Earlier this month, the Centre for Homelessness Impact (CHI) and the Wallich hosted a group of representatives from North Welsh local authorities to showcase learning from one of our trials, our Test and Learn programme and to highlight how better use of data can strengthen homelessness prevention.

We used the session as an opportunity to share insights from our Personal Grants pilot, which offered a one-off cash transfer to single adults with recent experiences of street homelessness. As our Welsh partner in the project, the Wallich described their experience of the trial and the impact it had on the individuals who received the grant. One individual who had a history of rough sleeping and substance use was able to use the money to buy a car which she described as transformative as it gave her and her partner their independence back.

Attendees explored how similar grants could be used to prevent and alleviate homelessness, for example to support people fleeing domestic abuse, prison leavers, or young men in temporary accommodation.

The Personal Grants pilot has now been expanded to London and Belfast, reaching 250 more individuals. It has reached an exciting milestone as recruitment comes to a close. The insights it draws will help deepen the evidence-base for these sorts of financial assistance programmes and we hope lead to many more impactful discussions like those we had in North Wales.  

The session also explored opportunities to make better use of data, where we heard from Ynys Mon Council and drew on examples from our Test and Learn programme. This ground-breaking programme is introducing innovative ways to reduce homelessness and end rough sleeping and testing their impact with a series of trials and rigorous evaluations.

We discussed the different tools and approaches used by councils to manage the data they hold, and participants highlighted the need for better integrated data systems and consistent tools to support and enhance their prevention work. 

Partnership working plays a critical role in the success of interventions and CHI is excited to continue working with our Welsh partners to share further learning and help shift the focus from crisis to prevention.

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