Agenda item

Homelessness continues to be one of the most significant challenges facing Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. Demand for assistance has risen sharply, driven by rising private rents, household income pressures and increasing complexity of need. In 2024 to 2025, BCP Council determined that 2,767 households needed formal intervention because of their homelessness or threat of homelessness, representing a doubling of demand compared with 2020. Rough sleeping reached a peak of 193 individual people seen over the month of July 2024 before beginning to reduce through targeted outreach, expanded supported housing and strengthened multi agency work.

The proposed Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2026 to 2031 sets out a long term, evidence based and partnership led plan for reducing homelessness and rough sleeping across the area. The Strategy is fully aligned with national Government priorities on homelessness and rough sleeping, including the emphasis on earlier prevention across public services, national commitments to reduce families and children in Bed & Breakfast, rough sleeping and the monitoring of performance within the Local Outcomes Framework.

Developed through comprehensive review, extensive engagement, consultation and strong lived experience input, the Strategy presents a shared ambition to make homelessness in BCP rare, brief and unrepeated. It reflects updated statutory data, changing system pressures and learning from recent years. Approval will help BCP Council and its partners strengthen prevention, reduce unsuitable temporary accommodation usage, improve multi agency practices and support people to secure and sustain safe and stable homes.

This report sets out the approach taken to developing the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2026–2031, outlines the emerging strategic direction, and seeks the Committee’s input, noting that the detailed Delivery Plan is in its final stages of development and will be presented alongside the Strategy for Cabinet approval in May 2026.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Regulatory Services presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'B' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

Public Report 

Homelessness continued to be one of the most significant challenges facing Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. Demand for assistance has risen sharply, driven by rising private rents, household income pressures and increasing complexity of need.

Progress has been made across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole which was not only measurable but human. The impact over the past five years, the partnership approach had transformed the way we responded to homelessness. We created more than 275 new support accommodation claim placements. The somewhere safe to say service continued to prevent people slipping into rough sleeping in the hardest moments.

Some of the most inspiring progress we made was in prevention work. We saw more than a 30% increase in prevention outcomes in the last year alone, keeping significantly more people in their homes and preventing crises before they unfold.

BCP had worked really closely with private landlords and enhanced the relationship to catch those issues, early services like let's talk, renting, youth, family support and enhanced triage meant that more households than ever were able to remain in their homes or find suitable alternatives.

There was a dramatic fall in the use of bed and breakfast accommodation from over 140 families in B & B’s for well over the statutory 6 week limit to over a year of no families in B & B’s for over 6 weeks. 

This was noted as good work but there was still work to do there were still families in who were struggling which was why the strategy was important.

The strategy had been very well consulted on with various partners and people with lived experience.  The things that were stated that mattered the most were even earlier intervention, stronger integration with health and wellbeing services and compassionate and consistent support.

The strategy set out a clear hopeful direction in which homelessness in BCP became rare, brief and unrepeated. BCP were committed to changing the narrative around homelessness, challenging stigma and building empathy.

The Chair reported that the Chair of Health and Adult Social Care O & S reported to him that it was quite high level and didn’t seem mention mental health support.  That ensuring that those with mental health or medical conditions were an essential part of helping people with homelessness and rough sleeping. The Chair agreed that there was not a lot of detail around the homelessness and rough sleeping and was there any scope to include that with the document. It was stated that there was a lot of mentions of health and there had been a constant push from the partnership, partners and organisations.

The delivery plan would be evolved over time and within that health colleagues would help shape some contents and contents of the delivery.

Regarding rough sleeping, the committee were informed that every week there was a multidisciplinary team of organisations including health, social care, housing and voluntary and community sector each week. Rough sleeping only constituted less than 10% of people that are homeless or impacted by homelessness.  The delivery plan for the strategy would look at not only health but wider groups of people, families and other single adults.

There were a number of people in locked in bed and breakfast currently both single people and couples because it was really difficult to find the correct solutions to move them onto.

It was reported that success was more in the human stories, there were some people who had been sleeping on the streets for years and years and the team continued and helped to try and engage and after a long period of time and the team managed to get them into homes, get jobs and get them back on their feet.  It was also to try to reduce rough sleeping as low as possible, maintaining families out of B & B for long periods and to try and reduce the stigma and the attitudes towards people who are homeless.

RESOLVED that

Environment and Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee;

i) endorse the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2026–2031 and consider any further improvements ahead of consideration at Cabinet in May 2026

1.     ii) supports the co-production of the Delivery Plan with people who have lived experience and through a working group of Homelessness Delivery Board members.

2.     iii) consider how future updates of this area of work might be considered for scrutiny.

3. The Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee may wish to consider this item with the delivery plan as part of their work planning.
4. This item to come to E & P committee to see progress in the future.

Voting: Unanimous