Issue - meetings

(a) That the work being undertaken by the Housing and Prevention Service be noted and supported; and

(b) That the draft Homeless Accommodation Policy be approved.

The Chief Officer (Housing and Communities) introduced a report to provide an insight into homelessness and rough sleeping for 2023 which included the draft Homeless Accommodation Policy for review and approval.

The Housing & Prevention Service Manager provided a detailed update on the Statutory Homelessness Service. He outlined that Local Authorities duties were outlined in the Housing Wales Act 2014 Part 2, with regards to the prevention of homelessness and the management of homelessness when it occurred. Detailed in section 6 of the report was information about the duties within the legislation (Helping You Understand Housing Wales Act 2014).

In relation to funding, the Housing & Prevention Service Manager reported that whilst a significant amount of funding was provided for prevention activity through the Housing Support Grant (HSG), statutory services could not be funded through HSG. Therefore, the Council Fund was the main source of funding for the delivery of statutory homelessness services.

Demand for services continues to be high and the Housing & Prevention Service Manager referred to Appendix 1 of the report which outlined data relating to:-

• Homelessness Presentations;
• Out Of Hours Emergency Response;
• Homeless Accommodation; and
• Rough Sleeper Response

The Housing & Prevention Service Manager also provided a detailed update on the housing market challenges, as outlined within the report.

            Councillor David Evans referred to the table outlined at appendix 1 showing the timeframe of homeless risk.  In relation to people who present as ‘homeless on the day,’ he asked if those people were previously known to the Council, for example, had they contacted the Council previously and had now reached a housing position that couldn’t continue.  He also referred to the table outlined at appendix 1 showing the out of hours homeless emergency calls and asked whether any analysis of why  some months were worse than others had been carried out.

The Housing & Prevention Service Manager outlined that the service was being proactive with data and working with the IT service to improve systems and reporting functions.  Further analysis of the percentage of people presenting as ‘homeless on the day’ was being undertaken which would assist the service in the future. In relation to the data around out of hours homeless emergency calls, there was a perception that hot weather could drive tensions within homes, and it was known that domestic abuse reports often increase during periods of sport tournaments, where alcohol consumption increases.  There was a need for further analysis of this data to understand better the fluctuations in numbers in different months.

The Cabinet Member commented on the data which was informative and had enabled comparative data with the rest of Wales. He agreed that legislative data from WG was forward thinking and progressive and said that it was positive to see an uplift in the housing support grant but commented that in order to deliver such ambitious and wide ranging levels of support there was a need for adequate resources to be provided to the Council, as there continued to be pressure on the general budget.

Councillor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 79