Homelessness and Temporary Accommodation Transformation
The Context
Luton Council and its local partners have a bold ambition to eradicate poverty in the borough by 2040. But too many people are homeless or living in temporary accommodation – 1,100 households are in temporary accommodation in 2024, up by 29% from 2015. Lack of adequate supply of both affordable long-term housing and suitable temporary accommodation has led to a surge in use of nightly-paid accommodation, increasing costs by 19.5% and causing the service to overspend by £3m – forecast to rise to £8m if no action was taken.
Not only was this financially unsustainable for the council but it leads to poorer quality of life outcomes for people. 50% of households in temporary accommodation had been there for over 2 years and, with an average caseload of 70 households per Housing Officer, there was simply not enough support for people to regain independence and take back control of their lives.
Our Approach
Working with and alongside council teams, we:
Mapped the end-to-end customer journey for people who need to access support and services.
Analysed data on customer contact and complaints to understand how demand was entering the services and where cases were getting stuck.
Shadowed the team as they handled customer appointments and walk-ins.
Conducted interviews with members of the Housing team and the other services they interact with and hand over to.
Conducted a survey of 126 staff and analysed the results to identify opportunities for change.
Undertook a skills audit across the service to identify what development support would be required to create an ambitious, empathetic, prevention-focused service.
Benchmarked the council’s accommodation stock and spending against other authorities to identify opportunities to reduce spend.
Outputs and Outcomes
We worked with the council to develop a Target Operating Model, driven by the council’s mission to eradicate poverty, shaped by the experiences of people who use the service and underpinned by data and evidence.
Implementation of the model began in July 2024 with a blended council and Human Engine team.
The project:
Provided actionable solutions to deliver £4.6m in annual savings by year 2.
Increased successful preventions by 32 households per year.
Discharged an additional 72 households from temporary accommodation to private rental sector per year.
Improved the dignity of people using the service and the empathy with which they’re treated.
Reduced caseloads within the team to improve resilience, retention and wellbeing.
About Us
Human Engine is a leading management consultancy with specialisms in strategy, transformation, digital, commercial, procurement and projects.
Founded in 2018, we have partnered with more than 50 local authorities, central government, NHS organisations and national charities to help transform their strategies, operations and cultures.
Our mission is to help individuals and organisations to do the best work of their lives. We do this by blending first-hand, practical experience of the problems we help our clients solve with award-winning consulting expertise and an approach based on trust, collaboration and partnership.