Agenda item

Briefing Note of the Head of Housing and Homelessness

The Scrutiny Board considered a Briefing Note of the Head of Housing and Homelessness which outlined the progress of the Housing and Homelessness Service and the key initiatives that have been implemented. It also provided the Board with the opportunity to discuss the key homelessness issues and trends over the previous 12 months and note any actions that will be progressed during the next 12 months to achieve the key objectives of the Homeless Service.

The Council approved its Housing and Homelessness Strategy (2019-2024) in March 2019 and is the core strategy the drives the service forward. The Strategy and action plan was refreshed during 2022 to ensure that the actions were still relevant and those that had been completed were removed. The strategy has four key areas of focus:

·  Preventing homelessness & supporting homeless households

·  Support for people and communities

·  Improving existing homes

·  Housing development

The Housing and Homelessness Service has undergone significant change over the previous 5 years with a number of initiatives/projects being worked on with the intention of:

·  Reducing the financial burden on the Authority whilst providing better quality temporary accommodation options.

·  Increasing the number of households where homelessness is prevented or relieved and therefore decreasing the number of households in temporary accommodation.

·  Increasing the number of properties available to households in exceptional housing need that are either at social/affordable rents or at the Local Housing Allowance rates if in the private rented sector.

The demand for homelessness services in the city has grown significantly over the last 12-18 months. These increases have been reflected nationally with the highest number of households ever recorded currently living in temporary accommodation in England.

The homeless service is currently being approached by an average of 200 individual households each week in housing need. A number of these will receive initial advice and guidance with over 50% progressing to a homeless application.

As at the 26th February 2024 there are a total of 1145 households in TA provided by Coventry City Council. Of these 791 are households with dependent children with the remaining 354 households being single people or childless couples. The number of families in TA has increased at a greater rate than single people with large family accommodation being particularly high demand.

The Councils rough sleepers team undertakes outreach walks across the city 5 days a week to engage and work with people currently sleeping rough in the city. The frequency of these walks means that the service are fully aware of who is sleeping rough in the city. The team find some people only once whereas we also have people sleeping rough who have done so for a number of years. In January 2024, even though additional accommodation was available due to SWEP (Severe Weather Emergency Protocol) for 18 nights we found a total of 51 people with approximately 15 individuals sleeping rough on any one night.

Councillor D Welsh, Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, pre-empted the Board’s discussion by providing a broad overview of the housing and homelessness landscape. Overwhelmingly, the service is experiencing increased demand whilst looking to reduce costs. To do this, the council is working increasingly with partners and providers to continue service provision. He stated that they are trying to help as many people as possible to stay in their accommodation and provide people and families with even better-quality accommodation. Increased demand has resulted in using Bed and Breakfasts (B and Bs) again, however, when viewed as a percentage of overall service use this remains very low. He also emphasised the continuing work being done to encourage residents to downsize to free up larger family homes for families who need them.

In conjunction to the report, officers reiterated the various challenges the service faced both in terms of the cost-of-living crisis and the housing market but emphasised the number of achievements in preventing homelessness in the city. Specifically, the acquisition of more council properties has broadened the accommodation options the service has available and reduced renting costs. Being able to provide temporary accommodation for almost 800 families with children similarly demonstrated the work being done. However, officers did provide the Board with the stark perspective of the challenges the service faced. Specifically: rising costs, rising demand, increased approaches from homeless service users, and the future prospect of rising mortgage payments.

The Board questioned Officers and the Cabinet Member and received responses on a number of matters relating to the Housing and Homelessness Update:

·  The impact of increased asylum seekers on accommodation figures.

o  (Note: the Council only has a duty to house people with a legal Duty to Remain in the UK).

·  How many properties do the council now own?

·  What impact has the loss of Vincent Wyles House and William Malcom House had? When rebuilding takes place, what is being done to ensure 4, 5, and 6+ bedroom houses are being built?

·  Contact numbers to identify rough sleepers and accessing Streetlink to report rough sleepers.

·  Is there a definition of temporary accommodation and is there a legal limit for their occupancy?

·  Can Citizen Housing properties be combined to make provision for larger bedroom properties?

·  Who determines the need for the size of the temporary accommodation for a family?

·  How many empty and ‘no-fine’ properties do we currently have in the city?

·  Can the council legally build temporary accommodation?

The Board and the Cabinet Member thanked officers for their continued hard work in delivering a service despite the number of persistent and wide-ranging challenges identified.

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny Board notes the information contained within the report.