Housing First

 

Regenda Homes is a part of a consortium that has been awarded the Housing First bid in Greater Manchester.

Led by Great Places Housing Group, the consortium will help to deliver 400 new homes for people previously sleeping rough across all 10 local authority areas of Greater Manchester.

Working with Petrus Community and the Bond Board, Regenda Homes is the zone lead in Rochdale, Bolton and Bury. Regenda will also lead on co-production for the project.

The project has been split in to zones and is already seeing great results in Oldham, Tameside and Stockport. Housing First will be rolled out in Regenda's zone late summer 2019.

Other partners in the consortium include Riverside, Jigsaw Homes Group, Stockport Homes Group and Greater Manchester Mental Health. 

 

What is Housing First?

Housing First is an evidence-based approach that uses housing as a platform to enable individuals with multiple and complex needs to begin recovery and move away from homelessness.

Unlike other supported housing models, individuals do not need to prove they are ready for housing and will not need to move through different accommodation services. There are no conditions placed on them, other than a willingness to maintain a tenancy agreement.

There are seven Housing First principles:

  • People have a right to a home
  • Flexible support is provided for as long as it is needed
  • Housing and support are separated
  • Individuals have choice and control
  • An active engagement approach is used
  • The service is based on people's strengths, goals and aspirations
  • A harm-reduction approach is used.

 

Co-production

The consortium has made a commitment to co-production, engagement and partnership working: staff, people who access services, and people with lived experience will be involved in the design and delivery of the service through co-production.

Regenda Homes is the lead for co-production on the Housing First Steering Board. Involving people who use the service will form part of performance monitoring.

 

Case study

John* has spent 20 years living a chaotic lifestyle, including substance abuse, mental and physical health issues and numerous prison sentences before achieving total abstinence in 2015.

In 2017, John began volunteering at Petrus. John has gained a vast amount of knowledge and has become an integral part of many co-production services. Due to his lived experiences, John has contributed to help improve Petrus' service delivery efficiency.

John has also presented to Rochdale Council and other organisations regarding the Homeless Reduction Act and has recently secured a fixed-term position with Petrus, where he engages with rough sleepers and beggars in Rochdale.

*John is a fictional name to protect his identity.

 

Paddy's story

Paddy Paddy is a part of the co-production team, helping to shape Housing First to better fit the people using the service. He said: “Housing First is innovative and creative. It’s a different approach and a different way of tackling things”.

Read Paddy's full story here

 

 

 

 

 

Regenda is your partner of choice for Housing First. Contact us today to find out more about how we could work in partnership to achieve this together.

For more information about Housing First, visit: www.gmhousingfirst.org.uk