Representatives of Belfast City Council have advised Derry City & Strabane District Council that they may have to source funding to implement something similar to its Complex Lives Model to tackle homelessness here.

Belfast City Council representatives said that while statutory agencies and voluntary groups also provide funding for the model, they themselves had to provide funding for staff and to obtain advice from the already-established Doncaster Complex Lives before implementing the Belfast Complex Lives Model.

The Complex Lives model tackles homelessness through inter-agency co-operation, with the aim to simultaneously address issues such as mental health, addiction, and housing stability.

During a meeting of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Justice Committee last year, Homeless Connect’s Head of Policy and Programmes, Mark Baillie, suggested that Derry City and Strabane District could also adopt the model, which been successful in treating homelessness in a holistic manner in Belfast.

placeholder image — The Complex Lives model tackles homelessness through inter-agency co-operation.

During a deputation to May’s meeting of council’s Governance and Strategic Planning Committee, Sinn Féin councillor Sandra Duffy asked Belfast City Council’s Complex Lives Manager, Yvonne Hill, and Neighbourhood Services Manager, Nicola Lane, how the model could be transferred to Derry & Strabane and what barriers would block delivery.

Councillor Duffy said, as someone who works in the district’s homelessness sector, that while it did ‘absolutely fantastic work’ some of the coordination among departments was ‘a wee bit ad hoc’.

“We have really vulnerable people and we’re working with the same person, but sometimes we are replicating what’s being done rather than sharing a journey of how we ensure that that person is getting the right support,” she clarified.

SDLP councillor Rory Farrell noted that Derry City and Strabane had the highest number of homeless deaths in 2024, with 13 deaths among people in chronic homelessness, and said any Complex Lives initiative for Derry and Strabane would have to be bespoke.

He added that as Derry ‘is a very different city’ the conversation needs to be about a model that could be implemented here, ‘one that is area-specific; takes into consideration the particular challenges that we face, not just Derry but the wider council area’.

“It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach, but it’s great to see positive outcomes in Belfast and we would like to see if those could be replicated here.”

Ms Lane said that while funding was provided by several voluntary agencies, as well as the PSNI and Housing Executive, council has had to fund advice and strategic support from Doncaster Complex Lives, which was already ‘thriving’ before the model was adopted by BCC, as well as the hiring of staff.

“The council actually put a significant amount of resource into this,” she concluded. “There were a number of people within the council who started it off, but we did then pay for the strategic support from Doncaster.

“Because Belfast didn’t just come up with this by itself, it actually looked at other models and Doncaster was the one which seemed most clearly aligned

“Council actually agreed and did part fund two posts, the Complex Lives Manager and the Project Support Officer”.