Agenda item

Worcestershire Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy - pre-scrutiny

Meeting of Overview and Scrutiny Board, Tuesday 11th October 2022 6.00 p.m. (Item 28/2022)

Minutes:

The Housing Strategy and Enabling Manager and the Housing Development and Enabling Manager presented a detailed presentation, included as an Appendix A to the minutes, on the development of the county-wide Worcestershire Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2022-25 and action plan. During a detailed presentation, the following matters were highlighted by the Officers:

The Homelessness Act 2002 placed a statutory duty on all housing authorities to have a homelessness strategy in place, which had to be based on a review of all forms of homelessness in the county/district. The current Worcestershire Homelessness Strategy was due to expire on 31^st December 2022.
The new Worcestershire Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy set out how the Worcestershire local housing authorities and Worcestershire County Council would work together to prevent and relieve homelessness.
In developing the new Strategy, a comprehensive assessment of the nature and extent of homelessness and rough sleeping across the County was carried out by analysing homelessness data and taking account of the views of customers and partner organisations.
Subject to approval by Cabinet, there would be a public consultation on the draft Worcestershire Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2022-25 and action plan, from 17^th October to 4^th December 2022.

Following presentation of the report, Members discussed a number of areas and Officers responded to questions – this included:

Typographical error in respect of data in Table 3 of the Worcestershire Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2022-25, detailing the temporary accommodation (TA) units in the District Officers advised that the Council had an agreement in place with Bromsgrove District Housing Trust (BDHT) to provide static units and temporary accommodation. In total, there were up to 50 units available. This provided flexibility in the system in order to meet demand, so there was a net surplus of units. Officers undertook to rectify the typographical error in the report.
Explanation of the variance in funding allocated to councils through the Government’s Homeless Prevention Fund for 2022/23 (for example £362,524 to Wychavon District Council in comparison to £163,348 to Bromsgrove District Council). It was explained that the amount of funding was based on level of incidence of homelessness. Compared with most neighbouring authorities, Bromsgrove District had a lower incidence of homelessness and lower number of people towards whom the Council had a relief duty (i.e., duty to take reasonable steps to help the applicant to secure suitable accommodation), which resulted in a smaller grant allocation.
Clarification around the Relief Duty. Officers explained that local authorities had a duty to provide accommodation to residents who were in priority need group and unintentionally homeless, even if the housing was provided in another local authority area (i.e., the resident’s home council had to cover the cost). It was noted, however, that Bromsgrove District Council would generally use its temporary accommodation to house Bromsgrove residents only.
Reasons as to why the number of rough sleepers in the Borough declined during the Covid-19 pandemic period and what lessons were learned. Officers explained that initiatives such as No First and No Second Night Out accommodation, which provided support above statutory duty and targeted people who were sleeping rough year-on-year, were successful in reducing the number of rough sleepers and encouraged people to sustain settled accommodation. The targeted support provided on substance misuse also contributed to lowering the number of rough sleepers during the pandemic.
It was explained that the County Navigator Service from Maggs Day Centre were occasionally deployed around the District to look for people who were rough sleeping and there were regular checks in rough-sleeper hotspots.
It was clarified that when service users were placed out of area on a temporary basis, the Council would keep in contact and monitor the quality of service received. When support was provided permanently out-of-district, the Council would not monitor those service users. Officers confirmed, however, that there was currently no need for redirecting to out-of-district provision as enough capacity was available in Bromsgrove District to meet the demand.
Ability of the services to respond to increased demand. Officers confirmed that a considerable increase in demand for temporary accommodation was anticipated as a result of the cost-of-living crisis. Despite the stalling rate of housing construction and large demand on the Council’s Housing Register, Officers expressed confidence in being able to deal with the anticipated increase in demand.
Reciprocal arrangements with other authorities. The Housing Development and Enabling Manager explained that the Council had informal arrangements with other authorities, for example in terms of providing transport for people rough sleeping from other parts of the country back to their home local authority area where they could access support. It was highlighted, however, that there was a limited scope for any further cooperation as Bromsgrove District Housing Trust (BDHT) had only six units of emergency temporary accommodation.
Family or friends were no longer willing to accommodate was being cited as the main reason becoming homeless in the District.
It was noted that in the post-Covid period there had been a considerable increase in number of people becoming homeless through being evicted from private sector accommodation due to the end of an embargo on Section 21 notice evictions.
Reporting cases of rough sleeping. Some Members reported significant delays when contacting Streetlink via telephone to report rough sleeping. In response Officers advised to report the cases through the Streetlink website as any information submitted this way was logged on the central government website and alerted all local agencies, which enabled a coordinated, multi-agency response.
Other avenues to report rough sleeping/homelessness. Members queried if there were other avenues for reporting cases locally which allowed for immediate response in urgent situations. Officers confirmed BDHT could be telephoned from Monday to Friday during working hours, and they would alert the local outreach team. The average response time for this service was 48 hours.
Feasibility of a 24-hour helpline number. Some Members commented that there should an immediate support service available to telephone in cases of urgency. In response, Officers stated that it was not currently feasible for either the Council or the County to have a dedicated, staffed 24-hour helpline as there were not enough resources. However, there was an emergency, out of hours contact number for people who were homeless or rough sleeping. In addition, there was a Severe Weather Emergency provision available on immediate basis.
Officers confirmed that the Council had a dedicated Housing Officer for the Homes for Ukraine scheme, and this was funded via a Government grant.
Arrangements for custody leavers not to be released on Fridays. Members asked if the current HM Prisons policy of allowing prisoners to be released on Fridays had been reconsidered, given that custody leavers without prior housing arranged were at risk of being left homeless on the weekend as they had insufficient time to access local support services, especially if they had a long way to travel home. In response, the Officer undertook to provide Members with a response and explained that this was a serious issue as prisoners discharged on a Friday were likely to find it difficult to access services and may start rough sleeping as a consequence.
Bidding for the Mental Health Grant. Officers reported that the County was not successful in the first round and there had been another bid submitted by the public health team at Worcestershire County Council. It was explained that, if successful, the grant would only provide enough funds for appointing one health worker, and there were other avenues for the Council to bid for larger amounts of funding.

Members requested that a Homelessness Services leaflet containing contact details of various support organisations be produced by Officers and that a local 24-hour contact number for reporting rough sleeping and homelessness cases be provided to Members.

RESOLVED that the report be noted and recommendations contained therein endorsed.

[Councillor S. A. Webb left the meeting after consideration of this item.]

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