Decision Maker: Director of Public Health
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
Background
The changing landscape of the housing market is a national issue.
House prices are on the rise, private sector rent levels are
increasing and the gap between Local Housing Allowance rates at
their frozen levels is forcing non-working tenants and households
on low incomes out of the market. This is placing increasing demand
on council housing, which is fast becoming the tenure of choice for
many but with less than a fifth of housing stock in the borough
being council housing demand far outweighs supply. All this with
the cost of living crisis and the post COVID challenges is putting
immense pressure on the home options service and homelessness
approaches have steadily increased over the last two years and
reached unprecedented and unmanageable levels. The service needs a
full review to respond to the challenges, upstream prevention
activity, engage and improve access into the private rented sector,
achieve the Government rough sleeper targets and deliver the
Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy. This work needs to
dovetail into other important agendas for the borough such as
Anti-Poverty, Health and Wellbeing and Domestic Abuse.
A key decision was taken on 28th April 2022 by the Portfolio Holder
for Housing and Business to delegate allocation of the Homelessness
Prevention Grant (HPG) to the to the Director of Public Health and
Assistant Director of Finance in consultation with the Portfolio
Holder for Housing and Business; and, to delegate acceptance of the
terms and conditions of the Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI) funding
to the Director of Public Health and Assistant Director of Finance.
The key decision report outlined the background as follows:-
- The Government is committed to ending rough sleeping in this
parliament and to fully enforce the Homelessness Reduction Act. Two
critical elements to support local authorities in achieving the
Government’s manifesto commitment are the Rough Sleeping
Initiative (RSI) and Homelessness Prevention Grant (HPG) funding
streams.
- The Council has submitted a funding application to the Department
for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) for a three-year
award for RSI funding (2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25). The funding
award (once confirmed by DLUHC) will enable the continuation of a
range of interventions as well as the implementation of new
initiatives to support rough sleepers and those at risk of sleeping
rough in Doncaster.
- Like other local authorities, the Council has also been allocated
HPG funding (of £764,215), which ensures local authorities
are fully resourced to take action to prevent and tackle
homelessness and continue to embed the changes required through
implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act.
Rough Sleepers Initiative
Doncaster’s RSI application was successful and a total of
£2,482,538 has been awarded for 2022/23 – 2024/25. The
funding includes the following interventions:
a) Assessment hub provision within Wharf House hostel - additional
staffing to support delivery of an ‘off the street
offer’ for rough sleepers
b) Additional emergency accommodation requirements including to
support winter planning reducing over the three year
allocation
c) Housing First - additional staffing to support expansion plans
in line with the strategic direction of travel
d) Complex Lives Alliance - funding of key posts within the Complex
Lives team including MEAM workers and navigators
e) Private rented sector (PRS) initiatives including funding for
PRS officers as well as a resettlement fund to support access into
the PRS
f) Housing Solutions Team - funding of a number of posts within St
Leger Homes to enhance the current homelessness preventative offer
and seek accommodation solutions for individuals experiencing
homelessness
g) Tenancy sustainment - staffing to support individuals in both
supported and PRS accommodation
See attached Officer Decision Record for further information
including, a breakdown of the Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI)
awarded.
To allocate Rough Sleepers Initiative grant,
Homelessness Prevention grant and COVID-19 emergency grant to
support homelessness related activities across the Council and
partners as detailed below.
To accept the terms and conditions associated with the Rough
Sleepers Initiative funding.
To approve the payment of £1,001,457 to SLHD for the Home
Options and Homelessness Services.
ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED AND
REJECTED
Continue with the current approach and staffing levels with is
resulting in high cases numbers, a significant backlog of cases,
people and families in unsuitable accommodation, considerable
unbudgeted expenditure, customer dissatisfaction, large numbers of
complaints and no solution to resolve these issues.
Publication date: 12/09/2022
Date of decision: 01/07/2022
Accompanying Documents: