The Greater Manchester Homelessness Action Network (GMHAN) have been tasked by Mayor Andy Burnham with developing a ten year GM Homelessness Prevention Strategy, with the Accountability Board (chaired by GM Housing and Homelessness Portfolio Lead City Mayor Paul Dennett) taking responsibility for starting and guiding this process.
To begin the process of co-producing this strategy GMHAN want to involve as many stakeholders as possible. GMHAN believe that colleagues working in homelessness, housing practice and policy, as well as people who have been through the homelessness system, have the knowledge and experience of what is needed to do to prevent and reduce homelessness in all its forms.
GMHAN are keen to align the GM Strategy with best practice in the region, and to identify any obvious gaps and needs. To enable GMHAN to fully understand what work is currently being done by their partners and what else they feel is necessary, GMHAN are undertaking an evidence gathering exercise.
GMHAN will be collating details of all the existing strategies and aims within Greater Manchester's homelessness system – not just those developed by Local Authorities, but across all sectors – so they can best understand how GM can work together under a 'whole society' response.
GMHAN would like your help by completing the six questions in this Google Form: https://forms.gle/HFwtvsAQLZVDiEmD9 by 22 July
After GMHAN have collated information from existing strategies and complied the evidence, GMHAN will be calling a series of “sector listening sessions” across the boroughs, replicating the good practise example of the GM Housing Strategy listening sessions, to enable as full a co-production process as possible to take place. These sessions will happen in September, and you will be send more information about exactly when and where they will take place as soon as they are organised. If you feel you can help with hosting or involving service users and staff in these sessions, email: [email protected]