Harnessing digital and data to prevent homelessness roundtable

Event overview

The Government's Rough Sleeping Programme places a clear delivery responsibility on councils and mayoral strategic authorities: to ensure that everyone sleeping rough in England has an offer of support or accommodation—a route off the streets—before Christmas 2026. Backed by £442 million over three years, the programme also funds settled accommodation and intensive wrap-around support for people who have experienced the longest periods of rough sleeping and face the greatest barriers to leaving the streets permanently.

The discussion will connect immediate delivery under the Rough Sleeping Programme with the Government's National Plan to End Homelessness. The Plan puts prevention at the heart of public services and sets headline ambitions to halve long-term rough sleeping. It also proposes a duty on public services to collaborate and includes commitments to reduce homelessness following discharge from prisons, hospitals and other public institutions.

A new approach is urgently needed. With a renewed focus on prevention, making better use of tech and data will be crucial to a council's strategy. By unlocking the potential of their existing data, local authorities will begin working more strategically across a place to predict and prevent homelessness by identifying households at risk of losing their home.

We'll bring local, regional and central government together with technology partners for a focused, candid conversation about what is working, where barriers remain and what support councils need next. Participants will examine practical approaches to data quality, interoperability, information governance, case management, responsible AI, capacity and public trust.

Benefits and takeaways

You'll leave with peer insight, useful connections and practical ideas to strengthen prevention and partnership working in 2027. Industry participants will gain a clearer understanding of local needs and the conditions for responsible, effective adoption.

Questions we will explore

• What has the winter response revealed about the quality, accessibility and interoperability of council homelessness data?

• Which barriers most impede timely data sharing across councils, health, justice, employment support and central government and how can they be overcome?

• What does effective early identification and prevention look like in practice, and how should councils measure impact?

• How will predictive analytics and AI-enabled tools support earlier intervention while remaining ethical, transparent and accountable to the people they are intended to help?

• What capability, partnerships and investment are needed to turn an emergency response into a sustainable prevention service?

Who should attend

This free event is open to public sector organisations and techUK members. It's designed for senior council officers and elected members responsible for housing, homelessness, transformation, digital, data and information governance; mayoral and combined authority teams; Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and other relevant central government policy and digital leads; and techUK members working in local public services, data platforms, case management, analytics and responsible AI.

Why register

Places are limited to support an open, practical discussion. Councils are encouraged to register early to compare approaches with peers, identify actionable improvements for their own services and help shape the support, partnerships and technology needed to prevent homelessness earlier.

Booking information

This event is open to techUK members and public sector representatives. The public sector includes organisations funded and run by government, such as central government departments, local authorities, the NHS, police and fire services, and the armed forces. Public sector attendees should use access code LPS001 when booking a ticket.