Islington Council is seeking £6 million in external grant funding from the Greater London Authority (GLA) to support its supported accommodation facility for people experiencing homelessness at No. 1 Stacey Street. The Islington Executive discussed the procurement strategy for the facility at a meeting on Thursday, July 17, 2025.
The council purchased the building in 2021 with funding from the GLA and refurbished it to create specialist supported accommodation for 30 residents. The current contract with Single Homeless Project (SHP) expires in March 2026, necessitating a new procurement process. The procurement strategy is a one stage open tender procedure. The award criteria are:
- Cost/price (40%)
- Social Value (20%)
- Proposed approach to delivering outcomes in a psychologically informed way (20%)
- Proposed approach to co-production and service user involvement (5%)
- Proposed approach to locality management (5%)
- Proposed approach to mobilisation (5%)
- Proposed approach to partnership working (5%)
Councillor John Woolf, Executive Member for Homes and Neighbourhoods, introduced the report, highlighting the success of targeted interventions in reducing rough sleeping in Islington. While London has seen a 38% increase in rough sleeping, Islington has received a 20% reduction, which is that we're incredibly proud of,
he said. He credited this to targeted intervention, strong partnership work, and the provision of tailored support, of which Stacey Street includes one of those.
The proposed contract would be for an initial two years, with the option to extend for two further periods of two years each, up to a maximum of six years. According to the agenda, the ability to progress with this procurement strategy is dependent on the council securing the £6 million external grant funding from the GLA. If revenue funding cannot be sourced from other grants or funding streams a strategic review will be carried out – including an options appraisal and financial viability to determine the future and nature of the service. Possible alternative uses could be internal remodelling for use as temporary accommodation. With over 1000 households in temporary accommodation, there is need for this resource.
The reports pack included data on the outcomes achieved at 1 Stacey Street since August 2022, including that 66% of residents had moved on in a planned way to local authority accommodation, rehab, or private rented accommodation.
The Executive also noted an Equalities Impact Assessment that was completed for the proposal. Concerns were raised about the shelter not being open to people with no recourse to public funds, as they make up a substantial amount of the homeless population. It was explained that the service is commissioned on behalf of the GLA according to grant conditions, preventing its use for the NRPF cohort. Councillor Benali Hamdache noted that the council supports about 50 families without recourse to public funds who are struggling with homelessness, with a budget of around £1 million a year.
The Executive agreed recommendations 1.2 to 1.4 on page 23 of the agenda pack.
