Agenda item

To receive an update on homelessness.

The Panel received an update on homelessness, the presentation is attached to these minutes as an Appendix. 

A summary of the headline statistics of the housing register was reported.  There were currently 1,267 live applications distributed across all four housing bands.  294 applicants had been rehoused since January 2020.  Social housing had been offered across all four housing bands.  88 full duty homeless cases had been moved on from temporary accommodation during the last financial year. 

The Panel noted the statistics presented to them relating to applicants on the housing register and their preferred area of choice for housing within the Forest.  The urban areas of Totton, Lymington and New Milton had the highest levels of demand for social housing.   Statistics were also provided for the bedroom requirements of housing register applicants, with one bedroom properties being most in demand.

The District Council had been required to provide a snap shot of rough sleeping in November 2020 to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.  The Panel noted the rough sleeping statistics for individual authorities across Hampshire, including how the District Council compared to other authorities.  Other statistics were presented across Hampshire for rough sleepers being provided emergency temporary accommodation in response to the coronavirus pandemic and those who had been moved on to settled accommodation / supported housing.

The Panel noted there had been a peak of 22 rough sleepers in the District in November 2020, but the current number of known rough sleepers in the District was now 4.  Each of these had refused the offer of accommodation but were in receipt of regular welfare checks. 184 households had been offered Emergency Temporary Accommodation since 1 March 2020.  56 households were currently in external accommodation.

The programme of future work included the appointment of two new support workers.  They would be embedded within the Tourlands Project to provide support to those living there.  These positions had been funded for three years.  Additional new temporary accommodation was expected to become available over the year and would reduce the need for B&B accommodation.  A new Homelessness Prevention officer would also be appointed specifically to dealt with prevention.

Members noted that discussions were taking place with mental health services across Hampshire to work in partnership together.  Pilots and initiatives were being developed with local district partners which would be shared with the Panel.  There had also been a focus locally on mental health partnership working.  Discussions were taking place with the community mental health team and inpatient hospitals to look how to prevent inpatient hospital admissions and reduce the burden on the Community Mental Health Team.  It was recognised that many clients in temporary accommodation suffered from poor mental health.  Last month out of 50 single people in temporary accommodation, 37 of them had a mental health condition.

A further bid had been submitted to sustain the previous funding received to support rough sleepers and to fund a Mental Health Practitioner within the support team.  It was proposed that this person would be able to link to the CMHT to request clinical supervision and to submit direct mental health referrals.