagement with groups and individuals – including those with lived experience of homelessness – and key stakeholders. It’s helped to deliver a strategy that addresses the most important issues that we and our partners are facing.”
