Agenda item

Report ACH21-023

The Board considered a report providing an overview of the work undertaken by the Housing department and health partners to support homeless households in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Assistant Director for Housing advised that staff in Housing, Planning and Regeneration had responded swiftly to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring that all frontline emergency services remained operational and that resources were diverted to those most in need of critical assistance. Whilst a small number of officers had continued to provide in-person assistance at the Civic Centre in order to assist those presenting in an emergency, the majority of staff had been working at home since March 2020. Services had adapted quickly, and a significant amount of work had been undertaken in order to maintain contact with clients and provide the necessary support and essential services.

The department worked jointly with colleagues providing supported accommodation, and received support from Public Health, to ensure that schemes were able to operate in a “COVID Safe” manner, and that additional practical and financial support was made available to both organisations and residents. A particular challenge for the service had been the additional assistance given to support those effected by rough sleeping as part of the government’s ‘Everyone In’ initiative, and the subsequent work that had arisen. In excess of 90 clients who were identified as sleeping rough, or at risk of rough sleeping, were accommodated into emergency accommodation and work to support this cohort was ongoing. Across London more than 5,000 households have been assisted under ‘Everyone In’.

Working jointly with colleagues from Public Health, MHCLG and Thamesreach, the department had formed a Rough Sleepers Response group to provide critical oversite and additional support to those they were assisting. This has allowed for a clear referral and rehousing pathway to ensure any person or agency who had knowledge of a rough sleeper could refer them through to services for assistance, and for enhanced services to be allocated to those clients with the most complex needs. Colleagues had worked together to ensure that timely, joint interventions were put in place. When officers had carried out the rough sleeper headcount in November, an annual exercise which saw staff from housing, the police, charity workers and volunteers go out in the early hours of the morning to visit common bedding down sites and areas where there had been reports of rough sleepers, thankfully only one rough sleeper had been identified. Unfortunately, they were well known to the service and had not accepted repeated offers of assistance, but they continued to try to help.

Working closely with the MHCLG, officers applied for Next Steps Accommodation and Rough Sleeper Initiative Funding, and received a combined grant award of £494,904. This had enabled them to meet the increased demands for accommodation, as well as allowing access to more support and a wider variety of essential items to help those most in need. They were working closely with partner agencies to ensure that the grant was fully utilised in order to achieve the agreed delivery plan.

In response to a question, the Assistant Director for Housing said that typically, the Borough had very few entrenched rough sleepers. The previous year’s rough sleeper headcount had found six people bedded down, and two people up and walking (who could not be counted, but were known to be long-term rough sleepers). The number identified through the ‘Everyone In’ initiative was much higher due to the direction from government being interpreted at its broadest sense, and including all those considered to be “at risk” of rough sleeping. For example, in the middle of the previous year, there had been a rise in the number of friend and relative evictions due to increased tensions within households. These were people that may have ordinarily been able to make alternative arrangements – however these opportunities were severely reduced due to the pandemic, and therefore they were included within ‘Everyone In’ as there had been enough evidence to suggest that they may end up sleeping rough. The Assistant Director for Housing noted that there were ebbs and flows of new people sleeping on the streets, however the team worked with London Street Rescue and local churches to quickly identify them. If made aware, they could get someone out to speak with these people, and establish the circumstances as to why they were on the street, and offer support if appropriate. It was highlighted that there had been a number of incidents of people appearing as rough sleepers and begging, but actually had homes to return to. At the present time, the team were only aware of one entrenched rough sleeper, who they had tried to engage with for over a year. They were currently working with mental health services to try and provide additional support.

For Bromley, like most London boroughs, one of the most significant long-term pressures was the impact of homelessness and provision of temporary accommodation. Currently, there were approximately 1,800 households in Temporary Accommodation (TA) – this was a net increase of 21 per month and approximately 1,100 households were in costly forms of nightly paid TA, putting a continued strain on the Council’s revenue budget. There were concerns regarding the number of families who were facing financial hardship as a result of job losses and reductions in income. Rent arrears were increasing and whilst evictions had been temporarily halted, a surge of eviction action was likely to be seen through 2021/22. Officers in Housing had been undertaking pre-emptive work through their Money Advice, Housing Management and Housing Options teams to intervene at an early stage, and attempt to bring any increasing arrears down before they became unmanageable and ran the risk of leading to eviction action being commenced. As well as reaching financial arrangements, they had also sought to make best use of Discretionary Housing Payments to support households. Bromley had received £754k under the COVID Winter Grant Scheme, £151k of which was being utilised by Housing to provide assistance for vulnerable households to buy food, pay utility bills and provide warm winter clothing for children.

In response to a question, the Assistant Director for Housing advised that the ‘More Homes Bromley’ scheme had now concluded, with just under 300 properties purchased and tenanted. Work was now being undertaken to consider reprovisioning the properties, as they were good quality homes, so tenants could remain in them on a permanent basis – converting them from temporary accommodation into a settled homes, as a number of families had made connections within their local areas. The department would now be looking at a secondary scheme, expanding access to settled accommodation, and moving away from costly nightly accommodation.

A Member highlighted the freezing temperatures that had been experienced locally in the last week, and queried if accommodation had been provided to all those that required it. The Assistant Director for Housing advised that the Local Authority took a proactive approach to dealing with rough sleepers throughout this period. They had also engaged with London Councils in relation to the Severe Weather Emergency Provision to provide emergency accommodation to anyone requiring it, and would continue to do so. Another Member queried what happened in terms of providing support to these people following a period of cold weather. The Assistant Director for Housing said that the department would look at how these people had ended up in this position – as a result of the pandemic, legislation had been altered to expand the group of people that they were able to assist. They looked at how they could support them into settled accommodation; reconnect them with friends and family; or support them into a private sector property. It was considered a failure if these people returned to the streets, however some would still return to what was familiar, or there were other factors involved such as substance misuse. There was also a Support and Resettlement Service for those people with higher needs; supported accommodation; and access to a variety of other options to provide support.

The Chairman led Board Members in extending their thanks to the Assistant Director for Housing, and the rest of the team, for the excellent work being undertaken.

RESOLVED that the Homelessness Update be noted.