Brighton housing scheme expands to support homeless

A service providing housing and additional support for people with a history of rough sleeping in Brighton is expanding to help more people.

Brighton & Hove’s Housing First service started in 2014, initially helping eight people, but it has grown rapidly as part of the response to supporting people sleeping rough through the pandemic.

By the end of this year, the service is expected to support around 60 people, and is currently supporting 50 homeless people.

The Council has also secured extra funding for housing-led support based on the Housing First model and will be extending the service further to help 30 more people.

Housing First offers personalised support for people with a range of complex needs and a history of rough sleeping, providing the security of a home first before exploring additional intensive support to help people recover from homelessness.

The service is run on behalf of Brighton & Hove Council by St Mungo’s, with each person receiving the support of a project worker who provides regular contact and assistance and links up with a variety of other organisations and agencies.

Cllr David Gibson, co-chair of the Housing Committee, said: ‘Housing First has a proven track record of helping the most entrenched homeless people who have been failed by regular homeless services. For this reason, we pledged in our manifesto and in the joint housing and homelessness programme to treble Housing First provision.

‘I am delighted that this has been achieved already and heartened to see how it is helping people pick themselves up from rock bottom. There is always more needed and it would be great if we can find the resources to expand and help achieve a long-term solution for more people who have been on the city’s streets on and off for years.’

Stephen Brett, Housing First service manager at St Mungo’s, added: ‘Housing First represents an exciting moment in service delivery, a chance to try something genuinely different for people who have exhausted many of the pre-existing resources the city had to offer. The accommodation is dispersed across the city, consciously so. We believe that for some people living within a congregated setting hinders their chances of moving away from homelessness.

‘We also acknowledge that there are challenges inherent within this offer and work hard with people to reduce the risk of isolation, maintain regular and consistent contact, co-ordinate support and provide motivation and encouragement.’

In related news, a new £4m specialist housing development in Newcastle is now under construction. 

Photo by Evgeny Klimenchenko