THE Greater Manchester Housing First pilot is celebrating helping the 200th person into a permanent home of their own.
The pilot, one of three commissioned nationally along with similar projects in the West Midlands and Liverpool, reached the landmark despite the restrictions brought about by the global pandemic.
Of the 200 people who have been supported, 97 of that total have been helped into their own home since April 1, 2020, just after the first national lockdown was enforced.
Emily Cole, Programme Lead, said she was delighted to have hit the milestone in the most exceptional circumstances.
She said: “Our dedicated workforce from all across the partnership has worked tirelessly to help some of the most vulnerable people in the region.
“This impressive number is the culmination of hundreds of hours of engagement work behind the scenes, and a journey that has been supported by our dedicated delivery teams and our wider housing and support partners.
“And with tenancy sustainment rates of 88 per cent, we have been able to prove that Housing First can work at scale.
“We are nearing the end of our second year and there is still an awful lot of hard work to do as we go into year three.
“Our wider hope is that the pilot is extended beyond March 2022 and that the approach is more widely adopted nationally as it has measurable benefits for individuals with complex needs that have faced multiple exclusions.
The pilot expects to have moved 330 people into their own home by the end of the pilot on March 31, 2022.
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham said: “I want to say a huge congratulations to the team at Greater Manchester Housing First. We have had no evictions and 88 per cent of tenancies have been sustained and we are just so proud of what has been achieved under the Government pilot.
“We want to say to the Government, as we look to improve the national response to homelessness coming out of this crisis, please make Housing First permanent and move it beyond the pilot as it is clearly working and we think it should be adopted nationally and permanently.”