Herefordshire Council and partners across public services and the third sector have developed a new approach to increase early intervention and personalised support. More than £5.4million additional funding has already been secured to invest in more accommodation, new services and support. 

The plan sets out five key principles, and a comprehensive set of 42 actions with ambitious goals to prevent homelessness happening and end rough sleeping.

Herefordshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Wellbeing, Cllr Carole Gandy, said:

“This is a practical plan focused on delivery. We’re expanding accommodation, investing in support to prevent homelessness. Any person or family who is homeless is one too many and means people are facing a very difficult situation. 

“We’ve made this a priority - and we’ve made strong progress. But there is more to do, as national pressures such as the cost of living and changes to the rental sector mean more people are at risk of losing their accommodation. Younger people with long-standing inequalities can find themselves with no friends or family to turn to, and sadly the continued incidence of domestic abuse means women in particular having to flee their homes, sometimes with children. With the well-known shortage of affordable housing everywhere in the county, it’s a cocktail of challenges that we need to respond to as a Council with our partners. That’s why together we have created this strategic, innovative, but actions-based, approach.

“People rightly want to see what’s changing on the ground. Over the next five years we will deliver a raft of improvements including new and better quality accommodation, a stronger inclusive health and trauma‑informed approach, and further equipping our staff and communities across the county to help people who need us most.”

Christine Price, Chief Executive of Community Power (which runs Lee’s Place Hot Hub and support services for the homeless in Hereford) and Chair of the Herefordshire Homelessness Forum, said: “At Lee’s Place, every day we see the reality behind the statistics. This strategy is a positive step forward, particularly in its focus on early intervention, trauma-informed support and partnership working. If we continue to work together across the council, health, and the VCSE sector, we have a real opportunity to prevent homelessness and support people to rebuild their lives.”

The council has made significant progress in recent years, shifting focus to early intervention and multi-agency working, and securing £15 million of Government funding. 

The new strategy prioritises more multi-agency working; better using data and local insight and intelligence; identifying people at risk of becoming homeless as early as possible, including the most vulnerable, and targeting them proactively with tailored support. It commits to increasing volume and suitability of temporary accommodation, alongside the drive to build more affordable housing. 

Key new developments to be rolled out over the next five years include:

Research options for new emergency winter accommodation: Building on the impact of the existing winter shelter, to create new facilities which meet NICE guidance for health impact, and provide more resilience infection control, including against any future pandemics.

Increased multi-agency working: building on the success of Herefordshire Council’s BRAVE initiative. This identifies and supports hard-to-reach, vulnerable individuals, often with complex needs, including the ‘Team Around Me’ and ‘Breaking the Cycle’ teams which include Adult Social Care, the Police and other Justice System partners, specialist charities and social enterprises, the NHS and other partners. Two dedicated new outreach roles provide local ‘eyes and ears’ already, working with local community and voluntary groups, the Police, GP practices and businesses to identify people at risk. These successful posts are now fully funded until at least 2029.

Trauma Informed Approach:  across all relevant Council and partner staff including a formal training programme.

Reduced use of B&Bs (Bed and Breakfast Accommodation) plan: setting out approaches to creating more temporary accommodation, working with private landlords and other tactics to give households who are temporarily homeless more and better options.

County-wide prevention: growing local insight and intelligence to create a ‘force multiplier. Developing an innovative new toolkit, tailored for each of the county’s towns, which help anyone to identify people at risk and refer/signpost them to a Single Point of Contact.

Work with Justice System partners: To develop new accommodation units for prison leavers, so no one leaves prison to go straight onto the streets.

New Experts by Experience Network: bringing partners and people with experience of homelessness together across the county to develop new approaches for challenges such as helping people back into the workplace.

Rapid access to support: target of providing specialist support within 24 hours for people with chronic mental health, addictions and other support needs.

Hospital Discharge In-reach: joint working with the NHS to identify people with no accommodation arranged prior to discharge, and proactive contact to help them with temporary solutions and signposting/referring to other support services (VCSE/statutory).

The full strategy is available to view online.

Nationally, the number of households in temporary accommodation has reached record levels. Demand continues to grow, both nationally and locally: 93 households were accommodated in temporary accommodation in January 2023 in Herefordshire; 148 in January 2024; 156 in January 2025; and 184 in January 2026. 

Demand for temporary accommodation is mainly driven by a shortage of social rented housing; the high cost of private rented housing; and the increased cost of living. The Council provided 326 households with temporary accommodation during 2024/25.