Centre for Homelessness Impact joins forces with East Ayrshire

East Ayrshire is one of three local authorities, from across the UK, to enter into a Community of Practice pilot with the Centre for Homelessness Impact (CHI).

The eight-month partnership, enabled by the CHI, will create strong working practices between East Ayrshire Council, Pembrokeshire Council in Wales and Southend-On-Sean Borough Council in England and will explore the private sector as a sustainable and accessible housing option for people experiencing homelessness.

Experts from each authority will work collaboratively to pioneer new ways of working, to improve infrastructure and data practices, translating ideas into solutions for our communities. The focus will be on experimentation and evaluation, while keeping people at the heart of everything we do.

Councillor Elena Whitham, Depute Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities said: “This is such an exciting project. It is innovative and data- led, and it will help us to achieve our rapid rehousing vision across East Ayrshire.

“In 2017, the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group (HARSAG) was formed to find solutions to short and long term solutions to end homelessness and rough sleeping and transform the use of temporary accommodation in Scotland.

“A key recommendation of this group was for local authorities to transition to a Housing First and Rapid Rehousing approach, developing a five-year plan to ensure that progress is made as quickly as possible. Our Council’s Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan was agreed in May and sets out our vision of eradicating homelessness through early intervention and prevention. We will be exploring all tenures to ensure a settled housing options is reached for someone as quickly as possible, reducing any time spent in temporary accommodation.”