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Homelessness prevention project awarded £4.85m to work with 10 Greater Manchester councils
A project that aims to prevent young adults from becoming homeless has been awarded £4.85m to work with 10 councils in Greater Manchester.
The funding, awarded to the Young Person’s Homelessness Prevention Pathfinder by Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), which covers 10 local authority areas, means the scheme will be able to support a further 1,500 18 to 25-year-olds. It has also been extended for three years.
The 10 councils are Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan.
The project is run by the Greater Manchester Better Outcomes Partnership (GMBOP) and delivered by a network of local experts, including youth homelessness charity Depaul.
It works with young people to stabilise their home situation, find alternative accommodation, and provide additional support around mental health, helping build support networks so that they can move towards employment and training.
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The funding will only be paid out when the scheme succeeds in preventing homelessness and delivering positive outcomes.
It is run as a social outcomes partnership, where the upfront working capital is provided by social investors and council funding is only released when outcomes are delivered.
It is one of about 90 similar projects agreed across the UK.
Rachel O’Connor, programme manager for Bridges Outcomes Partnerships, a partner to GMBOP, said: “This project is all about trying to assist young people before their situation becomes worse and they find themselves on the street or without accommodation.
“The pilot gave us a great opportunity to get to the bottom of what ‘at risk of homelessness’ individuals need – and of the 270 people we worked with, over 75% had successful outcomes.
“Following this success, GMCA has commissioned an outcomes-based project that will cover all 10 Greater Manchester boroughs.”
Aman Johal, investment director at Big Society Capital, said: “The social outcomes partnership model is really gathering pace and, at a time when more help is needed against a backdrop of tighter budgets, can provide a solution that makes perfect sense.”
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