Housing strategy
Housing Strategy 2020-26
Our vision is that everyone has a safe, stable and genuinely affordable home where they can live an independent and prosperous life. The new housing strategy 2020–26 outlines the strategic direction, key priorities and actions that will help us achieve this vision.
Our approach is grouped into five themes:
- delivering the homes that Lewisham needs
- preventing homelessness and meeting housing need
- improving the quality, standard and safety of housing
- supporting our residents to live safe, independent and active lives
- strengthening communities and embracing diversity
Responses to our consultation have helped us to further shape our proposals and action plans that fall under the above themes. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it necessary for us to reshape some of the ideas that were included in our draft strategy so that we can support people most in need.
We must also ensure that our work drives positive changes in promoting equality and fighting injustice, so much of which has been highlighted by the pandemic.
As well as ensuring our own policies, strategies and actions drive us towards our vision, we must call on central Government to help us address Lewisham’s housing needs. As part of this document we have included a number of key ‘asks’ of Government to support us in our work.
- download the Housing Strategy 2020-26
- download an easy read version of the Housing Strategy 2020-26
Homelessness strategy 2023-26
Our overarching vision is that is that everyone has a safe, secure and genuinely affordable home. For this to be a reality, we must work towards ensuring that no one becomes homeless in Lewisham.
The Housing Strategy 2020–26 outlines five key priorities for Lewisham. One of these priorities is ‘preventing homelessness and meeting housing need’ which outlines our overarching strategic approach to preventing homelessness.
This homelessness and rough sleeping strategy underpins our Housing Strategy. It provides more detail on how we will prevent homelessness and rough sleeping. It outlines how we, with our partners, will work with and support those who are at risk of, or experiencing homelessness.
The updated strategy is a response to a period of unprecedented change. Since the publication of the last strategy, we have transformed how we deliver many of our services for homeless households and people sleeping rough in response to the Covid-19 Pandemic. While we have recovered from many of the immediate challenges presented by Covid, we now face many new challenges.
At the time of this strategy being launched, residents are finding it harder than ever to meet rising living costs, including higher rents, mortgage payments and cost of other living essentials. With much uncertainty still remaining around the longer-term impacts of the economic downturn, it's crucial that public services are prepared to support residents.
Our priorities for tackling homelessness in Lewisham are to:
- prevent homelessness at the earliest opportunity with the most appropriate level of support
- support people to access a stable and secure home
- support rough sleepers to enable access to services and accommodation
- strengthen partnership working
- read the full Homelessness Strategy