Housing First is an evidence-based approach, which uses housing as a platform to enable individuals with multiple and complex needs to begin recovery and move away from homelessness.  

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The initial pilot ran from April 2019 to March 2022 and was commissioned by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) with funding from Ministry of Homes, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
 
The initial pilot was an incredible success and we reached the target set of 330 rehoused in the three years across all 10 Greater Manchester boroughs.

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In the Second Year of operational delivery, the partnership conducted a competitive tender process to recruited new Delivery partners to the Pilot.

 

This was in response to specific unmet need identified during the first year of operation, these unmet needs include those of: Young People, Vulnerable Women and those with significant involvement with the Justice system. The Partnership grew from eight partners to 12, with Early Break, Humankind, Community Led Initiatives (CLI) and Manchester Action on Street Health (MASH) joining the GMHF Partnership.
 
Great Places Housing Group is the lead partner, alongside Riverside; Petrus (part of the Regenda Group; Jigsaw Homes Group; Stockport Homes Group; Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust, The Bond Board and Creative Inclusion along with new partners MASH (Manchester Action on Street Health), Community-Led Initiatives, Early Break and Humankind.

 

New funding was secured following a new competitive tender for an additional two years with ring fenced funding and a 12 month further extension clause to be funded from the Rough Sleeper Initative (RSI) funding stream.
                                                                                                                                                                                 
Properties to rehouse people have been provided by Social Housing organisations, Private Rented Sector and the Ethical Letting agency. The majority  properties have come from the Greater Manchester Housing Providers partnership, which was part of the original bid discussions and has backed the GMHF partnership with accommodation since April 2019.

 

The partnership
The pilot is co-ordinated by a Central Team at Great Places and they are supported by Zone Leads, Team Leaders and Housing First Workers who work for the Delivery Partners.

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The pilot was organised into four zones and the partnership set up with a lead delivery partner in each zone:

Zone A – Manchester.                                    

Zone lead – Riverside, MASH (Manchester Action on Street Health)

 

Zone B - Bolton, Bury and Rochdale.              

Zone lead – Petrus (part of the Regenda Group), The Bond Board, Early Break

 

Zone C - Oldham, Stockport and Tameside.  

Zone lead – Jigsaw Support, Stockport Homes Group, Community-Led Initiatives

 

Zone D - Salford, Trafford and Wigan.            

Zone lead and lead partner - Great Places, Humankind
 
Each Delivery Partner has a Housing First team consisting of a Zone Lead, a Team Lead(s) and Housing First Workers (HFWs).
 
Each Team Lead is responsible for six HFWs, importantly the caseloads of the HFWs is limited to six to seven referred people to allow for high levels of bespoke and intensive support to be delivered.