Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy

The current strategy was written in 2020 and covers the period 2020 to 2025. The relevant documents can be downloaded below.

• Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2020-2025 [7.33MB]
• Spelthorne Borough Council Homelessness Review 2014-19 (Final) [1.16MB]
• Equality Impact Assessment for the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2020-2025 [261.39KB]

Review of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy

We carried out a comprehensive review of our current work, which informed the content of our new strategy. The revised strategy is based on a review of all forms of homelessness within Spelthorne. This is called a Homelessness Review.

The purpose of a Homelessness Review is to establish the extent of homelessness in Spelthorne, identify future trends and any gaps in the service currently being provided. To achieve this, the review assessed:

• the levels and likely future levels of homelessness in the borough
• activities that are carried out which prevent homelessness, secure accommodation for homeless people and provide support to people who are or may become homeless
• resources available to carry out these activities

It's important to remember that these dates may change depending on operational requirements.

How you can have your say

We launched a public consultation on the emerging strategic priorities. This consultation ran from midday on Monday 2 December 2019 to midday Monday 13 January 2020. The consultation consisted of an online questionnaire which was available on our dedicated consultation website. We also placed notices on our community notice boards, and provided hard copies to local libraries. We considered the findings from the public and stakeholder consultation and reported to Cabinet in March 2020.

Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy Outcomes

After considering all the feedback from our stakeholders and residents, we have reached six priorities to tackle and prevent homelessness and rough sleeping in Spelthorne.

These six priorities are:

• end the use of private sector emergency accommodation
• reduce the length of stay in temporary accommodation
• nobody sleeps rough in Spelthorne
• increase use of the private rented sector for homelessness prevention and relief
• invest in staff training and development in order to improve the customer journey within the Housing Options service
• improve partnership working to prevent and relieve homelessness

A more detailed action plan is incorporated into the strategy which proposes how we aim to achieve these priorities.