A framework for ending homelessness
How do we measure progress towards ending homelessness for good?
There have been many pledges to end homelessness and rough sleeping over the years. While progress has been made, none have seen sustainable success.
As a What Works Centre, we look for inspiration from other areas where extraordinary results have been achieved. We learned that, to be successful, you need a clear articulation of your goal and robust measures to track whether what you’re doing is working.
“When we've not made progress, it’s because we haven’t figured out what needs to change and measured our progress towards it.”
JEFF LIEBMAN
HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL
We need a definition
That’s why we have developed a clear and measurable definition of what the goal of ‘ending homelessness and rough sleeping’ means in practice. This shared meaningful goal provides the common language and focus that is needed to align efforts to end homelessness and rough sleeping.
Ending rough sleeping by preventing it wherever possible and, where it cannot be prevented, making it a rare, brief, and non-recurrent experience.
How can we measure progress?
We have worked with partners across the UK to co-design a simple but powerful set of indicators that will allow any area to understand how effectively homelessness and rough sleeping is in the area and track their efforts towards ensuring that, if it does occur, it is a measurably rare, brief, and non-recurring experience.
By working with the same definition and set of indicators about what it means to end homelessness you can experiment and compare what works and what doesn’t in areas facing similar challenges.
Prevented
Reduce the prevalence of people experiencing homelessness in the first place.
Rare
Directly tracking the prevalence of homelessness nationally and locally.
Brief
Identify people experiencing homelessness and supporting them into accommodation.
Non-recurring
Support people who have previously been homeless to not return to homelessness.
How will each nation measure progress?
Each nation in the UK has a slightly different way of measuring progress due to different policy commitments.
Soon we will be launching an interactive data dashboard that will take the elements of the framework and explore the data within them by local area. Get in touch If you want to stay updated on the progress of this work.
England
As of March 2022, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has been working with CHI to define how to meaningfully tackle rough sleeping in England.
View England's Framework
Scotland
Coming soon
Wales
Coming soon
Northern Ireland
Coming soon
Additional Reading
March 13, 2023
Using data to end long-term rough sleeping
In this blog, Fraser Nicholson, details the challenges faced by seaside towns like Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole, and how they're using the Ending Rough Sleeping Framework to help tackle the complex issue of rough sleeping.
Read more
February 28, 2023
Using data to guide and track work to end rough sleeping
Find out more about a new data-driven approach that will give fresh insights into the nature of rough sleeping in each area of England and help local leaders drive progress towards ending it.
Read more.png)
February 28, 2023
New data points the way to ending rough sleeping for good
A new data-driven approach to tackling rough sleeping will give fresh insights into the nature of rough sleeping in each area of England and help local leaders drive progress towards ending it.
Read more
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