Roundabout launches Rapid Rehousing service in Rotherham

Rapid Rehousing was launched in Sheffield in 2018 when Roundabout, the organisation that supports some of the region’s most vulnerable young people, began to see an increase in rough sleepers in Sheffield who were aged under 25.

These young people immediately became a priority, leading to the development of a new street outreach team called Rapid Rehousing.

Roundabout now has dedicated workers who actively go out into the community, identify homeless young people who need intensive support and help them to access accommodation and develop their long term living skills.

And following the success of the Sheffield scheme, the service is now being extended into Rotherham for the first time - with the recruitment process now beginning to create a new support team in the town.

“This group of young people have extremely complex needs and often can’t access mainstream housing and homeless services as they are quite chaotic, often experiencing early child hood and continued trauma, have general ill health and undiagnosed health conditions and can often be taken advantage of by older homeless people,” said Roundabout chief executive Ben Keegan.

“They can be very wary of help from our services for various reasons and they may have even been excluded from other services in the past.

“Our incredible staff work across the city in all weathers, trying to engage with these young people, sometimes just sitting on the floor with them in the rain over weeks trying to establish trust until eventually we can encourage and support them to come off the streets and into one of our properties.

“Here, we provide wrap-around support from our staff and other specialist services so they can start the process of healing and recovery and start to live meaningful lives in their own home.”

Ben added that successful applicants for the new Rotherham posts would manage a caseload of young people to build relationships, identify needs and risks, write support plans, deliver life skills sessions and set goals and targets for the young person.

“You will engage young people in their own support to develop skills that will enable them to resettle into the wider community and sustain settled accommodation,” she explained.

“Based in a 24/7 support service, you will undertake multi-agency work to support these young people to access other services in line with their needs and goals for the future.”

Rapid Rehousing joins an existing range of Roundabout facilities in Rotherham, commissioned by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council to provide support and accommodation services for young people aged 16 -25 who are experiencing homelessness or who are vulnerably housed.

The services offer a pathway to young people to gain independent living skills and to be supported to achieve their goals and aspirations.

To find out more about Rotherham Rapid Rehousing vacancies and other opportunities visit roundabouthomeless.org/work-with-us