Turning Tides Homelessness
Helping homeless people to secure and sustain a permanent home
In the UK, homelessness is on the rise and there is a well-documented housing crisis. The number of people sleeping rough is estimated to have increased by 19% between 2023 and 2024.
Traditional methods of addressing homelessness in the UK are through what is known as a staircase method. People are contacted, move into hostel-style supported accommodation, then into lower- support “move-on” accommodation before finally securing their own property and leaving the service.
However, in many other countries a Housing First model is used. For example, it has been adopted widely across the USA (it was first developed in New York in the 1990s) and has become central to the national homelessness strategies in Canada, Denmark, Finland and France.
In the UK, Sussex-based homelessness charity Turning Tides has adopted a Housing First programme. It provides a stable home first, alongside person-centred, holistic support with no specified end point.
Its operations and business development teams worked together to launch the programme and funding was granted by the Henry Smith Foundation.
The Housing First team works in partnership with registered social landlords and local authorities in Worthing, Horsham, Mid-Sussex and Crawley.
To ensure it is offered to people with the correct level of need, there are referrals from local authorities and an internal referral process.
Once an individual has moved into accommodation, key workers help ensure they are receiving benefits they are entitled to, are registered with healthcare providers and with other support available.
The Housing First project has worked with 37 people since it began, of which 22 are now in permanent accommodation and supported.
Awards judge Katie Ghose, CEO of KIDS, commended the project’s innovation and scope for scalability, “because goodness knows do we need fresh approaches to ending homelessness”. She said: “It was a relatively small number of clients but there are good reasons for that, because they’re actually trying to support people in a really wholehearted way, and to not give up on them.”
Martin Edwards, CEO of Julia’s House, described it as an “excellent project which meets service users where they are on their journey without judgement”.
CC Reg. no. 1027832
