Homeless Link
Engaging effectively to inform service design and support
for Charity
Understanding life on the frontline is essential for Homeless Link to advocate for evidence-based Government policy and improve life for homeless people. However, asking over-stretched service providers to find time to share their experiences can be a challenge.
Since 2017, our team has worked with Homeless Link on their membership survey and the annual review – key sources of evidence of homelessness services across England, supporting design, promotion, research and reporting. When we redesigned the membership survey to ensure it provided the intelligence Homeless Link needed to deliver high quality services and support that their members needed, responses increased three-fold on the previous year. This provides a much more substantial evidence base to help the organisation understand what members really wanted.
Following the success of this project, Homeless Link has regularly commissioned Social Engine to carry out the annual survey which previously had been conducted in-house. For the past five years, we have collected responses via an online survey and phone interviews to ensure that Homeless Link has the necessary data to better tailor support and engagement to meet specific needs.
“Social Engine have been amazing. We now have a far greater understanding of the views and needs of our members, and taken positive steps to improve the services we provide.
We got a response rate increase of 300% [from when we did it in-house]. Thoroughly recommend.”