Chelmsford steps up plans to end homelessness as housing crisis pressure grows
A strategy to end homelessness and rough sleeping in Chelmsford was approved by the city council’s Cabinet on 13 October. It sets out how the city will meet new targets over the next four years, as the number of people needing help continues to rise.
Last year, Chelmsford City Council published a five-year strategy setting out how it and its partners would address rough sleeping and homelessness. Since then, the Government has published its National Plan to End Homelessness, which asks every council in England to rebuild its strategy around five shared themes and six measures.
Broadly, the city council’s aims remain the same, addressing the core issues of homelessness and focusing on prevention as well as help for those who have lost their homes.
A strong first year
In the year since the strategy was first introduced, the council and its partners CHESS and Sanctuary Housing created 54 new homes with support for people who have slept rough long-term or who have mental health needs. It relaunched its ‘Housing First’ project with Delta Housing to help rough sleepers off the streets with intensive support.
Homelessness caused by domestic abuse, identified as a leading cause in Chelmsford, fell by around a fifth after the council introduced new measures including a scheme that moves abusers out of the home instead of the people they’ve harmed. Plans also moved forward with YMCA Essex for a new foyer for young homeless people in Chelmsford, and many more projects are complete or underway.
Helping people early
At the moment, 41% of people who come to the council while they’re ‘at risk’, rather than already homeless, end up keeping their home or moving somewhere safe and stable, with help from the city council. The strategy aims to raise that to more than half in 2027/28.
To get there, the council is expanding its homelessness team and will aim to help 20% more people to rent privately as the supply of social housing continues to reduce and can’t meet the demand from homeless households.
The strategy also flags a concerning new trend. A growing number of people in their 60s and 70s are becoming homeless in Chelmsford. The council will look into why this is happening and what can be done.
More homes for those in need
The biggest pressure in Chelmsford and across much of the country is temporary accommodation. The number of households living in this kind of home, meant as a brief stopgap while longer-term accommodation is being sorted out, rose from 523 to 587 last year. Over 400 are families with children.
This is not to say that the council is doing badly. The increase is less marked in Chelmsford than in many similar areas. But all over the UK, there is a big shortage of social and affordable homes, and this area has particularly high private rents.
To help further, the strategy plans:
60 more temporary accommodation units in the city centre
New warm, cheap-to-run modular homes on council-owned land at Meteor Way
60 more homes for people with mental health needs, people who have experienced domestic abuse and young people – with two years’ support for each person built in
The number of people becoming homeless after leaving hospital or prison rose by 15% last year, mostly from hospital. A new scheme will give people being discharged from hospital somewhere to live with support.
The scale of the challenge
The council is clear how challenging it will be to hit these targets. Last year, only 195 homes were built for affordable rent in Chelmsford, the lowest number ever, despite ongoing investment and less than a third of what the city needs.
Families needing a three-bedroom home can wait four to five years in temporary accommodation. In the private market, the gap between rent and housing benefit is nearly £700 a month, so people on benefits can’t afford to rent a home. This includes people in many situations, including those who are employed but receive housing benefits due to low income.
There is some hope on the horizon. The council expects the Renters’ Rights Act to cut homelessness caused by private tenancies ending by around 30%, and the progress so far has shown what can be achieved with a targeted, evidence-led approach.
““Councils are fighting a rising tide, trying to keep people housed and stable as homelessness and the cost-of-living rise. We have limited tools to do it, following decades of reduced supply in affordable and social housing, but we’re working on that. This updated strategy builds on a strong first year and gives us clear targets to work towards.
Councillor Kieron Franks, Cabinet Member for a Fairer Chelmsford
“Some will be hard to hit, but every family and person we keep in their home and help to get back on track make it worth the effort.”
Find out more
You can read the full strategy on the Chelmsford City Council website.
Worried about losing your home? Contact the council as early as you can on 01245 602400 or visit www.chelmsford.gov.uk/housing
Worried about someone sleeping rough? Contact StreetLink at streetlink.org.uk or via the StreetLink app. Your message goes straight to an outreach worker.
