The Greater Manchester Housing First (GMHF) programme is commissioned by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) with funding from Ministry of Homes, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). The programme started as a Pilot in April 2019 with the aim of rehousing more than 300 people in its first 3 years. The people referred to the programme had all experienced repeat homelessness and were at the risk of continuing a cycle of homeless across all 10 Greater Manchester Boroughs.
Great Places is the lead partner within a partnership of 10 organisation that are delivering the support: Riverside; Petrus (part of the Regenda Group); Jigsaw Homes Group; Stockport Homes Group; MASH (Manchester Action on Street Health), Community-Led Initiatives, Early Break and Waythrough.
The Greater Manchester Housing First (GMHF) has been helping people from rough sleeping, into a safe and secure accommodation of their own. Over the last six years, the programme has helped more than 440 people in to homes to begin their recovery journey.
The Partnership also provides support for The Rough Sleepers Accommodation Programme which helps people at risk of homelessness into transitional homes to help them find a permanent solution to their housing situation, the support helps them to find permanent move-on accommodation. Both programmes have been funded until 2029.
The partnership is co-ordinated by a Central Team and they are supported by Zone Leads, Team Leaders and Housing First Workers.
The partnership was organised into four zones by GMCA and the partnership set up with a lead delivery partner for each zone:
Each Delivery Partner has a Housing First team consisting of a Zone Lead, a Team Lead(s) and Housing First Workers (HFWs).
Each Team Lead is responsible for six HFWs, importantly the caseloads of the HFWs is limited to six-seven referred people to allow for high levels of bespoke support to be delivered.
