Are Personalisation Budgets the way forward in combating homelessness?

There have been many changes over the years with regards to how we work with rough sleepers and the services that are on offer to them. One of the most recent is Personalisation Budgets, also known as Individual Budgets (IB).

The idea of these budgets is to give rough sleepers control and a voice to choose what kind of support they feel they need the most. They choose a lead worker to support them within a multi agency team, and can choose how their budget will be spent in accordance with their individual suport plan.

This has been piloted by agencies in Exeter, North Devon, Northampton, London and Nottingham, who have specifically targetedentrenched rough sleepers with complex needs. To find out more about the individual pilots and the results, Click here.

In summary:

• Exeter (found success in using it to access appropriate housing).
• North Devon (used budgets to assist rough sleepers to settle into long term homes.)
• Northampton (worked with the already existing service, but provided a specifically allocated worker. Also, identified three levels of care and support reqwuired by indiviasluals and provided budgets realting to these needs.)
• London (used an already exisiting outreach worker with entrenched rough sleepers and gave the indivduals choices about accommodation options other than the 'traditional approaches' such as hostels.)
• Nottingham (dedicated a 'rough sleepers personalisation officer' within its already exiting team, to find long term and suitable housing options for the most entrenched of rough sleepers.)

So far the findings of these pilots seem very positive. Can this be the solution to ending entrenched rough sleeping?