No Second Night Out : Salford and Gate Buddies: An evaluation for Riverside ECHG

No Second Night Out in Greater Manchester (NSNO GM) was established in 2012 as part of a nationwide response to the Coalition Government's Strategy to end rough sleeping (DCLG, 2011). NSNO GM works to prevent rough sleeping by targeting support at people who are new to rough sleeping as well as offering continued support for entrenched rough sleepers. The NSNO GM outreach team - based at Riverside English Churches and Housing Group (ECHG) - assesses the needs of new rough sleepers and links them to emergency accommodation. In Salford, No Second Night Out (NSNO) support is delivered to individuals from the Sash project - a local hostel - where ten beds are reserved for NSNO GM referrals. This service was set up in January 2014 and provides a range of support to homeless individuals across the city of Salford. This report provides an evaluation of this scheme. In addition, this evaluation also considers an associated service: the Gate Buddies (GB) initiative. This was also set up by Riverside ECHG in January 2014 and delivers a peer support service for people being discharged from prison. The service matches trained volunteers with such clients prior to their discharge, with the volunteer meeting the client on release ‘at the gate’ and providing support. In October 2014, Riverside ECHG commissioned the Sustainable Housing & Urban Studies Unit (SHUSU) at the University of Salford to carry out a rapid evaluation of NSNO and GB. The evaluation was undertaken by reviewing the following data sources:-Existing secondary data relating to NSNO GM, the SASH project and GB;- Interviews with eight key stakeholders;- Interviews with five NSNOS (No Second Night Out Salford) representatives;- Interviews with four GB representatives; and- Interviews with ten service users.The fieldwork was completed between November 2014 and January 2015.