An Essex Faith Covenant Case Study
The local authorities of Essex, Braintree, Chelmsford, Epping Forest, Maldon and Rochford have come together with CHESS to develop and roll out a rough sleeper outreach service within the area of the 5 district councils.
CHESS stands for Churches Homeless Emergency Support Scheme. It is a highly respected and experienced local voluntary sector provider. CHESS has been commissioned through the ECC Rough Sleeper Imitative (RSI) funding to work with the five districts housing departments in the provision of our Rough Sleeper Outreach Service. CHESS is highly skilled at building positive working relationships with Rough Sleepers, encouraging them in off the streets and into the Accommodation.
The highly successful service has been designed to tackle the scourge of rough sleeping and to provide the interventions that mean that no one needs to sleep rough throughout the authorities.
Upon receiving a referral, CHESS will make contact with the rough sleeper, starting the process of getting the individual off the streets and on a pathway towards and into settled sustainable accommodation.
Many of our rough sleepers have been marginalised from mainstream society for so long that they become entrenched on the streets and the street’s cultures, unable to take up the offers of accommodation and support that are made to them. Mistrust of mainstream society gets built and the institutions that are there to protect and support these citizens.
CHESS works directly with Rough Sleeper citizens via both an outreach and an inreach methodology visiting rough sleepers on the streets and building relationships built on trust. CHESS case manages clients using a ‘person centred asset-based’ approach, in line with the ‘“Making Every Adult Matter”’ methodology encouraging them firstly to set ambitions and secondly in supporting these citizens in achieving these ambitions including accommodation, wellbeing and employment.
In 2019-2020 the service worked with 77 individual rough sleepers were supported by CHESS via the Outreach Service and 25 rough sleepers were accommodated.
We have received funding for a 2nd year of the service and believe we will receive future finding in 2021-2022.