Homelessness

LSE Housing and Communities are currently working on three projects around homelessness.

We are currently undertaking a two year research project with London Borough of Newham around their homelessness and rough sleeping strategy. This strategy has received increased priority following the May 2018 Mayoral election. A two year study, it seeks to monitor the progress in reducing the level of UK and non UK rough sleepers overall in the borough. There is a particular focus on how effective it has been to link rough sleepers with specific needs into health, mental health, substance misuse, and job focused programmes. The research involves both detailed analysis of the available data on rough sleeping and programmes implemented, and qualitative interviews with rough sleepers.

LSE Housing has also been commissioned to carry out an evaluation of Newham's Housing First pilot, an innovative new approach towards homelessness prevention which provides housing as the preliminary step, enabling support and wraparound services to be established, but does not insist on accessing these services as a prerequisite for accessing housing. The aims of our evaluation are to understand the prior experiences of the target group in sleeping rough in Newham; to understanding the effectiveness of the intervention; and to assess the cost of the intervention and its benefits.

Our third project, funded by LSE's Knowledge Exchange and Innovation Fund, is an evaluation and evidence review of Housing First projects, both in the UK and in the wider European context, where Housing First has been established for a number of years. We will bring key stakeholders, policymakers and on the ground organisations together to find out what works, and what the key challenges are. The main output for this research will be a practical case study guide of effective Housing First and homelessness projects.