Framework commissioned Imogen Blood & Associates (IBA) to carry out research on ‘executive function’ in homelessness services, with a particular focus on the role of housing related support staff. Framework is a charity and housing association that operates throughout the East Midlands, Lincolnshire and Sheffield and are a member of Nottingham City Safeguarding Adults Board. They deliver a range of supported housing, community support, street outreach and health services, focussing primarily on the needs of people experiencing severe disadvantage and exclusion. They commissioned this independent report in response to the growing evidence that the systems in which we operate too often fail to meet the needs of people who are vulnerably housed or sleeping rough.
The study ran from November 2025 to April 2026 and included interviews with 21 workers and national experts, a rapid literature review and a roundtable discussion with 23 participants. A total of 34 individuals contributed to the study. Many references in this report are drawn from Framework services operating in Nottingham, as Framework delivers multiple services in the city, which also has a Changing Futures programme working directly with people experiencing severe multiple disadvantage. However, examples and data are drawn from across all areas of Framework’s operations, have been appropriately anonymised and should not be attributed to any specific city, town or district.
This research has now been published: Executive Function and Housing-related Support – Framework