On 18 January we held our first think tank workshop to explore the challenges and potential opportunities around our strategic issue of homelessness, housing and temporary accommodation.
We wanted to bring together a range of cross sector organisations to have an open discussion about how we can deliver change, and on the day our think tank members did just that.
The think tank is made up of Subject Matter Experts from key stakeholder groups involved in tackling homelessness, including local authorities, housing associations and third sector organisations. The think tank members provided a huge amount of insight with the help of a lot of post-it notes.
Aims of the day
- Shape our understanding of the issues and barriers faced within the sector
- An opportunity to share knowledge
- Discuss how we can target London Ventures programme resources to support existing initiatives, scale best practice and identify new solutions
- Consider how to complement and support other initiatives happening across London
- Consider potential solutions that would deliver improved outcomes for service users and help support delivery teams, especially front line workers
The day saw a lot of engaging and positive discussion around the issues surrounding homelessness and some key areas of opportunity to explore around the following themes:
Prevention
- How we can manage demand, using preventative interventions to minimise the number of individuals and families accessing help at crisis point?
- How can we empower individuals to have sustained tenancy, not only via social housing?
- What role does data analytics play in identifying those at risk early?
Service delivery
- What different assets can be used to better manage demand and how can these be utilised collectively?
- How do we build consistency in our approach and use the collective power of joined up local authorities to manage payment to private rental sector (PRS)?
We came away with a long list of potential solutions and opportunities identified for London to tackle the strategic issue of homelessness, housing and temporary accommodation.
Find out more about how we’re tacking homelessness at the London Ventures launch.