The strategy is aimed around three pillars: Prevention, Intervention and Recovery. Prevention focuses on providing timely support before someone becomes homeless, such as supporting people who have been released from prison into accommodation. Intervention focuses on ensuring that anyone who in crisis gets targeted support to get them off the streets. Recovery focuses on supporting people to find a new home and quickly rebuild their lives.
Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, James Brokenshire prefaces this report with a call for ‘businesses, communities and the wider society to come together and help make rough sleeping history’.
The government are keen to bring new sources of funding into the sector through social impact investing. A part of this is through leading the way with Social Impact Bonds. The strategy states,
‘These models provide an opportunity to address perennial challenges in society by bringing together the public, private and voluntary sectors to drive innovation with a focus on delivering outcomes. Social Impact Bonds allow service providers the freedom and flexibility to provide a bespoke service, while the taxpayer only pays for successful outcomes.’
The report refers to the £15 million Fair Chance Fund, that enabled multiple social Impact Bonds to be set up to target homeless young people over 3 years to improve accommodation, education and employment outcomes. The Fair Chance Fund evaluation report found that after two years, 86% of young people participating entered accommodation and 400 qualifications were achieved.
MHCLG believes that, ‘There is a clear role for social investment and social impact bonds…they are crucial tools and we are working to develop a new pipeline of social investment opportunities.’ They are clear that they will deliver an expanded social investment market, including Social Impact Bonds, in their 2027 vision.
View the GO Lab project database to see the different social impact bonds across the country that seek to tackle rough sleeping and homelessness. The GO Lab will continue to work in close partnership with MHCLG on developing the rough sleeping SIBs over the coming years.