Agenda item

To consider the implication of the Act for this Council.

RESOLVED:

(a)   That the changes taking place under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 be noted; and

(b)   That a further report on the Government’s Gold Standard Programme for managing homelessness be brought to a meeting of the Cabinet at the earliest opportunity.

Members were advised of the key changes to this Council’s responsibilities that would be introduced by the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.  The Act, which was expected to come into force in April 2018, amended Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 which remained the key statute setting out local authorities’ statutory duties in relation to homelessness.

There were a number of key changes compared to the current situation.  The main ones that affected this Council were:

·        The time period for which the local authority was responsible for responding to impending homelessness was increased from 28 days to 56 days;

·        The scope of the advice that must be provided to prevent homelessness was increased and must address the varying needs of enquirers;

·        Once a person had established their eligibility for assistance, in accordance with the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, all individuals, regardless of personal circumstances or priority need, would be entitled to a formal assessment of their case;

·        In the light of the formal assessment the Council must try to agree a personalised housing plan with the individual, setting out the steps that both the individual and the Council should be required to take in order to have and retain suitable accommodation.  These steps must be kept under regular review;

·        The duty on the Council to prevent homelessness would be extended to all applicants, regardless of priority need and intentionality in causing homelessness.  The reasonable steps that the Council must take to assist them must take into account the formal assessment of their case;

·        Once someone had become homeless the Council must take reasonable steps to help them, based on a formal assessment of their case.  This would now be irrespective of their priority need or intentionality in causing homelessness;

·        If this initial relief duty did not resolve the homelessness and the Council’s duty had not been discharged the application would be assessed under the full homelessness duty as it currently existed, with priority need and intentionality in causing homelessness taken into account;

·        The time period for which the Council would be responsible for providing temporary accommodation for applicants in priority need but intentionally homeless would be greater;

·        The duty to protect the property of homeless applicants would be extended to all eligible applicants, regardless of priority need;

·        Applicants under the homelessness legislation would no longer need to demonstrate a local connection to qualify for an assessment, personalised housing plan or the duty to prevent homelessness.  Applicants the under main housing duty would still be able to be referred to an authority where they had a local connection.

·        Other public bodies, to be specified by Regulation, were expected to be able to refer individuals who they thought may be homeless or threatened with homelessness.  Effective partnership arrangements must be established to allow this to happen effectively.

It was noted that the Act also imposed requirements on applicants under the legislation to ensure that they co-operated fully with the process.

The new process required the Council to issue written decisions at key stages with these decisions subject to a formal review process and, consequently, the Act would impose significant new administrative burdens on this Council in respect of each application, and it was expected there would be a significant increase in the number of applications for assistance.  As an example, it was projected that each Housing Assessment Report would take around 1 ½ hours to prepare.  It had therefore been agreed that additional employees would be engaged to meet the challenges ahead. The duty to provide temporary accommodation would also increase. 

The Cabinet was advised of the work currently underway through the Council’s Homelessness Team to respond to the challenges of the new legislation, as set out in paragraph 7.9 of Report Item 10 to the Cabinet.  The budgetary implications, including the setting aside of £150,000 to meet the additional resource implications, were set out in section 8 of the report.  It was noted that part of the additional cost would be met from additional government funding.

It was noted that the Housing Portfolio Holder would be working closely with the Leisure and Wellbeing Portfolio Holder to develop essential relationships with partner organisations to meet the challenges presented by the new legislation, and in particular to address some of the underlying mental health issues that might be contributing to homelessness and street sleeping. 

All members welcomed the opportunity to work on a cross-party basis to address the wider challenges presented by homelessness in the District, working to identify innovative approaches such as those that had been recognised as best practice in other areas, as exemplified by Winchester.

RESOLVED:

(a)             That the changes taking place under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 be noted; and

(b)             That a further report on the Government’s Gold Standard Programme for managing homelessness be brought to a meeting of the Cabinet at the earliest opportunity.