Agenda item

Update on the Management of the Homeless Legislation Within the Housing (Wales) Act 2014

Decision:

(a)       That the update on the management of the new legislation within the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 be noted;

 

(b)       That the emerging themes within the Regional Homeless Strategy, and challenges that the Council had faced finding suitable housing options for households and the plans to mitigate further risks be supported;

 

(c)        That the proposals to alleviate homelessness in the County be        supported; and

 

(d)       That the Regional Homeless Strategy and Action Plan be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee, for consideration, prior to adoption by Cabinet.

Minutes:

            The Customer Support Manager introduced a report which provided an update on how the requirements of the new Homelessness Legislation within the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 were being met and some of the projected challenges that faced the Council.

 

            In 2017/18 the Council saw an increase in the number of households presenting at risk of homelessness and increased use of temporary accommodation.  The Council was committed to prevent rough sleeping and had worked to model the services and grant funding to mitigate the risk of increased temporary accommodation costs, as detailed within the report.  The focus of the Housing Options Team, wherever possible, was to prevent homelessness and enable a household to remain in their home and to achieve a successful homeless prevention outcome the service needed a supply of housing options that were affordable, and could be made available to households accessing the service.  The shortage of available options had been highlighted as a growing issues within the Flintshire Homeless Review and would be a focus of the action plan and the initiatives, as detailed within the report.

 

            The Customer Support Manager provided a detailed update on the challenges facing the Council, as outlined within the report, which focused around:-

 

·         The Social Housing Register;

·         Increasing the Availability of Private Rented Sector Properties;

·         Interim Accommodation;

·         Preventing Rough Sleepers;

·         Single Households; and

·         Vulnerable and Complex Needs

 

            In conclusion, the Customer Support Manager reported that in June 2016, the Heads of Housing of all six North Wales Local Authorities together with the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru, undertook a commitment to work together to develop a regional homelessness strategy.  The strategic approach, as detailed in the report would be presented to Cabinet at the end of the current financial year as the Regional Homelessness Strategy and each North Wales Local Authority was developing its own local action plan based on the priorities of the regional strategy.

 

            The Chief Officer (Housing and Assets) commented on the need to increase the availability of Private Rented Sector properties and advised that the Council needed to be mindful of construction works starting at Wylfa Newydd, Anglesey which could have a negative impact on private rented accommodation if there wasn’t enough availability in Anglesey and Conwy.  He said that it was vital that house building continued across Flintshire through the Strategic Housing and Regeneration Programme (SHARP) as the Council remained one of the few Local Authority’s building new social housing accommodation.    

 

            The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing advised that Cabinet had considered the report in the morning but any comments from Members during the meeting would be fed back to Cabinet and taken on board.  He advised that the Council provided support to people who presented themselves as homeless through the provision of temporary accommodation but it was important that Welsh Government continued to provide funding to ensure the continued use of temporary accommodation.  

           

            The Chairman welcomed the reduction in the use of bed and breakfast accommodation.  Councillor George Hardcastle echoed the comments and congratulated the Customer Support Manager and her team for achieving this reduction.    

 

            Councillor Paul Shotton raised concerns around the 39% increase of people presenting themselves as homeless due to changes to the welfare system and on a recent study which had been carried out that showed that 75% of tenants were in debt due to the introduction of Universal Credit.  He welcomed the work being undertaken by the Customer Support Manager and her team to mitigate these challenges and asked how many private landlords across Flintshire had registered with Rent Smart Wales.  The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing suggested that the Facilitator contact the Chief Officer (Planning, Environment and Economy) to provide a response on the number of landlords registered with Rent Smart Wales.  The Chief Officer confirmed that tenants were only placed in private accommodation where the landlords were registered with Rent Smart Wales.

 

            Councillor Patrick Heesom said that he welcomed the comprehensive report which he felt addressed how the issues around the increase in the number of households presenting themselves at risk of homelessness.  He referred to the Chief Officer’s comments on ensuring the future of the SHARP which he felt was critically important and ensuring the need for an appropriate affordable housing supply, but raised concerns around developers finding loopholes which saw them providing less affordable housing than needed through submitting a number of development applications on the same site.  He said that there was a need for the Council to develop a closer working relationship with private landlords and sought an assurance that the Regional Homeless Strategy would be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee prior to approval by Cabinet.

 

            The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing assured the Committee that the Regional Homeless Strategy would be presented to Scrutiny prior to adoption at Cabinet.  He said that he agreed with the comments around closer working relationships with private landlords and said that together with the Chief Officer, he was working on further developing the Landlord Forum.

 

            In response to a question from Councillor Heesom around the Triage Service, the Customer Support Manager explained that all applicants were treated the same and when letters were sent out to applicants details of the appeals process were provided.

 

            Councillor Rosetta Dolphin agreed with previous comments and said that the Council needed to focus its attention on the SHARP.  She referred to ‘hard to let’ properties in her own ward and suggested that they be re-modelled to one or two bedroomed properties which were most needed.  The Chief Officer agreed with the suggestion and commented on the issues which had arisen following the introduction of the ‘bedroom tax’.  The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing said that there was also a shortage or larger properties in some areas of the County and commented that there was a need for affordable housing developments across all communities in Flintshire.

 

            Councillor Heesom commented on the increase in planning applications for Houses of Multiple Occupancy across Flintshire and raised concerns around private landlords housing 5/6 people but paying council tax for only one property.  He said that this matter needed to be addressed.  He also suggested that the Council needed to work more closely with multi-national building developers to ensure larger developments of affordable homes.  The Chief Officer commented that Waites, who were delivering SHARP were a national building development company but said that it was important to acknowledge the contribution smaller building development companies made in providing good homes.                             

 

RESOLVED:

 

(a)       That the update on the management of the new legislation within the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 be noted;

 

(b)       That the emerging themes within the Regional Homeless Strategy, and challenges that the Council had faced finding suitable housing options for households and the plans to mitigate further risks be supported;

 

(c)        That the proposals to alleviate homelessness in the County be        supported; and

 

(d)       That the Regional Homeless Strategy and Action Plan be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee, for consideration, prior to adoption by Cabinet.

Supporting documents: