Local authorities across Wales continue to face growing pressures across the homelessness system, including rising demand for prevention services, challenges in the provision of temporary accommodation, and barriers to securing sustainable move-on housing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In response to these challenges,\u00a0the Wales Centre for Public Policy (WCPP) and fellow What Works Centre, the Centre for Homelessness Impact (CHI),\u00a0launched an open call\u00a0inviting local authorities to\u00a0submit\u00a0expressions of interest for evidence support. More details\u00a0on this process\u00a0can be found\u00a0here:\u00a0'Exploring how evidence can help address the temporary accommodation crisis<\/a>'\u00a0\u00a0 Following a review of the submissions received, WCPP agreed to support CHI to deliver a three-month \u2018What Works\u2019 Evidence Sprint with two participating local authorities: Flintshire and Ynys M\u00f4n. A What Works Evidence Sprint is a time-bound, intensive programme of collaborative work designed to help partners rapidly generate, test and apply evidence to improve decision making and frontline delivery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This Evidence Sprint consists of three structured sessions delivered over a three-month period. The sessions are currently being delivered, focussing on upstream prevention (intervening earlier to address factors that lead to homelessness, as opposed to homelessness itself) with the aim of reducing the number of people entering or re-entering the homelessness system, easing pressure on crisis services, and reducing reliance on costly temporary accommodation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Both local authorities\u00a0are\u00a0being\u00a0supported\u00a0to build\u00a0a stronger understanding of how their homelessness systems are\u00a0operating,\u00a0identify\u00a0key pressure points, and consider how available evidence on\u00a0\u2018what works\u2019\u00a0can inform service design and delivery.\u00a0It is\u00a0anticipated\u00a0that the outputs from the Sprint will help to inform\u00a0Housing Support Grant Needs Assessments<\/a>\u00a0due in 2027, which in turn will support future commissioning decisions on local prevention services.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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