Support from trusts and foundation has not only enabled Caring in Bristol to design and deliver effective services to people who need them in Bristol, but also to understand the impact and change that they have created.  We are always mindful that our actions need to be mindful, impactful, and based on evidence. It’s vital that we put people first; not only centring their needs, but also actively listening to their voices.

Working for Change

A common mindset that we encounter involves the fatalistic perspective that within struggling and inadequate housing systems it is inevitable that many people will experience homelessness. Our prevention work demonstrates that it is not inevitable, and talking about our impact can create a compelling motivation to work for change.

Oak Foundation Support

In funding our prevention work The Oak Foundation has enabled us to extend our work in Bristol communities with a powerful mix of empowerment, hope, and action. The funding has also enabled us to commission a detailed evaluation report from sector experts Homeless Link, focussing on Early Doors – one of our prevention projects. In turn, this has helped us to understand our impact and feel confident in the continued development of the prevention work that our Early Doors service delivers.

The report, presented in May 2024, was based on a range of mainly qualitative research methods, including interviews, focus groups, and observational visits. There are several key impact measurements and outcomes that were identified by it under the headings from the project’s theory of change. Some of them are summarised below…

Providing access to housing support, information, and advice

• 543 people received direct support and advice from Early Doors.
• 93% had increased housing rights knowledge and the confidence to act on it.
• 93% had a positive homelessness early intervention / pre-crisis outcome.
• 33% had a positive pre-crisis or reoccurring homelessness outcome.

Empowerment by housing knowledge

• 88.3% of participants in Early Doors’ co-production groups reported knowledge of housing rights had improved.
• 93.5% felt more confident sharing this knowledge with others.
• 480 professionals and volunteers, and interviewees, reported reduced stigma through building an understanding of the early triggers which can lead to homelessness.
• 935 members of the public benefitted from light-touch support.
• 7,500 people received a Housing Support Handbook developed by Early Doors.

Communities building strategies to demand safe and secure homes

Members of our coproduction groups reported that they were now more confident to act use the knowledge they had gained. This emerged through sharing campaigning activities and sharing examples of actions they had taken. Shared actions from group sessions were also valued. These included feeding into consultations such as the Bristol City Council HomeChoice consultation.

Early Doors’ work in creating safe and trusted spaces, commitment to reflective practice and mindful staff recruitment, contributed to working towards greater racial equity. This is reflected in there being over half of coproduction group members, and 62% of those receiving direct advice, being from an ethnic minority background.

Sustaining Impact

Work has continued apace since the Homeless Link report was published, and its recommendations have been valuable in informing the direction of travel for Early Doors. This includes developing an even greater understanding of what it means for the service to be community led, further ways to enable residents to take ownership of their communities, and using progress and the development of an early intervention framework to ensure that work is targeted where it is needed (based on local context and statistics, and taking into account disproportionately affected groups.)