Newcastle Gateway
Welcome to the information pages on the Newcastle Gateway. Please browse the links below to find further information on Gateway within this site.
The Gateway is a project that has been developed by Housing Services and the Commissioning Team within Adult and Culture Services. It is a single access point for emergency and short-term supported accommodation and allows statutory agencies in Newcastle to refer clients to supported accommodation services within the City. The Gateway creates a single register of people requiring supported housing and prioritises referrals, to help target resources at those most in need.
In the initial phase of the project, clients gain access to the Gateway through statutory agencies within the City such as Social Services, Probation, Youth Offending Team, Mental Health Services and the Housing Advice Centre.
The Gateway initially manages the supported housing market providing services in the homelessness sector; this will subsequently be extended to long term services. Further information on planned developments can be found in our pages on Phase One and Phase Two.
The Gateway will provide a single verified source of information on the number of people requiring supported housing. This will provide:
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The best match between need and available resource
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Identify pressures on the existing system
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Identify the people whose needs are beyond the capacity of existing provision
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Reduce the confusion caused by multiple sets of unverified data
This information will be used to make better informed commissioning decisions. For further information on the aims of the project, please download a copy of the Gateway Briefing Paper.
The Gateway's benefits for accommodation providers include:
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Reducing inappropriate referrals by matching clients to suitable accommodation services
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Providing better information about each client: the individual's needs are assessed (where possible) by agencies that are already working with the client and have an existing support relationship with them
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Providing a greater understanding of the client group seeking your accommodation: the Gateway will make available analyses of the population seeking accommodation at service level (e.g. to assist with funding applications) or for all homeless clients in the City
The Gateway's benefits for referral agencies include:
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Avoiding duplication of work when more than one agency is involved with a client: each client has a single Gateway record visible to all workers with a conection to the client. Multiple agencies can contribute their knowledge to assessments and referrals, but it will not be possible to duplicate the record
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Providing more transparency regarding decisions made about clients: the client's entire record is visible to workers with a connection to the client, including information provided by other agencies and accommodation providers
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Automatically excluding clients from unsuitable accommodation: by matching clients with accommodation and making information about services available on Gateway, the need for non-housing workers to have knowledge of every service within the City is removed
The benefits of the Gateway for service users include:
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Bed spaces being targeted at those who are most in need: by prioritising clients according to need we can ensure that supported accommodation is given to those most in need of it
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Clients can continue working with their existing support workers to resolve their housing need: clients will not always need to physically present to the Housing Advice Centre
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Increasing information available on decisions made about them: the client's record is visible to their support agency, including information provided by other agencies and accommodation providers
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Opening up discussion about what clients can do to access accommodation: if a client is refused for accommodation, a reason for this should be logged as well as comments detailing the change/s needed in the client's situation or behaviour for them to be reconsidered
Other agencies, such as voluntary agencies or those from outside Newcastle, will not have direct access to the Gateway. However, there is still a role to play in securing accommodation for your clients by contributing your own knowledge of the client to their assessment and checking that Gateway referrals have been made, or prompting Gateway referral agencies to complete this task.
Further information on Gateway, including the process for referring clients who do not have a statutory agency within the City, can be found on our Frequently Asked Questions page.
