What Works Community
Building capacity within homelessness organisations to use evidence and data to achieve breakthrough results
People working on the frontline in every local area need better access to effective methods to end homelessness. We help people working to end homelessness confidently use data and evidence to make informed decisions and unlock their impact so they can better support people experiencing homelessness. We offer different levels of support, from remote digital activities to intensive expert-led sessions, including:
Trailblazer Partnerships
Working with leaders across the UK to co-create innovative data and evidence-led approaches to tackling homelessness at the local and national level.
Accelerating Evidence Use
Providing expert advice, training and support to organisations, including 1:1 coaching to understand evidence and use data to unlock impact and deep-dive workshops on how to apply evidence to key issues in your local context.
Support for practitioners
Offering resources, tools and guides for organisations to use to develop their own evidence-led approaches
Accelerator Programme
What is the programme and how can people get involved?
Recognising the importance of local action and ownership, and the role of combined authorities and mayors in coordinating regional efforts, we are supporting regions, cities, and local communities across the UK to develop and implement collaborative strategies to prevent homelessness.
Our Accelerator programmes work with all system actors to develop and implement new initiatives that help accelerate a prevention turn. We also support local areas to establish clear goals and accountability frameworks, aligned with national strategies, and to develop effective governance structures for collective impact initiatives.
Current programmes
The Greater Manchester Accelerator for a Housing First Future
Greater Manchester has embarked on a housing first city-region initiative. The accelerator programme is supporting Greater Manchester Combined Authority to accelerate its collective impact towards this mission across the city-region and to ensure progress is sustained.
London Ending Homelessness Accelerator
The London Ending Homelessness Accelerator brings forward a review of London’s homelessness system to drive forward reductions in all forms of homelessness across the city.
"Since 2017, GMCA has sought to take an evidence-based approach to preventing and ending homelessness across the region, sharing our data and insight and providing leadership nationally on what works. CHI has played a critical role in our journey, providing us with a trusted sounding board, a critical friend and a reliable bunch of colleagues that work with intellectual rigour and enthusiasm."
Joe Donohue, Homelessness Strategy Principal, Greater Manchester Combined Authority
Our Impact
We have worked with over 200 councils and organisations across the UK since 2020, providing them with the resources to equip them with the tools and resources needed to accelerate towards ending homelessness everywhere in the UK.
We have worked in partnership with Aberdeen City Council since 2021, helping them develop an evidence-led approach to their youth homelessness services and establish the Ending Homelessness in Aberdeen Partnership Board, using our co-created Ending Homelessness Data Framework to bring together partners to use data to drive towards an end to homelessness in Aberdeen City.
We provided in-depth, evidence-led advice to the Royal Foundation over more than 12 months to support HRH Prince William’s new flagship initiative on homelessness.
Resources for practitioners
Access the resources you need to make a greater impact in your work to end homelessness.
Ending Rough Sleeping Framework
In 2022, we provided thought leadership and expert advice to an early adopter group of English local areas to co-create the first definition and framework to measure progress towards ending rough sleeping in England, which has now been adopted as national policy and rolled out to every local authority in England.
“We have been involved with CHI’s work through being Early Adopters of the new Rough Sleeping Framework with its clear definitions and indicators regarding ending rough sleeping, including supporting roll this out nationally to all Local Authorities in England. We believe in CHI’s mission to end homelessness with better data and evidence and recognise the need for a more rigorous evidence base to find out “What Works” in this complex area.
Ben Tomlin, Director of Housing Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council
Implementation news
September 26, 2022
2022 Evidence and Skills Sprints: learning from Aberdeenshire County Council
What is a sprint, and how can it help you in your work to end homelessness? We caught up with the whole team at Aberdeenshire County Council to see why they made the decision to attend all three of our What Works Community sprints, what they thought, and what’s next for this Scottish Local Authority.
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August 23, 2022
Case study: Hull City Council
Working with the Centre for Homelessness Impact's implementation team enabled Hull City Council to use data to address a 'revolving door' problem of repeat homelessness presentations
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April 12, 2022
Our first Evidence + Skill Sprints: what we’ve learned and who from
We brought together colleagues from local authorities across Scotland, England and Wales for our first Accelerator sprints, our new intensive offer to help build capacity within local areas to use evidence and data to achieve breakthrough and sustainable results. Here we tell you what we learned, and what’s next for the What Works Community.
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