Vision
Between 2006-9 the Foundation will be a catalyst for a step change in the use of the PRS as a resettlement solution for single homeless people, both through our support for and development of PRS initiatives and through gathering and disseminating a wide range of good practice.
More specifically,
- Through our grants programme we will support upwards of 900 single homeless people to access and sustain a PRS tenancy and will test and demonstrate a number of models for effective delivery of PRS solutions;
- We will add greatly to the spread of knowledge of how to make the PRS work for single homeless people, which in turn will lead to an increased number of initiatives developed and operated in London and elsewhere, without any direct involvement of the Foundation;
- This development and spread of knowledge will add significant value to the joining up of disparate PRS strategies and initiatives operated by others and will influence the policy and funding environment at local, regional and national level;
- At the end of three years the effective use of the PRS for single homeless people will be embedded and mainstreamed in resettlement strategies, with a measurable and significant impact in the numbers of people successfully moving on from hostels to the PRS.
PRS strategy
We will deliver our vision through building a strong evidence base and widespread dissemination of our findings. We will do this through a twin-track of:
1. Funding of a range of activities that will test and explore how the PRS can be used most effectively as a resettlement solution
We are managing a wide-ranging PRS work programme. This includes a PRS grants programme, which has now closed although we may invest in further initiatives over the next two years. We will build knowledge of what works and what doesn’t in enabling single homeless people to access and sustain a tenancy in PRS accommodation through commissioning specific activities, such as research and consultancy, hosting a ‘future search’ event and ‘expert seminars’, and a contemporaneous evaluation of our work programme. We will bring together those with specialist knowledge and an interest to extend thinking, understanding and action.
2. Learning from and influencing wider practice, which the Foundation is not directly funding
There are an increasing number of PRS initiatives taking place across London and nationally. The Foundation’s PRS programme, while broad and ambitious, cannot get directly involved with each of these initiatives (because of resource constraints and in the interests of maintaining a focused programme). But we can learn from good practice that emerges from others’ work, and share good practice that we accumulate. We will invite individuals and agencies carrying out exciting an innovative work to get involved with activities described in the above strand e.g. participation in our ‘expert seminar’ programme, using our website as a key repository and dissemination channel for information about their PRS work etc.