Homelessness Taskforce Research Projects

The West Midlands Combined Authority is working on a Homelessness Taskforce research project that consists of two tenders. The West Midlands Housing Officers Group (WMHOG) which has remit across the whole of the West Midlands has funded this research project. We would therefore like to see any outputs from the project reflect that wider geographical area and where relevant make recommendations that are applicable across the whole of the West Midlands, both urban and rural areas.

The first tender is for a WMCA Homelessness Taskforce Research project consisting of substantial action research to maximise the positive impact of Temporary Accommodation (TA) in the local West Midlands area. TA for families is an integral part of homelessness provision and one that is currently used at a high level and presents real challenges to both households using it and organisations providing it. Where possible we want to support the reduction in use of TA and in the meantime identify what can be done to maximise the positive impacts of TA whilst minimising the negative impacts.

The second tender is for a WMCA Homelessness Taskforce Research project consisting of substantial action research to maximise the positive impact of Housing First (HF) locally. The HF pilot is an integral part of targeted homelessness prevention and as such forms a critical element in the whole Positive Pathway. The WMCA wants to ensure that the opportunities offered by the regional HF pilot are maximised, and part of that process is understanding what works and what could be done better locally. The 7 constituent Local Authorities and providers involved in the WMCA HF pilot are supportive of this proposal and are integral to its delivery.

Please note that we are holding a pre-tender discussion for organisations who are interested in tendering on Thursday 15th October 2020 between 1500 - 1600 for the TA tender and between 1600-1700 for the HF tender to be held via MS Teams. If either or both of these sessions are of interest can you please send a message via BravoSolution (the WMCA's e-tendering portal) confirming the email contact details of your required attendees by close of business on Wednesday 14th October 2020 and we will send you an invite with details of how to access the sessions the following day. We will outline our requirements and take questions during this session.

In order to access the documents and submit a bid please do so through BravoSolution, the WMCA's e-tendering portal (https://wmca.bravosolution.co.uk). The tender references are itt_832 for the TA tender and itt_833 for the HF tender. If you are not already registered on BravoSolution it is free and usually only takes a few minutes to do so.

Please see the attached documents that outline further details of the requirements, methodology and outputs required.

Both bids will be assessed on the basis of 80/20 Quality/Price and are due back, via BravoSolution, by 1200 noon on Friday 23rd October 2020.