Blackburn with Darwen residents invited to give their views on homelessness and rough sleeping

Blackburn with Darwen Council is inviting feedback on its draft Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy through an online survey.

Anyone is welcome to complete the survey to share their views on how the authority can best support people who are homeless or at risk of losing their homes.

The online survey is open from today, Monday 20 October, for five weeks until Sunday 23 November.

Complete the survey to give views on the draft Blackburn with Darwen Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy now.

Councillors on the Blackburn with Darwen Executive Board approved the draft Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy at their October meeting.

The report included updates on the vast range of support the Council and local partners offer to vulnerable people at risk of homelessness.

It highlighted the dramatic 47% reduction in people sleeping rough in Blackburn with Darwen since 2021 due to the actions the Council has taken. Across the UK there has been a 20% rise.

During the lifespan of the current Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy, the Council has delivered a number of achievements to be proud of in terms of supporting residents at risk of losing their homes, including:

• 3,146 households prevented from becoming homeless between 2020 and 2025
• 3,094 households assisted into alternative accommodation between 2020 and 2025
• 5,478 households assisted by the Housing Needs & Support Team between 2020 and 2025
• A new Health & Housing Officer created to co-ordinate homeless hospital discharge.
• Strategic HMO Board established to tackle conditions in Housing of Multiple Occupation, and an Article 4 Planning Policy in place to limit new HMO planning applications
• A 40 bed HMO closed due to issues with the support provision and property conditions.
• New recovery hub at the Salvation Army to support people with substance misuse
• 252 new affordable rented homes completed during 2020-2025.

Councillor Damian Talbot, Executive Member for Housing and Health, commented:

Our figures have shown that in Blackburn with Darwen we are bucking the national trend that has seen a rise in rough sleeping.

Since 2020, we have increased the support available to people at risk of losing their homes to help them to stay in accommodation.

The homeless pods in Shadsworth are a huge success story for the wrap-around support they provide to vulnerable people through the Changing Futures programme, as well as short-term accommodation.

However it is a sad fact that we have seen a 108% increase in the number of households contacting our Housing Needs team for help, for a variety of reasons including the cost of living crisis and its impact of the affordability of housing.

The Council has a statutory duty to produce a Homelessness Strategy every 5 years under the Homelessness Act 2002.

Mark Warren, Strategic Director of Adults and Health, added:

The strategy has been co-produced with the Blackburn with Darwen Homelessness Partnership Forum, which includes people who have lived experience of homelessness, and the local stakeholders with whom the Council works to support them.

By inviting more stakeholders and the general public to share their feedback through this current consultation, we hope to create a strategy that will truly deliver for the borough, linking to our corporate mission to ensure no one is left behind.

Responses to the consultation will be used to finalise the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy, with a view to it being formally approved by Executive councillors in February 2026.