‘Austerity’ has seen statutory health and social care services being cut and restructured on a major scale. It is estimated that councils will have lost 65 per cent of their income by 2020, putting many under intense pressure to close vital services for homeless people, such as hostels and community support services. This will particularly hurt the ‘single’ homeless, whom local authorities don’t have a statutory duty to support. In some boroughs where we work, local authorities have already reduced their annual spend on single homelessness by as much as 72 per cent. 

Sustainable outcomes

Many of our clients are reeling from the impact of welfare sanctions and the bedroom tax, and will soon face additional pressure from the further reduction of the benefits cap.   Meanwhile, reforms to the funding of supported housing, combined with rent squeezes and policies such as Right to Buy, will put further pressure on the supply of accommodation available to vulnerable people. 

In this challenging environment we are more determined than ever to ensure that the most vulnerable of Londoners remain able to access the services they need and that SHP delivers sustainable outcomes.

To achieve this we will need to do more with less, adapt to the changes in the funding landscape and ensure clients’ voices are heard by policy makers and funders.

Our business plan 2016-19 

  • Expand our Education, Training & Employment (ETE) programme across the organisation, supporting 300 people each year into ETE

  • Extend our homelessness prevention work by moving 100 more people each year into private sector accommodation and supporting them to live independently

  • Expand our Opportunities Programme, ensuring that all clients have access to a consistent, high quality service through which to enhance their wellbeing, personal development and life chances

  • Place clients at the heart of service delivery through an organisation-wide peer mentor scheme

  • Roll out a Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE) approach across all our services, ensuring that all our work is grounded in an understanding of clients' psychological and emotional needs

  • Diversify our income sources, including a significant increase in fundraised income

  • Raise the profile of SHP to better engage supporters, funders and partners