Poverty and deprivation were already long-standing issues in Newcastle upon Tyne before a decade-long programme of austerity reduced municipal budgets by almost a third (32%) and welfare spending in the city was severely cut. An estimated US $150 million will have been cut from 40,000 of the lowest-income working-age residents by 2024.
It was in response to these severe budget cuts and their likely impact on the most vulnerable households that Newcastle City Council developed its Active Inclusion Newcastle partnership approach to support residents to have a stable life – somewhere to live, an income, financial inclusion and employment opportunities. Homelessness prevention in Newcastle upon Tyne is a citywide approach which identifies and supports people at risk of homelessness – before they reach crisis point, rather than responding afterwards. In a city facing reducing incomes and increasing poverty, this approach has maintained extremely low and stable levels of homelessness in spite of a challenging background nationally, preventing thousands of households from becoming homeless.
More than 100 local organisations work together to prevent homelessness and promote financial inclusion. This involves addressing issues that can contribute to homelessness, such as debt and access to welfare support – to increase residents’ income and reduce their expenditure where possible. This groundbreaking approach has prevented over 24,000 households from becoming homeless between 2014/15 and 2019/20, and has the highest proportionate rate of homelessness prevention in all of the core cities in England.
