Building and evidencing community asset partnerships in housing and health to address health disparities in North East North CumbriaAH/X009211/1

Groups that experience the worst health outcomes include people in coastal communities (like in the North East and North Cumbria), experiencing homelessness, dependent on drugs or alcohol, vulnerable migrants, people in contact with the justice system and other socially excluded groups. In the North East, 32% of people live in the most deprived 20% of the national population. The recent Levelling up White paper (2022), the White paper on health and social care integration (2022) and the NHS's Core20PLUS5 framework (2022) all highlight the role of housing as a key determinant of health.

This consortium will investigate and co-produce integrated, community led, asset-based approaches to supporting people with multiple and complex needs who have been homeless, to improve individual and community wellbeing and address health disparities in the North East North Cumbria Integrated Care System (NENC ICS).

The project will:
(1) Provide training for and work closely with a group of Experts by Experience (who have been homeless), who will support evidence development and decision making into practice, policy and research in this area. They will: share their experiences and views on how services might best support people with multiple and complex needs; make use of an 'innovation budget' to improve a service and evaluate their innovations; help with mapping existing services. They will be an integral part of the project, leading many aspects of it.
(2) Identify all the research evidence in the area of community support for people who experience homelessness, and identify the data being held by relevant stakeholders (local authorities, health services, voluntary sector) and how it might be shared to gain a better understanding of regional needs and monitor progress.
(3) Identify one integrated care service (integrating, health, social care and housing), which will be improved and evaluated by experts by experience.
(4) Identify and map all local community assets and services supporting people with multiple and complex needs, particularly in relation to housing, in the NENC. The mapping will create a directory of all services, statutory or otherwise, which community members can access for support. This will form the basis of a digital dynamic data sharing platform accessed by all relevant stakeholders, which will become a virtual consortium, directly connecting research on community assets with health and social care integration efforts, and community members, to reduce health disparities.

For this bid we have brought together an interdisciplinary team of experts across academia (covering expertise in housing; health inequalities; humanities; health economics; mental health; addictions; participatory research), service (housing; NHS) and policy (ICS) partners. The project is supported by Tyne Housing, a third sector organisation working with people experiencing precarious housing and homelessness; the NIHR NENC Applied Research Collaboration (a a partnership bringing together six regional universities, the NHS, health and social care providers, local authorities, the voluntary sector, community groups and members of the public); and the NENC Deep End network (a network of GP surgeries working in the most deprived areas regionally).