New four-year Housing First contract will help support more people away from homelessness

“The Greater Manchester Housing First Partnership has been awarded a new four-year contract to continue to deliver both the GM Housing First and the GM Rough Sleepers Accommodation Programmes,” writes Mike Hughes, Programme Lead, Greater Manchester Housing First .

“This means that the Great Places led partnership will be able to continue to support over 350 people in their journeys away from homelessness, including taking more people on to the programmes over this period.

“Over the past six years, the Housing First partnership’s work with the members of GMHP has been the bedrock of our success as they have provided the majority of the homes into which we have supported people. Even though each person is a name, to put some figures behind this, in the last six years the Greater Manchester Housing Providers have enabled us to create 439 Housing First tenancies and to offer a further 130 managed moves or rehousing when these have been required.

“The partnership working across GM between GMHP and us is rightly seen as transformative and a beacon of best practice nationally, and we are often approached by providers and commissioners from across the UK to understand how we have gone about building these strong links.

“We always tell them we are lucky to have GMHP and the can-do attitude of housing providers across GM who collectively want to make a difference and to address the homeless issues in the city region. At the same time we are clear that walking alongside both our housing providers and the people we support, in the spirit of partnership, is essential. It takes hard work to make a difference and to help stem the flow of homelessness.

“We are excited by the opportunity to continue, and committed to ensuring we build on our collective achievements to date.”