Issue - meetings

Welfare Reform Drawdown from Central Contingency

Meeting: 02/10/2014 - Adult Care and Health Policy Development and Scrutiny Committee (Item 33)

33 Homelessness and Welfare Reform Drawdown from Central Contingency pdf icon PDF 362 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report updating them on homelessness pressures during 2014, summarising the challenges being faced and the range of initiatives to reduce the budget pressures. The report also updated Members on formal consultation which was now commencing on proposed revisions to the allocations scheme. The Executive was being asked to release £653k set aside in central contingency for homelessness and welfare pressures. 

 

Appendix 1 to the report set out the actions being taken to reduce the cost of temporary accommodation. This included assessing all vacant properties for their suitability for use as temporary accommodation for the homeless, although in some cases the cost of refurbishment meant that the properties were not viable. The Council also worked with landlords to prevent people from becoming homeless. Members suggested encouraging landlords to offer longer term, ten year, contracts, and using converted shipping containers to provide accommodation - while this was an option it was not significantly cheaper than more conventional approaches. The Council was working hard with other local authorities to avoid pushing landlords’ charges even higher. 

 

Members noted that although the economic situation was improving there was a time-lag before this re-aligned with homelessness and a backlog of cases. The impact of universal credit in 2015 could lead to another spike in homelessness.

 

Appendix 2 to the report listed proposed key revisions to the Allocations Scheme, including reducing the qualifying household income from £60k to £30k. There would be consultation and a more detailed report on this would be presented to Members at a later date. A Member suggested that this threshold might need to be higher to tie in with other legislation. 

 

RESOLVED that the recommendation to the Executive that £653k set aside in central contingency for homelessness and welfare pressures be released is supported.