Right time, right place? The experiences of rough sleepers and practitioners in the receipt and delivery of personalised budgets

This chapter outlines one way in which personalisation has been implemented within the field of Homelessness within the United Kingdom (UK). The chapter draws on research findings from a longitudinal study which evaluated the delivery of an approach to allocate ‘individual budgets’ to people experiencing homelessness. The chapter outlines the effectiveness of the approach both in terms of outcomes for those who participated as recipients and its operationalisation by workers. The chapter makes a number of central points. Firstly, individual budgets, as described here, can be a particularly effective tool in reducing the length of time homelessness is experienced. Secondly, how such budgets are delivered is as important as the budget themselves. The skill of workers to work in innovative and creative ways is crucial to their success. Finally, there are inspiring findings arising which points to the pragmatic yet frugal approach by rough sleepers towards the use of individual budgets.