Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy

On 2 December 2024, cabinet members approved and adopted our renewed Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy, which took effect from 1 January 2025.

The strategy focuses on preventing and relieving homelessness and rough sleeping over the next five years.

During its development, we consulted with the public, local authorities, statutory and non‑statutory services, and people with lived experience. We would like to thank everyone who took part in the consultation. Their feedback and insights helped shape the final document.

About the strategy

Our strategy places strong emphasis on early intervention to prevent homelessness, improving the advice and information available to residents, and improving housing options.

It also focuses on increasing the supply of affordable homes while reducing our reliance on private sector temporary accommodation, and on using both internal and external resources more effectively.

The strategy focuses on five strategic priorities for the next five years:

• early intervention and prevention
• improving advice, information and housing options
• increasing the availability of affordable housing and reducing reliance on private sector temporary accommodation
• using available resources more effectively
• reducing and working towards ending rough sleeping.

Homelessness and rough sleeping review

As part of the development of the strategy, we undertook a review of homelessness and rough sleeping in the district. The information gathered by the review was used to influence the strategic priorities as well as many of the actions within the action plan.

You can read the full review below, but in summary:

• We assessed 3,478 households over five years and 79% were owed support by us, either to prevent them becoming homeless or to provide relief from homelessness.
• Based on quarterly returns, on average 177 households were living in temporary accommodation per quarter. Some 53% of this average (94) were households with dependent children.
• The number of individuals sleeping rough in the district on any given night has fluctuated but it reduced significantly from 20 in 2018 to five in 2021. However, in recent years the figure has increased. In 2023, it was estimated there were nine rough sleepers in the district and in December 2025 there were seven recorded.
• In general, the cost of homelessness to the council continues to increase. Over the past five years it has increased on average by 26% each year, and in 2023/24 the cost doubled to around £2.5 million from around £1.3 million in 2019/20.
• In 2023/24, we spent almost £2.5 million alone on temporary accommodation, almost double the amount spent in 2019/20.

Further information

• Read our Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2025-2030
• Read the summarised version of the strategy

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