Inviting EOIS: To facilitate and report on a new pilot

Encounters and conversations between people with lived experience of Temporary Accommodation and Borough Housing Options Teams

• We are inviting Expressions of Interest from experts in facilitation who can build on a co-produced brief, including designing, facilitating, evaluating and reporting on the pilot.
• The budget is up to £18,000 and we expect the commissioned work to be carried out during a three-month window from when a borough and community partner have been selected.
• The deadline to apply is Wednesday 13 December 2023, 5pm.

The London Housing Panel (‘the Panel’) Temporary Accommodation Working Group (‘the Working Group’) is a collaboration between The Panel, GLA and London Councils, with the support of Trust for London. Together we wish to pilot a new project, encounters and conversations between people with lived experience of Temporary Accommodation and Borough Housing Options Teams. This brief has been co-produced by the working group members and should be seen as the basis for the work.

We are seeking Expressions of Interest from experts in facilitation who can build on the brief that we have co-produced. This involves designing, facilitating, evaluating and reporting on the project. The successful provider will demonstrate a track record and commitment to facilitating cross sector collaboration, and of working with local authorities and people with lived experience.

The aim of this project is to find ways that the existing experience of the temporary accommodation system can change for the better. It will do this by enabling a conversation between people with lived experience of homelessness and housing options officers working in the system in one borough initially. The Working Group will be responsible for recruiting a borough and community partner (see below).

By enabling this conversation between two parts of the current system (with an emphasis on those with lived experience) it is hoped that the officers will feel able to share their thoughts, feelings and experiences as well. In order for this to happen in a way that is safe, trauma-informed and constructive, the project will engage a community partner who can facilitate engagement of people with lived experience to work with a willing local authority, who can be involved in designing the approach. It could be better to address these experiences and issues creatively (through forum theatre or similar for example) rather than by means that may be considered confrontational.

This brief has been developed through the Working Group and in collaboration with community projects and public bodies who work directly with both people experiencing homelessness and borough housing options teams. The budget reflects the time required to prepare both parties for a productive conversation and also to properly evaluate through learning and feedback in order to inform rolling this out to other potential boroughs.

The budget for this project is up to £18,000.

Deadline for submissions is 5pm Wednesday 13 December 2023.