Agenda item

To consider a joint Briefing Note and presentation

Councillors Bigham and Thomas, Cabinet Member and Deputy Cabinet Member for Community Development have been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item. 

The Committee considered a Briefing Note and presentation that outlined the current position on homelessness in Coventry and which highlighted the reasons why people find themselves without a home. Nathan Slinn, a representative of the Salvation Army, who currently hold the contract to provide supported accommodation and floating support, attended the meeting. In addition, the Chair, Councillor Brown, invited contributions from a number of members of the public who had either experienced homelessness or who worked with homelessness organisations.

The presentation covered the following issues:-

  • Trends of those presenting as homeless; a breakdown of the

  reasons for homelessness; and comparison with West Midlands and

  County neighbours

• Changes to legislation and early intervention work

• Work currently underway with partner organisations including:-

  • Building new homes

  • Reducing temporary accommodation spend

  • Improving current temporary accommodation

  • Future plans to increase housing supply in Coventry

  • Support for victims of domestic violence

• Current trends and levels of empty homes since 2010

The Committee questioned officers, representatives and members of the public on a number of issues, including:-

  • Rates of homelessness across the West Midlands and how those rates

  are measured

  • The Council’s powers in relation to Empty Homes

  • Innovative ways of building new homes, such as modular homes

  • Selective Licensing and anticipated implementation dates

  • How homelessness is managed by Directorates across the Council

  • Implications of the new Homelessness Reduction Act and grant funding

    associated with the new legislation

  • The difference between rough sleepers and street beggars

  • How rough sleepers are counted, the accuracy of those figures and the

  lack of day time facilities for rough sleepers

  • Liaison between homelessness organisations and providers

  • How drug and alcohol addiction impacts on cases of homelessness

  • Innovative ways of funding new housing schemes to increase the

    amount of social and affordable housing

The Committee requested further information in relation to the following:-

  • The anticipated effect of the introduction of Universal Credit on

    Homelessness figures

  • Modular Housing schemes

  • The average costs per person of temporary accommodation

  • A breakdown of the figures in relation to the categories of empty homes

  and the number likely to be brought back into use in the next year

On behalf of the Committee, the Chair, Councillor Brown thanked all of the participants for their contribution to the meeting.

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee:-

(1)  Note the Briefing Note and presentation and welcome the contributions made by officers, the Salvation Army and members of the public

(2)  Request that the report on Selective Licensing be considered by Scrutiny prior to its consideration by Cabinet

(3)  Recommend that the Cabinet Member for Community Development:-

a)  In order to ensure a cohesive and holistic approach to homelessness and to enable information to be shared, considers the establishment of a Homelessness Forum, involving all appropriate stakeholders, including funding providers, to be chaired by an Independent Person

b)  Continues to consider innovative methods of funding new housing developments to ensure an increase in the number of new affordable and social housing being built

c)  Considers lobbying the Government to ensure that the funding provided as part of the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 continues beyond the initial two years.