Agenda item

(Report of the Portfolio Holder for Neighbourhoods)

The Chair welcomed the Portfolio Holder for Neighbourhoods, Councillor M Cook, the Assistant Director, Neighbourhoods, Ms T Mustafa and the Head of Homelessness and Housing Solutions, Ms S Finnegan to the meeting.

The Chair reported that a report on the Council Response to COVID-19 had been circulated with the agenda and that the attendees would update the members on homelessness; specifically on:

·       Response during COVID - 19 to homelessness

·       Challenges arising from government legislation &/or guidance ending around furlough scheme and ban on evictions

·       Range of housing solutions 

 The Assistant Director, Neighbourhoods reported that:

·        As part of the overall context, the Government’s homelessness vision was to half rough sleeping by 2022 and end it by 2024/25;

·        At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic the Government announced its “Everyone In” scheme, which aimed to move rough sleepers into settled accommodation;

·        Government funding to councils was allocated based on the rough sleeping count in November 2019, which included £1600 being allocated to Tamworth, additional funding of around £13000 was also received from Staffordshire County Council;

The Head of Homelessness and Housing Solutions updated the Committee on:

·       how the council had housed put in place measures to house rough sleepers following the announcement of the Government’s Everyone In scheme and ensured that those who utilised the night shelter were offered a bed and a pathway into more settled accommodation, which utilised some additional temporary accommodation units.  This was managed in a remote way.

·       The delivery of the Allocations Policy to programme in June 2020.

·       Strategies to encourage the sustaining of private tenancies between landlords and tenants.

·       The Prevention, Intervention and Recovery process implemented and which will be supported through the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy.

·       The process followed and next steps for approval of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy, which was aligned with Tamworth’s vision of “Tamworth, its people and economy at the heart of everything we do”. The proposed key priorities to support homeless prevention in Tamworth were highlighted to the Committee and the feedback of the Committee was sought.  The five proposed priorities were:

Ø  Prevention and early intervention through working with partners and stakeholders;

Ø  Develop rapid pathways for rough sleepers;

Ø  Improve the supply of and access to affordable and supported housing;

Ø  Offer a high quality and innovative service to homeless households and those threatened with homelessness;

Ø  Improve health and well-being aspirations.

The Assistant Director, Neighbourhoods highlighted that an informal consultation had taken place around a year ago, and that a further targeted update to that consultation would be undertaken shortly, before the strategy was presented to Cabinet for approval in December 2020 with proposed implementation thereafter.

The Committee sought and received the following clarifications:

·        Whether the Government target of 2025 was now out of date?  The Assistant Director, Neighbourhoods reported that the “Everyone In” scheme had relied on hotel accommodation being available for those presenting as rough sleeping and clearly as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and this could not be sustained as hotels and/or B&Bs go back to their usual service offer.  Also explaining that the provision of accommodation was only part of the solution and that the causes of homelessness also needed to be understood and support mechanisms put in place which was part of the work already commissioned around the evidence base and draft Homelessness and rough sleeping strategy set for Cabinet in December 2020.

·        Concern with the timescales set out for the strategy and the extent of the consultation already undertaken and still to be done.  The Assistant Director, Neighbourhoods reported that whilst the work following the initial consultation in September 2019 had been paused due to COVID-19, there would be opportunities to engage with the voluntary sector further, including with the Heart of Tamworth, who had supported the winter shelter in 2019/20.  Furthermore, COVID-19 meant that current Government guidance prohibits shared air space night shelters and therefore unless this position changes would impact on the night shelter.  However, there remained a role for listening and befriending services to continue and the Assistant Director Neighbourhoods welcomed discussions with partners on how this support could continue to support those likely to be socially isolated.

Members of the Committee thanked and congratulated the Officers involved for their work during the pandemic to ensure that all rough sleepers were accommodated into settled accommodation.

The Chair suggested to members that whilst the recommendation for the Committee to note and endorse the contents of the report could be progressed, the request for observations on the homelessness and rough sleeping strategy should be further considered, with the appropriate recommendations from this Committee to Cabinet being considered at the next Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee on 20^th October 2020.

RESOLVED that the Committee noted and endorsed the contents of the report and actions taken.

(Moved by Councillor R Ford and seconded by Councillor S Peaple)