National accolade for council’s homelessness services

Designed to ‘set the bar for homelessness services’, the award is testament to the council’s high quality housing advice, Home Options allocation scheme and support for vulnerable people. The accolade sees the council become one of only 14 Gold Standard homelessness and prevention services in the country.

Achieving the award is the culmination of three years of varied assessment which has included reviews from other councils and the completion of ten local challenges which assessed areas such as partnership working, having a comprehensive homelessness strategy, frontline service delivery and developing a private sector offer for all client groups. 

The teams involved were praised for their commitment to ‘ownership of the customer journey and getting it right first time’ as well as ‘offering a comprehensive advice, prevention and homelessness service’.

By achieving each of the 10 local challenges, the council has been able to demonstrate that it has comprehensive services in place for all clients.

Councillor Gail Harris, Norwich City Council’s cabinet member with responsibility for homelessness and housing allocations, said: “This award is fantastic recognition of the high quality service being given by our housing and front facing teams, against a backdrop of central government cuts and a nationwide housing shortage.

“Housing matters have huge significance in people’s lives, and there is a great deal of work that goes into preventing homelessness wherever possible and working with partners to help individuals access suitable housing.

“I am very proud that Norwich residents can be confident in the support and advice available from the city council.”

More information on the NPSS Service’s Gold Standard award can be found at https://www.npsservice.org.uk/gold-standard