Issue - meetings

The report on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy is attached.

Graham Sabourn, Head of Housing and Ann Robbins, Housing Strategy & Commissioning Manager introduced the report.

Panel members made the following points and asked the following questions:

Councillor O’Brien raised the following points – Officer responses are shown in italics.

·  Concerns over estate agents discriminating against people on benefits regarding private lets.

·  Regarding the safe sleep provision (20 beds) – does this continue into the Summer? The officer explained that people are more likely to be drawn in during the colder months and opportunities for contact and support for people is maximised. The venue can only be used in the winter. It is better to contact and support people than to double the beds available.

Councillor Craig raised the issue of boaters being moved on by the Canal and River Trust and stated that the definition of homeslessness is having no permenant place of residence. The officer stated that they are aware of the difficulties of the boaters but had helped to put in place the prior notification process. The Canal and River Trust is now a charity.

Councillor Davies asked what the next steps are regarding setting qualatitive and quantitive factors. The officer explained that there is a wealth of data and would be interested in ideas of how to report this to the public to make it interesting. The officer stated that there are two important figures – the number of households in temporary accommodation and the numbers of rough sleepers. He explained that there is a better system of estimating numbers of rough sleepers now that he had more confidence in. Councillor Davies asked that the Panel be annually updated on the progress of the Strategy.

Councillor Born raised the following points – Officer responses are shown in italics.

·  Has the introduction of Universal Credit affected homelessness and rough sleeping? The officer explained that there has been a small increase but that agencies had carried out a significant amount of prevention work. Universal Credit has had an impact on national levels of rough sleeping.

·  Is there a focus on elderly rough sleepers? The officer explained there have been some examples of people moving from Manvers Street Hostel into residential care.

·  Do you have resources for dual diagnosis? The officer explained that they would find out their allocation soon.

Councillor Rigby asked what can be done for people who do not want to stay in hostels regarding support such as storage and help to register to vote. The officer explained Julian House are looking into a storage facility in their basement. There is a protocol that if any important documents are found, they are handed in at Julian House. People are also able to use Julian House as an address regarding voting.

Councillor Walker stated that Bed and Breakfasts can be a short-term solution and that we can work with private landlords. She asked if private rent allowance can lead to people becoming homeless. The officer explained that the authority has no control over local housing allowance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30

The Homelessness Act 2002 requires the Council to carry out a review of homelessness to inform the production of a homelessness strategy every 5 years. The draft Homelessness & Rough Sleeping Strategy 2019-24 meets this requirement.

Councillor Tim Ball introduced the report by saying that this was a draft report which would return to the Cabinet in January 2020 for adoption.  The relevant PDS Panel would have the opportunity to scrutinise this strategy.

Councillor Ball also said that Comments received about people resorting to living on the waterways as an alternative to rough sleeping or other forms of homelessness have been received.  This was an area for further investigation, which was already being looked at and would be included in the updated action plan.  A query has been raised about female-specific one-stop advice support and training provision along the lines of the Nelson Trust in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. Provision in that service has included housing and accommodation, prison in-reach, employment & training, prevention of child sexual exploitation and sex-working.  Cross-directorate (Housing, Community Safety, Equalities, Children & Families) and multi-agency (Voluntary Sector, Offender Management) discussions were needed to look at the gaps such a service might fill and, if agreed that it would be of benefit, how financial resources might be found.  The Nelson Trust has been receiving funding from a range of national and local sources and a similar approach would need to be taken in Bath & North East Somerset.  It should be noted that local services were already offering support and advice on these issues, albeit not in one venue.  Funding for 2020/21 for rough sleeping services was yet to be confirmed but assurances have been recently given that similar levels of funding could be expected.  A business plan has been submitted to MHCLG setting out how this would be spent and a response was expected imminently. Further underwriting of day services to ensure rough sleepers have somewhere to go at any point of the day was also being considered by MHCLG.

Councillor Ball invited all Members of the Council to get engaged and comment on the new Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy before the next Cabinet meeting on 16^th January 2020.

Councillor Tim Ball moved the recommendations.

Councillor Kevin Guy seconded the motion by encouraging as many people as possible to take part in the consultation.  Councillor Guy also said that he has had pleasure of seeing officers from this Council and other organisations helping people.  Councillor Guy added that sofa surfing, in particular with young children, was something that was overlooked in the report.

Councillor Richard Samuel said that it should be our aim to remove homelessness and rough sleeping from our authority, and house all of our citizens.  Our aspirations should be ambitious – nobody in 2019 should be without a roof over their head, and we must do everything we can to help people.

Councillor Dine Romero agreed that the Council must ensure that nobody in B&NES should be without a roof over their head.

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Cabinet agreed to note the current consultation exercise and approach in regard to tackling homelessness and the priorities set out in the draft document.