A new five-year plan to help tackle homelessness and rough sleeping

A new five-year strategy to help prevent homelessness and rough sleeping in Reading is set to be adopted next week.

The new strategy focuses on three key priorities:

• Early intervention to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping
• Breaking the cycle of homelessness and rough sleeping when prevention has not been possible
• Ensuring everyone can access safe, settled, and affordable housing

Reading’s Preventing Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2026 – 2031 sets out a ‘Shared Responsibility, Shared Voice and Shared Solutions’ approach. This acknowledges that no one organisation can solve the ongoing issue of rough sleeping and that partnership working - across the Council, with other public services and organisations, and those who have directly experienced homelessness – will be a key factor in tackling the ongoing problem.

Continued population growth, fast-rising housing costs, and sustained pressure on temporary accommodation over a number of years have combined to make rough sleeping and homelessness a major issue nationally, as well as in Reading.

Reading’s new strategy follows a comprehensive public and stakeholder consultation last summer, which enabled residents and the Council’s homelessness charity and community partners to help shape its key principles. They include:

• Working together across services to give people better support: improving information sharing and joining up support with partners such as health services, probation and national agencies, to ensure people receive coordinated, personalised help
• Working closely with charities, community groups and faith organisations to support people facing homelessness: aligning goals and co-ordinating local activities so support is inclusive, connected, and reaches those most at risk of homelessness
• Finding new and better ways to support people facing homelessness: being creative and flexible in designing services, including offering tailored housing and support options to meet people’s needs
• Using data and insight to improve services and support: analysing patterns and sharing intelligence to target efforts where they have the greatest impact, ensuring resources are used effectively to improve people’s lives

The new strategy will significantly strengthen the Council’s already extensive work to prevent and address homelessness in all its forms  - not only for people sleeping rough, but also for those at risk of losing their home – providing a level of support that goes well beyond that offered in many other local authority areas.

The Council prevents homelessness by acting early and working with residents to understand what is putting their home at risk, then agreeing a practical plan to help them stay where they are or move somewhere suitable. It helps resolve problems with landlords or family members, offers financial support when people are struggling with rent, and provides access to affordable private rented homes through the Rent Guarantee Scheme. The Council also improves access to social housing through the Homechoice scheme, supports tenants who need to move to a smaller property, and provides Disabled Facilities Grants to keep homes safe and suitable – all aimed at preventing homelessness before it becomes a crisis.

For those sleeping rough the Council works alongside charity partner St Mungo’s to deliver a rapid Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) response during extreme hot and cold temperatures, protecting the most vulnerable from the elements. Over 270 bed spaces (in addition to those offered during a SWEP response) are offered across its Homelessness Support Services to help single people and couples who are found rough sleeping, or at risk of rough sleeping.

The strategy is set to be discussed at next Tuesday’s Housing, Neighbourhoods and Leisure Committee meeting: https://democracy.reading.gov.uk/documents/s38767/9a%20Preventing%20Homelessness%20and%20Rough%20Sleeping.pdf

Matt Yeo, Lead Councillor for Housing in Reading, said:

“Homelessness and rough sleeping are among the most urgent and complex challenges we face as a community. This isn’t about bricks and mortar – it’s about people’s lives, their health, their dignity, and their futures.  Everyone deserves a safe, stable place to call home, and that preventing homelessness is a shared responsibility across all sectors of our town.

“The Council already offers a comprehensive package of support for people sleeping rough in Reading. To tackle rough sleeping, however, we need to go beyond that humanitarian response and look at the reasons people find themselves in that position, and very often repeatedly. 

“The causes of homelessness are often complex, and the solutions must respond to that. That’s why this new strategy focuses on early intervention, trying to break the cycle of repeat homelessness, and ensuring access to safe, settled, and affordable housing. It is a strategy rooted in dignity, inclusion and, importantly, partnership, in acknowledgment that no one organisation can tackle this on its own.

 “It is important to recognise though that for a variety of reasons these offers of accommodation are not always taken up, and that’s why working even more closely with other partners and services, and ensuring even stronger communication and sharing of information with local charities, community and faith groups, will help tailor support to the more specific needs of individuals, the complexities of which are often a barrier to engagement for many.

“This strategy aims for an even stronger escalation processes, increased off‑the‑streets options, earlier prevention, faster move‑on, and clearer accountability across partners, aligned to the National Plan to End Homelessness which was published in December 2025.

“I’d like to thank all the individuals and partner organisations across Reading whose valuable input helped to shape it.”

Reading’ has made strong progress in tackling homelessness and rough sleeping. Two previous plans – the Preventing Homelessness Strategy (2020-25) and the Rough Sleeping Strategy (2019-24) – have helped improve services and support locally. These strategies have led to better partnerships between organisations, smarter use of data to understand local needs, and more effective help for people in need.

The important work the Council already delivers in this area can be found in the full strategy which can be read at: https://democracy.reading.gov.uk/documents/s38768/9b%20Appendix%201%20-%20Preventing%20Homelessness%20and%20Rough%20Sleeping.pdf

Delivery of the new Strategy and accompanying Action Plan will be regularly monitored and progress will be reviewed annually by the Strategic Housing Board, and annual updates will be brought back to the HNL Committee to support Member scrutiny, transparency and continuous improvement.