Soft Market Testing - The City of London Emergency and Temporary Accommodation Framework

The City of London Corporation (the 'City') is carrying out Soft Market Testing ('SMT') in relation to the Framework for the Provisions of Emergency and Temporary Accommodation for Homeless Households and Rough Sleepers.

The soft market testing will involve the submission of the SMT questionnaire to be received by 12:00 noon on 30th April 2024 via capitalesoursing portal.

If your organisation would like to participate in this soft market testing, it can do so by downloading, completing and returning the SMT questionnaire which can be found on the City's eProcurement portal at: www.capitalesoursing.com, refer to the reference number pqq_COL_1944

The City of London Corporation will consider the feedback received to help inform its options and further decision-making. For the avoidance of doubt, this phase of the project is not part of a formal procurement process and the City is not committing, at this stage, to carrying out such a process.

The Community and Childrens Service Department at The Corporation is committed to enacting the duties of the Housing Act 1996 Part VII and the Homeless Reduction Act 2017 in securing appropriate and suitable emergency accommodation for any household approaching the authority as eligible, homeless for whom there is a reason to believe a priority need.

The Corporation wishes to engage with accommodation providers, supplying temporary and emergency accommodation as defined by the Housing Act 1996 Pt VII to homeless individuals and households, in preparation for a potential procurement exercise for a framework of emergency and temporary accommodation, consisting of no more than 15 suppliers.

Accommodation means premises procured by the Corporation which the Service Provider will use to accommodate clients referred by the Corporation and includes hotel or B&B type accommodation, shared houses, Annexes - self-contained houses, flats and studio's - and any other type of accommodation which is booked and paid for on a nightly basis.

The City of London Corporation has, as part of it's duties, the local authority function for the City of London, also known as the square mile. We hold a unique position amongst local authorities, being that we have a tiny resident population of c. 9,400 people and our demand for homelessness services is proportionally low. However, the City has a relative high street homeless population which affects its demand for emergency and temporary accommodation. In comparison to other local authorities this demand still remains very low.

The current demand of temporary accommodation placements within the private sector stands at:

- 14 shared units

- 48 Studio Units

- 4 one-bed units

- 10 two-bed units

- 1 three-bed units