Facing a rapid rise in homelessness

The latest government figures show that between July and September 2023, 78,460 households in England were facing homelessness. Local authorities with statutory prevention duties have seen the number of eligible households rise by 16.3% in just 12 months.  

These stark figures exclude growing rates of hidden homelessness, where people are not yet known to local prevention services, yet these services are already facing overwhelming demand.  

There is also evidence suggesting that certain groups find it harder to access advice and support around housing and homelessness. Shelter, for example, report that there are specific barriers for women, and more than half of private renters are unaware of the help local authorities can provide. 

The London Borough of Newham and its partner councils wished to explore how advice and support might be provided to everyone, sooner, to prevent homelessness at a much earlier stage. After a successful submission to the Local Digital Fund, the partners commissioned our team to run the Discovery phase. 

The aim of the Local Digital Fund is to make local government services safer, resilient, and cost effective. The projects will help to create the next generation of local public services, where technology is an enabler rather than a barrier to service improvements, and services are user-centred. 

Prevention and Advice to Tackle Homelessness (PATH)

The PATH project emerged from Newham Council’s own experience at the frontline of the housing crisis. In December 2023, 1 in 20 of the borough’s residents were classed as homeless. Its relatively young and diverse population has led to high numbers of families affected by the benefits cap, compounding the cost of living pressures affecting all communities. Inevitably, Newham’s Homelessness Prevention and Advice Service (HPAS) is experiencing extraordinary demand. 

With a focus on enabling upstream prevention, the PATH project asked us to describe what Newham residents’ journeys were like in the lead up to using council services: 

• Did particular groups experience specific challenges?  

• Are there common factors in people’s routes to HPAS?  

• What are the user needs – and current awareness levels – in relation to information and advice?  

By finding answers to these questions and exploring the barriers residents face, the intention was to uncover digital opportunities to improve early intervention, potentially enabling Newham to become a testbed for a scaleable solution in the future.  

Taking a trauma-informed approach

Exploring the experiences of current and potential service users was fundamental to the PATH project. Our recruitment strategy included participants at risk of homelessness, those having experienced homelessness since 2020 but currently housed, and those currently experiencing homelessness. 

We set out to ensure inclusivity from the start, seeking wide representation across different user groups and putting empowerment at the heart of the process.  

We partnered with market research fieldwork experts Indiefield and leading inclusive community researchers People Street to strengthen our recruitment approach. These partners enabled us to reach the diverse groups of residents that were crucial for a holistic and inclusive research sample. 

“The project team provided safe spaces and a place for dignity and respect.”

– Shabira Papain, People Street  

We talked to 24 residents across Newham, Redbridge and Croydon, following trauma-informed research principles. This involved offering gender-matched interviews, giving people the choice to be engaged by phone, online or in person, and providing short guides ahead of each meeting. We were also mindful of the impact on participants, our team and HPAS as the interviews were taking place in the run up to Christmas 2023. 

“This team are extremely compassionate and fully understand the complexities involved in engaging the seldom heard and excluded members of our society. Participants at risk of homelessness often feel disengaged and ashamed so there are barriers to overcome not seen in mainstream market research recruitment. The recruitment team implicitly understand this and work hard to reassure and welcome respondents in a way that ultimately makes the participants feel valued and engaged.”

– Tara Lyons, Managing Director, Indiefield 

This user-centred research sat alongside desktop research and a series of mapping workshops with the partner councils to inform our understanding of the dynamics and dependencies of people’s lives in Newham. By speaking to caseworkers, we also built a picture of the impact of high demand on staff wellbeing and the services provided.   

Turning user research into prioritised findings

Our research indicates that the impact any single factor has on an individual’s risk of homelessness varies greatly. However, we created a four-group model to aid future discussion on the right kind of support based on each group’s capacity to self-help.  

In discussion with all partner councils, we then prioritised 5 key findings from our user research that could inform potential digital solutions.   

1. Residents are unaware of their housing rights, with information often presented in jargon or ‘legalese’. This means residents are misinformed, not seeking support, or coming to services already in crisis.   
2. Residents are unaware of the services available if they have housing or homelessness concerns. They may lack digital access, struggle with literacy or not speak English.  
3. Residents’ incomes no longer match their outgoings due to the cost-of-living crisis. They need support prioritising their finances so that they can feel in control. 
4. Caseworkers are over capacity, which translates into a negative service experience for residents. Caseworkers are frustrated with high workloads and receive large volumes of simple queries about existing or historic cases. 
5. There is a lack of high-quality and useful data about homelessness both nationwide and at a council level. This hampers both prevention interventions and current service provision. 

Identifying potential opportunities  

From our findings, we identified two potential solutions that could improve the information available to residents and free up capacity in prevention services.  

SOLUTION 1: New Information & Triage System 

What is it? 

A system to allow residents to receive information tailored to their personal circumstances and support better triage in and through HPAS.  

Why is it needed?  

Caseworkers are at capacity, but so are residents. They find it hard to get up-to-date answers to specific questions without contacting HPAS. 

How could it help? 

This new system could free up capacity in the case management process by removing the need to speak to an HPAS officer, providing multilingual information and promoting access to wider housing services ahead of a crisis. 

What are the next steps? 

The next phase could include establishing what data is available, how to collect it and how best to return statutory data (H-CLIC). It would also include creation of the right FAQs and consideration of the right tools to deliver it, such as chatbots.  

SOLUTION 2:  Accessible Information 

What is it? 

Clear summaries and jargon-free guides about housing and homelessness services.  

Why is it needed?  

Residents have low levels of awareness of their rights and of the support that’s available, and existing information is often full of ‘legalese’. This leads to confusion around entitlement and people arriving at HPAS in crisis.  

How could it help? 

More accessible information could free up capacity and build trust by offering clear content in multiple languages and reducing requests for clarification. 

What are the next steps? 

The next phase could involve co-creating content in conjunction with policy teams and residents, understanding accessibility needs and providing detailed service maps for enquiries and advice.  

Deepening the understanding of the dynamics around homelessness 

Our user research processes and final Discovery report have enabled Newham and its partners to build a deeper understanding of the factors causing homelessness and the constraints that are limiting capacity in prevention services. 

The completion of the PATH Discovery project has provided: 

• analysis of the specific factors that are leading to homelessness among residents across the five councils
  
• a workable model for understanding the common needs of residents in order to better target risk reduction strategies
  
• a comprehensive set of user needs for residents and caseworkers, spanning accommodation, advice, case management and more 
• detailed user stories that can inform future service changes, including the voices of residents from all experiences and backgrounds 
• a review of the technology landscape and its current limitations to inform future systems design
• opportunities for potential digital solutions that could help divert people from HPAS by providing better information sooner 

Newham Council is now working to take these potential digital solutions forward. Armed with the research and proof of concepts we have provided, they are seeking further follow-on funding to test and develop them in Alpha.  

“The project team’s commitment to inclusive recruitment of research participants and understanding of how to engage hard to reach groups in research enabled us to gain a much deeper understanding of the multiple contributors to homelessness.  The project team worked seamlessly with colleagues across the partner councils and their organisation, accountability and communication enabled the successful delivery of the Discovery in a challenging environment.”  

– Anna Trevena, Programme Director for Transformation, Newham Council