
Case Studies
GM Homes Partnership
- Great Places
​
​
How Partnership working is the key to successful support
When sleeping on the streets, life isn’t easy. One of our participants, John*, had been begging in Manchester City Centre, sleeping rough each night in Oldham and had never had his own tenancy. Sofa surfing was the closest he had come to a home.
​
John was experiencing poor mental health from living on the streets and drug use, which culminated in suicide attempts, leaving him in an extremely poor condition health wise, with a ruptured spleen and the need to wear a back brace due to a fractured spine.
​
Drug teams in Oldham had known this individual for some time as he had been accessing drug treatment sporadically, but everything came to a head when he received a conviction due to a domestic violence incident against his partner whilst under the influence of alcohol. He began to work with the Community Rehabilitation Company, who referred the gentleman to the Social Impact Bond (SIB) and our delivery partner, Great Places, assessed him and ascertained his priorities.
​
John was in a relationship and expressed that he wanted to be housed with her, however, it was suggested that to be able to stabilise their health in the short term, separate accommodation would be the best course of action. After attending his assessment, John was given priority due to his health conditions and was offered a property.
​
Great Places supported him to purchase household items including razors, food and toiletries. This benefited him immediately as he was able to shower and change into new clothing. The team also supported him to undertake wellbeing and budgeting sessions, helping him to work towards being sell-sufficient.
​
On top of all this, John was given access to a GP and health services, alongside drug treatment appointments. He is now no longer sleeping on the street; he’s worked on improving his personal hygiene, his appearance and his outlook on life. His fractured spine is now more stable, which means he’s able to reduce the amount of time he spends wearing a back grace and his attendance at health appointments have been regular.
​
John has worked extremely hard, and he now has an excellence relationship with his SIB case worker, and is very engaged with the service. He is extremely happy with the support he is getting and is very grateful for everything he has received so far. He stated to his caseworker that before the SIB “there were no avenues left for [him], the door was being slammed in [his] face everywhere”.
​
*Not his real name
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
