Westminster City Council's North Paddington Homelessness Prevention Pilot

Descriptions

THIS IS NOT A CALL FOR COMPETITION This Market Sounding Questionnaire aims to gather feedback from the market on procuring a holistic homelessness prevention training and development package for the Voluntary & Community Sector (VCS) and partners in North Paddington. This training will form the foundation of a homelessness prevention pilot. The pilot will operate for an initial 12‑month period, with ongoing evaluation to assess outcomes and effectiveness. Subject to performance and learning, there is scope to extend the pilot for a following 12-month period and expand beyond the North Paddington area. The selected organisation(s) will design, develop, and deliver a culturally sensitive and holistic homelessness prevention training and development package, alongside supporting resources, for the VCS and key partners in North Paddington. The overall package should be designed in collaboration with WCC and co-designed with the community. It should broadly cover four key areas: 1. WCC support and pathways – including a whole-council approach, departmental processes and available support. This will require effective engagement and coordination with internal departments to ensure a clear and shared understanding of the local context. 2. Housing & Homelessness – key issues and WCC-specific local context. 3. Holistic Prevention – related factors such as mental and physical health, unemployment, income maximisation, and poverty. This will include the co‑design and delivery of bespoke training with smaller, grassroots organisations that specialise in specific areas and the coordination of existing training available through WCC. 4. Organisational development reviews – identifying existing strengths and opportunities to develop skills aligned to the specific needs of the communities supported, as informed by WCC data and predictive modelling. 4.3. The training offer will have the overarching key goals: 1. Upskill the VCS on housing and homelessness, including risk identification, to support residents and inform future commissioning. 2. Provide an umbrella framework to support VCS to holistically access and apply skills from existing, specific training, to support residents to prevent homelessness. 3. Build capacity and resilience by deepening understanding of homelessness and its links to other issues. 4. Help manage residents’ expectations and empower informed decision-making. 5. Provide knowledge of WCC processes and pathways to ensure appropriate support. 6. Strengthen working relationships with the VCS, fostering trust and collaborative problem-solving. 7. Deliver a bespoke package of resources and tools for the VCS. The information contained herein may be subject to change based on feedback received from the market and may not be reflected in any future tender opportunities. A decision on whether to proceed with a full procurement exercise will be taken following consideration of the responses received. All information provided will be considered commercially sensitive and kept in confidence.