Issue - meetings

RESOLVED:That the Homelessness Strategy be adopted and that the role of the Environment and Community Panel’s group - Homelessness and Housing Supply Task Group in overseeing the delivery of the Action Plan endorsed. 

Reason for Decision

The Council has a statutory duty to produce a homelessness strategy setting out the issues it faces locally and what it is doing to prevent homelessness. The Council’s commitments to preventing homelessness are set out in the Corporate Plan. 

Cabinet considered a report which explained that the existing Homelessness Strategy needed to be replaced by a plan that reflected recent changes to the legislative framework and current local circumstances in relation to homelessness and rough sleeping.

The draft Strategy had been presented to the Environment and Community Panel on the 15^th October 2019 – The Panel supported the draft Strategy.

The Assistant Director Regeneration, Housing and Place explained that there had been a stakeholder event in December to consult on the strategy which had been well received.   He explained that the Strategy would be reviewed every 5 years, but the Action Plan would be reviewed annually.  He drew attention to the Environment and Community Panel’s Task Group on Homelessness which it was anticipated would keep the Action Plan under review and report back to the Panel annually on progress.

In discussing the content of the Strategy the importance of the private rented sector in the process was referred to in terms of housing supply and homelessness.

He also made reference to the new software which had been procured to assist with the relay of the large amount of information on homelessness to the Government.  This was permitting the preparation of the statistics around homelessness to be published on the web in due course which would assist with the large number of freedom of information requests received on the subject.  It was noted that the large number of information provided to the Government did not elicit any information back from the Government on overall statistics etc, but this would be chased at a forthcoming meeting with them.

In response to a question of the provision of personal housing plans for individuals, the Assistant Director explained that as part of the Housing Act it was a requirement to produce these which would include the provision of the support offered. 

RESOLVED:That the Strategy be adopted and that the role of the Environment and Community Panel group - Homelessness and Housing Supply Task Group in overseeing the delivery of the Action Plan endorsed. 

Reason for Decision

The Council has a statutory duty to produce a homelessness strategy setting out the issues it faces locally and what it is doing to prevent homelessness. The Council’s commitments to preventing homelessness are set out in the Corporate Plan.