Agenda item

Briefing Note and report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People)

The Scrutiny Board considered a report of the Head of Housing and Transformation on the 12-month review of the implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA). The report was considered by the Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities at his meeting on 1 July, 2019.

The report provided information relating to the number of cases presenting as homeless, the needs of our customers and how well we are responding to these needs. The report also highlighted areas for further work.

The Homeless Reduction Act 2017 came into force on 3 April 2018 and placed new statutory duties on Councils in England to provide enhanced advice and assistance to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness. It was the single most significant change to homelessness legislation since 1977 and received cross party support throughout its progress through the legislative process.

The legislation placed the additional statutory duties on the Council; prevention duty - working with customers to understand the circumstances that have led to the threat of homelessness and agree a Personal Housing Plan (PHP), including a set of reasonable steps to undertake to prevent homelessness. And relief duty – for households who are already homeless or for those whose homelessness could be prevented. The Council and the applicant must agree ‘reasonable steps’ within their PHP to help them secure accommodation which is suitable and available for at least 6 months.

The Act focuses on reducing the number of households becoming homeless by working with them before they reach the point of crisis.

The first year of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 has been a challenging one both locally and nationally. The principles of the legislation focus on early intervention and prevention. The change of legislation framework has required a significant culture change for staff in how they support our customers. During the first year of the Act the Housing and Homelessness Service has successfully prevented or relieved homelessness for 366 cases.

However, a significant number of people who require support were still not seeking help early enough as evidenced by those who were still presenting to us as homeless on the night. This reflected the national picture whereby use of temporary accommodation has increased as a result of the Act.

The reasons for homelessness were not just about the loss of a home but finding and accessing an affordable alternative, wither in the private rented sector or social housing. For Coventry, the gap between our Local Housing Allowance rates and private rented sector costs is higher than other areas in additional to the shortage of social housing. The Council is seeking to mitigate this by continuing to utilise our prevention pot monies to best effect. It is also hoped that our new Top Up Rent scheme would increase the numbers of people; particularly families, who can access the private rented sector in the medium term whilst waiting for social housing if that us their preferred option longer term.

The Scrutiny Board questioned officers present on aspects of the report, particularly in relation to:

·  How much money had been paid for deposits to landlords

·  Working with, and the role of, partner agencies such as Whitefriars and Salvation Army

·  Housing first scheme

·  Families in temporary accommodation

The Scrutiny Board requested further information on how much money has been paid for deposits to landlords to be circulated to members of the Board.

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny Board:

1.  Considered the information relating to the number of cases presenting as homeless and endorses the work being done to respond to their needs.

2.  Endorses the progress made to date and notes the areas highlighted for further work.

3.  Had no further recommendations for the Cabinet Member to consider.

4.  Requests that a report be submitted in 6 month’s time on rough sleeping following the publication of the official figures in January 2020.