Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Support Services

Reading Borough Council is undertaking preliminary market engagement in advance of a planned procurement of rough sleeping and homelessness support services in early 2027.

The future commissioning programme will support delivery of the Council's Preventing Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2026-2031, which sets out a vision for homelessness and rough sleeping to be rare, brief and non-recurring. The strategy recognises that homelessness is driven by a range of factors, including housing affordability, health inequalities, trauma, financial hardship and social exclusion, and requires a coordinated response across housing, health, social care and community services.

The Council's priorities in the strategy are to:

• Intervene early to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping

• Break the cycle of homelessness and rough sleeping

• Make sure everyone can access safe, settled and affordable housing

The Council is reviewing its current homelessness support services to ensure future services are prevention-focused, housing-led and capable of meeting the needs of people experiencing rough sleeping, homelessness and multiple disadvantage. Through this market engagement exercise, the Council is seeking feedback on the proposed service design, interfaces between services, delivery models, and the indicative funding envelopes.

This engagement is intended to inform the development of service specifications, procurement documents and commissioning arrangements and does not form part of any formal procurement process.