A new data project is helping BCP services identify households at risk of homelessness earlier.
BCP Council recently welcomed representatives from the Royal Foundation’s Homewards programme, Bloomberg Associates and the University of Auckland to explore how information and frontline experience can identify pressure within local systems and allow help to begin sooner.
Around 1,000 households approach services across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole each year, often facing connected challenges involving housing, health and social care, while the council’s Early Prevention Team supported more than 1,500 households last year.
The work focuses particularly on young people and families, mapping how residents move through local services and developing a more joined up approach that can spot emerging risks and provide targeted assistance before difficulties develop into homelessness.
Councillor Kieron Wilson said the project would strengthen the council’s “focus on prevention”, while University of Auckland academics are helping to develop predictive tools intended to identify patterns and improve decisions about where support could have the greatest impact.
The five year Homewards initiative aims to make homelessness rare, brief and unrepeated through locally led work and national collaboration.
