Adur & Worthing Councils launches strategy to reduce homelessness

Adur and Worthing Councils have launched a new strategy to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping across the area.

The plans follow a public consultation last year, shaped by feedback from residents, partner organisations and people with lived experience.

The strategy sets out how the councils want to prevent homelessness wherever possible, address it when it does occur, and prevent it from happening again.

The soaring cost of providing temporary housing has also left the councils facing increasing funding and resource constraints, with Worthing Borough Council projected to spend 30% of its entire budget for 2025/26 on temporary accommodation for members of the local community who would otherwise be homeless, and Adur District Council anticipated to spend 16% of its budget. 

Despite these challenges rough sleeping in Adur and Worthing has more than halved in the past year, thanks in part to the opening of a new supported accommodation facility in Worthing. Skywaves House is a pioneering partnership between the councils, Turning Tides, Worthing Homes and Homes England which features 21 self-contained flats and 24/7 onsite support, including from the councils’ outreach team and partner agencies. 

The councils’ new strategy builds on this approach and represents a significant shift in approach, away from crisis management to early intervention. With this approach the councils aim to reduce the number of residents experiencing homelessness, as well as substantially decrease the financial cost.

Four key priorities for helping people move forward from homelessness or temporary accommodation are identified in the new strategy - prevention, accommodation improvement, partnership working and supporting long-term independence.

Each priority includes specific objectives aimed at enhancing service delivery and addressing the root causes of homelessness, with early intervention and tenancy sustainment for specific vulnerable groups highlighted, as well as improving the quality and cost-effectiveness of temporary accommodation. 

The importance of partnership working with various stakeholders is emphasised in every element of the strategy. 

As well as consulting the wider community, the draft strategy was reviewed by the councils’ Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the Adur and Worthing Homelessness Prevention Partnership made up of statutory and community partners, and the councils held a workshop with Adur and Worthing residents living in temporary accommodation to understand their experiences.

The strategy aligns with the government’s national plan to end homelessness and is designed to be a live plan that can be reviewed and adapted with regular feedback from partners and housing service users, ensuring it continues to incorporate valuable insights from those directly affected by homelessness. 

As local government reorganisation in Sussex progresses there will also be opportunities to improve the strategy by aligning homelessness services with social care and public health under a unitary authority. 

Cllr Lee Cowen, Adur's cabinet member for housing and citizen services, said: “Homelessness and rough sleeping remain among the most complex and pressing challenges facing our community here in Adur. Behind every statistic is a person with their own story, experiences, and aspirations. This strategy reflects our commitment to ensuring that everyone in our community has access to safe, secure, and suitable accommodation, alongside the support needed to sustain it.”

Cllr Ödül Bozkurt, Worthing's cabinet member for housing and citizen services, said: “Homelessness and rough sleeping entail personal and communal trauma. Protecting residents from and supporting them in these experiences are our essential responsibilities. The cost of living crisis and the chronic undersupply of affordable housing nationally exacerbate need. This strategy provides a clear statement of our vision, principles and delivery priorities in tackling this ongoing problem.” 

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