Street Outreach Bristol

• The Council wishes to appoint provider(s) for the provision of an outreach service for those people who are street homeless in Bristol. The service will have the following elements:
• Outreach and engagement with rough sleepers (focussing on people who are longer term or repeat rough sleepers);
• Direct access to outreach access beds in the adult supported housing pathways;
• Day centre provision to support and engage with those people waiting for supported accommodation (currently this element will be delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions);
• Coordination of the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP);
• Coordination of bi-monthly (every two months) and annual rough sleeper counts in the city;

The provider of this service will take a lead in ensuring that all rough sleeper services work coherently and effectively and has strategic oversight of rough sleeping within the city. This service is seen as our core service requirement and this would be prioritised in circumstances of reduced overall funding from MHCLG and will work in conjunction with a Prevention/New to the streets service.

This service is part of our Reducing Rough Sleeping Commissioning Plan that has the following objectives:

• Reduces levels of people sleeping rough in the city - measured through detailed analysis of the flow of people onto the streets and off the streets, not just reliant on 'snapshots' of information such as nightly counts.
• Minimises returners / increases resilience - what is it that people need to sustain their accommodation and well-being, and avoid returning to street homelessness?