Greater Manchester Housing First pilot named Best Initiative for Tackling Homelessness

The Housing First team picked up the award

The Greater Manchester Housing First pilot has been named Best Initiative for Tackling Homelessness at the Northern Housing Awards.

The Housing First team picked up the award at a ceremony at Lancashire CCC’s Old Trafford cricket ground in Manchester.

Rochdale-based homelessness charity, Petrus, is the lead organisation for zone B, covering Bolton, Bury and Rochdale in partnership with Early Break and The Bond Board.

The three-year pilot has helped more than 300 of the most vulnerable people in the region into their own homes and is a cross sectoral partnership of 12-organisations and a wider network of services across Greater Manchester, working as one with the GM Combined Authority.

Liz Varey, Service Lead at Petrus, said: “This is an incredible initiative that is making a real difference to the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. We are so proud to be part of something so life changing. Housing First helps people into their own home and provides all of the wraparound support needed to sustain tenancies. And it works.”

This is not the pilot’s first win as they were also successful at the CIH Northern Housing Awards when they won the Housing Team of the Year.