What Works Community
Building capacity within homelessness organisations to use evidence and data to achieve breakthrough results
People working on the frontline in every local area need better access to effective methods to end homelessness. We help people working to end homelessness confidently use data and evidence to make informed decisions and unlock their impact so they can better support people experiencing homelessness. We offer different levels of support, from remote digital activities to intensive expert-led sessions, including:
Trailblazer Partnerships
Working with leaders across the UK to co-create innovative data and evidence-led approaches to tackling homelessness at the local and national level.
Accelerating Evidence Use
Providing expert advice, training and support to organisations, including 1:1 coaching to understand evidence and use data to unlock impact and deep-dive workshops on how to apply evidence to key issues in your local context.
Support for practitioners
Offering resources, tools and guides for organisations to use to develop their own evidence-led approaches
Accelerator Programme
Recognising the importance of local action and ownership, and the role of combined authorities and mayors in coordinating regional efforts, we are supporting regions, cities, and local communities across the UK to develop and implement collaborative strategies to prevent homelessness.
Our Accelerator programmes work with all system actors to develop and implement new initiatives that help accelerate a prevention turn. We also support local areas to establish clear goals and accountability frameworks, aligned with national strategies, and to develop effective governance structures for collective impact initiatives.
Current programmes
The Greater Manchester Accelerator for a Housing First Future
Greater Manchester has embarked on a housing first city-region initiative. The accelerator programme is supporting Greater Manchester Combined Authority to accelerate its collective impact towards this mission across the city-region and to ensure progress is sustained.
London Ending Homelessness Accelerator
The London Ending Homelessness Accelerator brings forward a review of London’s homelessness system to drive forward reductions in all forms of homelessness across the city.
"Since 2017, GMCA has sought to take an evidence-based approach to preventing and ending homelessness across the region, sharing our data and insight and providing leadership nationally on what works. CHI has played a critical role in our journey, providing us with a trusted sounding board, a critical friend and a reliable bunch of colleagues that work with intellectual rigour and enthusiasm."
Joe Donohue, Homelessness Strategy Principal, Greater Manchester Combined Authority
Our Impact
We have worked with over 200 councils and organisations across the UK since 2020, providing them with the resources to equip them with the tools and resources needed to accelerate towards ending homelessness everywhere in the UK.
We have worked in partnership with Aberdeen City Council since 2021, helping them develop an evidence-led approach to their youth homelessness services and establish the Ending Homelessness in Aberdeen Partnership Board, using our co-created Ending Homelessness Data Framework to bring together partners to use data to drive towards an end to homelessness in Aberdeen City.
We provided in-depth, evidence-led advice to the Royal Foundation over more than 12 months to support HRH Prince William’s new flagship initiative on homelessness.
Resources for practitioners
Access the resources you need to make a greater impact in your work to end homelessness.
Implementation news
April 3, 2025
What ‘What Works’ really means—and how we can get it right
The 'What Works' approach, inspired by evidence-based medicine, is crucial for effectively tackling homelessness. This blog by our CEO, Lígia Teixeira, discusses what a true evidence-based approach means, addressing common misunderstandings and emphasising the need for rigorous testing, asking the right questions, and understanding research quality. While the journey to evidence-based practice is challenging, as seen in medicine, it's essential for achieving lasting change.
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October 9, 2024
Tracking progress towards an evidence-led approach to ending homelessness
Smart use of data is a key building block to create system-level change to end homelessness, says Molly Bishop, our Head of Implementation
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