Working together to end homelessness
Ending homelessness requires coordination between many different agencies, including charities and housing associations, community and faith groups, local authorities and other public services, as well as people with lived experience. Yet in many areas joint working remains under-developed, dysfunctional or absent. Too often this results in inefficient ways of working as efforts are duplicated or confused, while the needs of people who are homeless remain unmet.
Homeless Link is funded by the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities to support partnership development across England and from London Councils for specific work in the capital. Some of the approaches that we use are shown below:
Our Partnerships Managers
Chrystalla: London
Catherine: East & East Midlands
Ellie: South East
Rose: South West
Steve: West Midlands & North West
Sirea: Yorkshire & Humber, North East, Lancashire & Cumbria
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Chrystalla Karvella
Partnership Manager (London)
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Catherine Storey
Partnership Manager (East & East Midlands)
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Ellie Mullin
Partnership Manager (South East)
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Rose Smith
Partnership Manager (South West)
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Steven Barkess
Partnership Manager (West Midlands & North West)
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Sirea Jabar
Partnership Manager (Yorkshire & Humber, North East, Lancashire & Cumbria)
Types of support
- Forum development, charters, frameworks and pathways
- Operational protocol development
- Critical friend, local strategy development
- Workshops, consultation and stakeholder events
- Bespoke 1-2-1 support for specific, identified needs
- Regional leadership events bringing senior leaders together to identify and address challenges
- Facilitate coproduction with people with lived experience
- Skill development and training e.g. systems leadership
- Conflict resolution e.g. mediation and relationship repair between the LA, VCS and faith groups
- Homeless Winter Transformation Fund - supporting organisations to develop applications reflecting best practice models complementing local strategic responses.
Examples of partnership building
Hull City Council
Homeless Link to help explore opportunities for strengthening the relationship and understanding between non-commissioned organisations and Hull CC. Read the case study.
Stoke on Trent & Liverpool City Councils
Homeless Link facilitated stakeholder engagement in both these cities around bids to the Rough Sleeping Initiative
Basildon Homeless Forum
Homeless Link established a new forum bringing together all the local stakeholders
Reading BC
The Homeless Link Partnership Managers lead the stakeholder engagement for Reading to assess local provision of services.
Northampton
Homeless Link (HL) supported Northampton to mediate and build more positive relationships between the local authority, community groups and faith groups.
Redditch and Bromsgrove
Provided support and guidance in the establishment of high quality Housing First programmes
East Sussex Homelessness Forum
Invited by the local MP to strengthen collaboration between local organisations working on homelessness
Talk To Us - Nationwide
Talk To Us - London Plus
The London Plus Project is a partnership between Homeless Link and Shelter, and is funded by London Councils as part of their Grants Programme 2022-26.
The aim and mission of London Plus originates from our specific grant funding of:
- “Improving the response to homelessness in London (working with housing and homelessness organisations and professionals)”
Some useful resources
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Creating Effective Partnerships
Improving local joint working to end homelessness.
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Working Together toolkit
Developing relationships with Job Centre Plus.
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The Manchester Homelessness Partnership
Sharing the learning from Manchester's co-produced, grassroots response to homelessness.