Last updated: 30 January 2026
Next review: 30 January 2027
One of the Councils' key priorities is to work to ensure that everyone has a decent roof over their heads. Our Housing Strategy and Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy alongside our delivery plans set out how we will work to achieve that goal.
Our Homelessness and Rough Sleeping strategy
In the midst of a national housing crisis, it is with a strong sense of responsibility that we are presenting this new Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy.
This strategy supports the overall vision of our Housing Strategy which makes clear that ensuring an improved and fairer access to high-quality and affordable homes for Waltham Forest residents is one of the Council’s key priorities.
A good home is more than a roof over someone’s head – it is a foundation to live a happy and healthy life.
Our outcomes framework
Having developed the findings of our Homelessness Review through engagement with Partners, Staff and Residents. We have agreed on an outcomes framework which sets out our strategic approach to Homelessness and Rough Sleeping for the next five years. This outcomes framework forms part of a wider outcomes framework. It supports our overarching Housing Strategy:
Long-term outcome
Homelessness and rough sleeping are prevented so that they become rare, brief and non-recurrent.
Intermediate outcomes
- Early intervention and support are improved.
- Residents who are homeless or threatened with homelessness are empowered to make decisions which are right for them.
- Residents in temporary accommodation are supported into long-term homes.
Measuring our long-term outcomes
We will track our long-term outcomes. Because these are long-term, they will not be achieved over the lifetime of a single strategy.
We will use this data to understand the broader impact we are having to better understand the impact our delivery priorities are having.
Reflecting the breadth of the Strategy, we have selected a range of indicators to monitor our long-term outcomes. Individual actions will also have their own delivery measures set out in the delivery plan.
| Indicator (Responsibility) | Reporting frequency | How we’ll measure |
|---|---|---|
| # of residents accepted as homeless (Shared challenge) | Annually | Housing Needs Team Data |
| # of households in temporary accommodation (shared challenge) | Annually | Housing Needs Team Data |
| # of residents sleeping rough (shared challenge) | Annually | Housing Needs Team Data |