Challenging the system to end rough sleeping
18 February 2025
How we are working beyond direct services to address the root causes of homelessness – a think piece by Bill Tidnam, Thames Reach Chief Executive
At Thames Reach, our vision is of a society where no one needs to sleep rough. As the number of people recorded as ‘Living on the Streets’* increases yet again in the quarter from October to December 2024, this vision can seem to be a very distant one. Everyone who works with Thames Reach, whether as a member of our staff team, a volunteer, or with one of the many organisations that we partner with, is dedicated to this vision, but we would be the first to admit that this isn’t enough.
The complex causes of homelessness
As we have pointed out in our previous pieces, the causes of street homelessness are complicated and involve both the economy and the housing market, but also how effectively the services that exist to support people work, the life that people have led before they became homeless, and the options they have. At Thames Reach, we have limited control over big issues like this, but they drive homelessness and rough sleeping, and it can sometimes seem like we are powerless in the face of an incoming tide.
The conclusion we draw from this is that it is not enough for us to deliver the services that we deliver, excellent though we believe they are. We should also seek to influence the system that means that a complicated life with many problems is punished with poor-quality, insecure housing and the potential for a life on the streets.
Part of this is about the provision of affordable housing – this is not something that Thames Reach aspires to doing; there are organisations far better equipped than us to do this, but they do need support from national and local government to prioritise this alongside all the other demands on them.
The vast majority of the services that we provide are commissioned and paid for by local government. We think that where it works well, this is a good combination of the flexibility and innovation of charities with the overview of an elected authority with statutory responsibility. It doesn’t always work well, and when it doesn’t, it can lead to semi-detached and ineffective services which are inflexible and over-protective of local budgets at the expense of the people who most need help.
Influencing the system for long-term change
Part of the problem is in the way that so many services are fragmented and don’t join up. For example, mental health services work with a person’s mental health, but often won’t work with people if they have a substance misuse problem that compounds their mental health, and substance misuse services find it difficult to treat people who have an active mental illness. The result is often that people don’t get the help they need from either service.
So, other than complaining, what is Thames Reach’s role? We think that the knowledge gained from the work that we do gives us an, if not unique, a rare clarity around both the problems and solutions. While we don’t have all the answers, we certainly have a good idea of a way towards some of the solutions. Much of this is about money – we do need more affordable and specialist housing – but just as much is about how services work together and focus on the impact on the individual rather than on their organisational priorities and targets. In practice, this means that we need to be prepared to be generous in using our time to help the system get better – so working with local and central government to help them think about how best they use the limited resources they have most effectively; by challenging others who propose simplistic and unworkable solutions; and by making sure that policy is focused on the reality of street homelessness and solutions that will work, rather than on ill-founded preconceptions or dogma. Often, much of this work is not public or high-profile – we are serious about making change, and public sloganeering is not always the best way to achieve this.
Increasingly, we see that this work that we do to challenge and change the system that makes and keeps people homeless is as important as the work that we do directly with people who need our help, and is critical if we are serious about ending rough sleeping.
As recorded on the GLA’s Chain database – those who have had a high number of contacts over 3 weeks or more, suggesting they are living on the streets. Increase from 681 (Q2) to 704 (Q3).