Homelessness Prevention Strategy 2024

Overview

The City of Wolverhampton Council is consulting on the proposed priorities and outcomes for the new Homelessness Prevention Strategy.

We are keen to get input from the residents, City partners and other professionals on the proposed priorities and outcomes, so that your views influence the plans and inform decision making.

The Strategy sets out the steps the city of Wolverhampton needs to take to help tackle homelessness.

The proposed priorities for the Homelessness Prevention Strategy are:

1.       Advice and Guidance - Encouraging City residents to make informed decisions about their own housing choices and options by providing access to a diverse range of advice and guidance services and tools, that will alleviate homelessness.

2.       Support - Establishing quality and consistent support to prevent and relieve homelessness.

3.       Emergency and short-term accommodation - Enabling households who are ‘roofless’ to access a safe temporary place of shelter.

4.       Move on accommodation - Ensuring that safe, suitable and affordable accommodation is accessible to prevent and relieve homelessness and will be delivered working with City Housing

The causes of homelessness are often connected to a wider set of more complex circumstances, and not all people facing homelessness face the same challenges.  There are often multiple structural, societal and economic issues at play, alongside inequalities. The loss of paid employment, health issues, substance misuse, domestic abuse and/or relationship breakdown are common contributing factors. 

Homelessness is an umbrella term covering a range of circumstances.  You are experiencing homelessness if you have nowhere to stay and are living on the streets, but you can experience homelessness even if you have a roof over your head.

Homelessness does not just refer to people who are experiencing rough sleeping.

The following housing circumstances are examples of homelessness:

• people without a shelter of any kind, sleeping rough.
• people living in hostels, shelters, refuges or other temporary circumstances.
• people staying temporarily with family and friends (‘sofa surfing’).
• people who are threatened with eviction.
• people living in unfit housing or extreme overcrowding.
• people having to leave their home because of domestic abuse.

Why your views matter

The aim of the consultation is to obtain views from residents, City partners and other professionals regarding the proposed priorities and outcomes for Wolverhampton’s next Homelessness Prevention Strategy.