Agenda item

To consider a report by the Homelessness Prevention Commissioning Officer (copy enclosed) detailing progress made with delivery of the Action Plan and presenting the draft Denbighshire Supporting People/Homelessness Prevention Commissioning Plan prior to its submission to Cabinet.

11.45 a.m. – 12.10 p.m.

Introducing the report and appendices (previously circulated) which updated members on the Council’s progress to date in delivering its Homelessness Prevention Action Plan, the Lead Member for Well-being and Independence informed the Committee that the Council’s aim was to prevent homelessness.  In its bid to achieve this objective a multi-service and multi-agency approach had been adopted with a view to supporting people who were at risk of being made homeless from becoming homeless.  Also attached to the report was Denbighshire’s draft Supporting People/Homelessness Prevention Commissioning Plan 2019-222, which outlined how the Council proposed to develop and remodel support projects in the county over the next three years to support people who were either homeless or at risk of being made homeless.  Confirmation was still awaited from WG on the amount of Supporting People grant funding the Council was to be awarded for 2019-2022, whilst a budget cut was not anticipated for next year the Council as part of its budget planning had built in a 5% budget cut contingency into the delivery plan.

Responding to members’ questions the Lead Member, Corporate Director: Communities and the Homelessness Prevention Commissioning Officer –

·         confirmed as a matter of routine that, when compiling the Commissioning Plan and Action Plan, officers built in a 5% cut contingency plan into its budget assumptions.  For the forthcoming year this had been done on the basis of potential efficiency savings and the re-configuration of services to deliver more homeless prevention work rather than intervention work.  It was widely acknowledged that prevention work in the long-run cost less than reactive intervention work

·         confirmed that the Service worked very closely with Canolfan Dewi Sant in Rhyl, which provided shelter and support to individuals and families experiencing homelessness.  The Council’s Homeless Officer and its Citizen Engagement Officer visited the Centre on a regular basis.  In addition the authority commissioned services at the centre

·         referred to the shift in focus to a more proactive preventative service, e.g. by a Criminal Justice Homelessness Prevention Officer visiting prisoners before they were discharged from prison to prevent them leaving prison and immediately presenting themselves as homeless

·         advised that the Service was currently working with around 500 households in Denbighshire at present in relation to housing and homelessness matters

·         advised that there were a variety of reasons why individuals and families were at risk of losing their home, i.e. drug/alcohol/substance misuse, welfare reform, financial difficulties/debt, the effect of adverse childhood experiences (ACE).  Hence the reason taken to reconfigure the team to enable them to give more specialised prevention support

·         emphasised that every individual who contacted the Service was a vulnerable person

·         illustrated, via a case study, the effectiveness of the Homelessness Prevention Officer post hosted by the Revenues and Benefits Service (Civica) in the Job Centre in helping people manage their debts and plan their finances in order to prevent a crisis occurring

·         confirmed that the Annual Homelessness Prevention Day had been well attended during which a number of personal experiences were shared.  The feedback received following the event had been positive.  Nevertheless there would always be areas for improvement.  As a result of this event stronger links were being forged between internal partners with a view to strengthening working practices to prevent situations escalating into crises

·         advised that the competitive tender process undertaken for the provision of supported housing had been undertaken in accordance with the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules (CPR).  A new provider had been appointed.  The majority of ‘supported units’ had transferred over from the previous provider to the new appointed provider.  However, six units had not transferred over, and the new provider was committed to delivering suitable accommodation in place of the units which had not transferred.  Some staff had transferred over to the new provider under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) Regulation arrangements.  The Council was monitoring closely the contract’s delivery in line with its contract monitoring procedures and regular meetings were being held with the provider to support compliance with the tender specification requirements

·         confirmed that whilst there were some individuals/families in the south of the county being supported to avoid them becoming homeless, the majority of cases receiving support were in the north of the county

·         advised that whilst the report presented to the Committee focused on people over the age of 18, the Service had figures on 16 to 18 year olds who were at risk of becoming homeless.  The Service worked with them via the Young People’s Positive Pathways project

·         confirmed that the Service had a severe weather protocol in relation to homelessness which it invoked when severe weather was forecast, and

·         advised that a report would be published in the near future on how the Authority proposed to end the use of non-suitable accommodation to house homeless individuals and families.

Members suggested that future reports and Commissioning Plans should include actual numbers in addition to percentage figures when referring to individuals/families/households supported by the Service and its partners, as this would assist the Committee to gauge the extent of the problems and to see the extent of the homelessness problem in the county and whether any trend was developing.  They also requested that both English and Welsh versions of the Commissioning Plan were proof-read in order to eliminate basic spelling and grammar errors and that an information report be provide to them on Prison Leavers and the Homelessness Service.

In congratulating the Service on its work and the support it provided for vulnerable families and individuals, members emphasised the need to progress the objectives of the Single Access Route to Housing (SARTH) work and the importance for the Council to commence its plans to build more social housing in the county.

At the conclusion of the discussion the Committee –

RESOLVED, subject to the above observations and the provision of the requested information –

(a)       to support the delivery of the Homelessness Prevention Action Plan, to ensure that everyone is supported to live in homes that meet their needs;

(b)       that it was assured that plans were being developed for mitigating any risks associated with future changes to Supporting People funding;

(c)        that its comments and recommendations be included in the report on the Commissioning Plan scheduled to be presented to Cabinet at its December meeting, and

(d)       that an Information Report be prepared for circulation to members on Prison Leavers and the Homelessness Services.