Agenda item

Report CS18135

The Committee considered a report presenting the final Homelessness Strategy 2018-23 following the completion of the recent public consultation exercise, and detailing the feedback from the consultation, together with the final draft of the strategy taking account of the feedback received. 

The Homelessness Strategy 2018-23 set out how the Local Authority would prevent homelessness and provide support to people who were homeless or at risk of becoming homeless over the coming five year period, and would be supported by the Homelessness Strategy Action Plan.  The strategy was structured around four key priority areas that comprised early identification and prevention of homelessness, achieving positive outcomes for our young people, increasing access to and promoting the supply of accommodation, and improving health and wellbeing and supporting people to break the cycle of homelessness  The strategy and action plan had been developed in consultation with key partners and agencies delivering housing and homelessness services to ensure a strong collaborative approach was taken to preventing and reducing homelessness, particularly when addressing complex needs and the wider factors which could lead to homelessness.  Following agreement by the Council’s Executive as its meeting on 6^th December 2017, an eight week public consultation exercise had been undertaken to which a total of 232 individual responses had been received, with 37% of respondents having experienced homelessness.  A range of key partners including housing associations, landlords, business organisations and health services had also been consulted.  The vast majority of respondents agreed that the key priorities around which the Homelessness Strategy 2018-23 was based were appropriate and that no key areas had been excluded from the strategy.  The wider issue of affordable housing supply was raised and would be considered in more detail in the forthcoming overarching housing strategy.

A Member noted the significant increase in homeless households in the Borough since 2001 and underlined the need to explore schemes to increase the housing options available within the Borough, including encouraging social landlords to extend their properties and maximising the occupancy of social housing, as well as promoting house-share and live-in guardian schemes.  The Director: Housing advised that a full range of schemes were being investigated, and that this included work by housing associations to review their estates that would feed into the overarching housing strategy.  In response to a question from the Member, the Director: Housing confirmed that households with dependents, including young people aged over 16 years who had special educational needs or were attending an in-Borough school were treated as a priority need for housing.

A Member was pleased to note actions to improve access to financial, training and employment advice within the Homelessness Strategy Action Plan, and highlighted that early intervention was key in avoiding homelessness.  Another Member emphasised the importance of working closely with the Planning Service to ensure that developers delivered the agreed number of affordable or social housing units.  In considering the ‘More Homes in Bromley’ scheme which aimed to acquire 400 properties over two years to be used as temporary accommodation within the Borough and sub-region, the Director: Housing reported that the Mears Group was on track to complete the purchase of 400 properties within 2.5 years, and that consideration would be given to expanding the programme as the current scheme progressed.

The Committee thanked the Director: Housing and her team for the excellent work that had been undertaken to prevent and manage the issue of homelessness in the Borough during the 2017/18 municipal year.

Councillor Kevin Brooks requested that his opposition to the proposed agreement of the final draft of the Homelessness Strategy 2018-23 by the Council’s Executive be recorded in the minutes.

RESOLVED that the Council’s Executive be recommended to:

1)  Approve the final draft of the Homelessness Strategy 2018-23, subject to final formatting;

2)  Delegate authority to the Director: Housing to finalise the action plan to implement and deliver the strategy; and,

3)  Note that the implementation of any of the proposed actions might be subject to further decision making in accordance with the Schedule of Delegation.