Question Submitted Under Council Procedure Rule 10
By Councillor Mrs Temperton to Councillor Birch, Executive Member for Adult Social Care, Health and Housing:
The Homelessness Reduction Act extends existing homelessness protection to anyone who is homeless or at risk of being homeless irrespective of their priority need; including single homeless people and childless couples.
Extending the period of threat of homelessness from 28 days to 56 days will enable the Council more time to do preventative work, but after this time, the eligible applicant will be owed a duty to be housed. This accommodation must also be available for at least 6 months.
What temporary accommodation is available to meet any such increase in homelessness duty and what subsequent extra permanent housing is being secured?
Minutes:
Councillor Mrs Temperton asked Councillor D Birch, Executive Member for Adult Social Care, Health and Housing the following published question:
The Homelessness Reduction Act extends existing homelessness protection to anyone who is homeless or at risk of being homeless irrespective of their priority need; including single homeless people and childless couples.
Extending the period of threat of homelessness from 28 days to 56 days will enable the Council more time to do preventative work, but after this time, the eligible applicant will be owed a duty to be housed. This accommodation must also be available for at least 6 months.
What temporary accommodation is available to meet any such increase in homelessness duty and what subsequent extra permanent housing is being secured?
In response Councillor D Birch stated that the Council had prevent homelessness for 80% of all households threatened with becoming homeless. The Homelessness Reduction Act would increase the number of households the Council would work with, work with them for longer and increase their prospects of not becoming homeless. He stated that the combined welfare and housing services within Bracknell Forest was unique. All caseworkers had undertaken motivational training to discuss with applicants what they could achieve of their own goals to stay at home. He reported the range of support in place such as technology to help families with their finances, the range of temporary emergency housing and that accommodation was across the borough to reduce disruption to schooling. He concluded that the success of Downshire Homes Ltd, of which he was a Board member, in purchasing properties across the borough helped to keep the pressure down but developers needed to continue to develop the houses that had been approved.
In response to a supplementary question from Councillor Mrs Temperton that given the current pressure whether the Council would be able to respond to increasing number and accommodate them in bed and breakfast or need private landlords. Councillor D Birch clarified that the performance measure referred to related to number of nights spent in bed and breakfast rather than individuals or families. He stated that the number of individuals or families being accommodated in Bed and Breakfast had peaked at 15 in September 2017 but this reduced to 10 in October and in the first three months of the year had been at 6 in January, 9 in February and 6 in March.