Nottingham City Council Approves Strategy to Combat Rough Sleeping and Homelessness

Nottingham City Council has endorsed a strategy aimed at decreasing the number of individuals experiencing homelessness on the streets and relocating more families from temporary housing. It is estimated that over 50 people sleep rough in the city each night, with hundreds more currently residing in council-provided temporary accommodation. Titled the Nottingham Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Prevention Strategy, this initiative seeks to foster collaboration among various organizations, partner with charitable groups and businesses to prevent evictions, offer assistance to individuals with physical or mental health requirements, and focus on identifying appropriate housing solutions. The council’s objective is to decrease the monthly count of rough sleepers in Nottingham to single figures by the year 2028. Data from the council indicates that 739 distinct individuals were identified as rough sleeping in the city during the previous year, with the yearly street count revealing an average of 56 people sleeping rough each evening. Furthermore, the report highlights a 122% rise in the number of households housed in temporary accommodation within the city, escalating from 349 households in a 2019/20 snapshot to 776 households in 2023/24. The strategy outlines four primary objectives: firstly, to prevent homelessness and its recurrence; secondly, to tackle the underlying causes of homelessness; thirdly, to ensure that periods of homelessness are short; and fourthly, to diminish rough sleeping. These goals are primarily intended to be met through enhanced collaboration among governmental and health organizations, charitable groups, and the private sector, particularly concerning housing provisions. The Local Democracy Reporting Service reported that during an Executive Board meeting held on Tuesday, Jay Hayes, the executive member for housing and planning, stated: “Homelessness can happen to any of us and the impact of homelessness on people’s lives is enormous, but also the impact on the cost to the council to house people in emergency accommodation, most notably hotels and B&Bs.” By January 2026, the council also aims to decrease the number of single individuals accommodated in hotels to a snapshot figure below 10, and to lower the number of families housed in nightly-paid temporary accommodation to fewer than 100. Although the council allocates £4.2 million annually to housing-related support, a significant portion of its efforts to address homelessness depends on grant funding. The strategy indicates that the council intends to persist in applying for such funding, yet acknowledges that the existing financial provisions are not secured beyond 2025. Dr. Paul Scotting, who chairs the Nottingham Homelessness Voluntary Sector Forum, noted that over 40 voluntary, community, and faith organizations, along with more than 1,000 volunteers, have been actively assisting the council’s initiatives. “However, these are challenging times,” he remarked within the report. He added: “Over the next five years, we aim to build on our partnerships with the city council, the NHS, and other statutory bodies by sharing knowledge and expertise.” “Together with the council, we also hope to forge stronger connections with the local business community to explore how they can best support our efforts to tackle homelessness,” he concluded. Nottingham City Council declared itself effectively bankrupt in November 2023 and subsequently announced in March a series of reductions to employment positions and services, intended to address a £53 million budget deficit. Proposals for an additional £24 million in cuts and savings were released earlier this month. The most recently published data projects a £172 million shortfall in the council’s budget over the forthcoming three years, with revised figures anticipated in the coming weeks.