The Cabinet will, at its meeting on 16 March 2022, consider a report on the Allocation of Homelessness Prevention Funds. Councillor Diko Walcott, Cabinet Member for Affordable Housing, Housing Security and Housing the Homeless and Paul Wilding, System Change Manager – Homelessness Prevention have been invited to present the report and answer questions.

The Committee is asked to consider the report and agree any recommendations it wishes to make to Cabinet.

Paul Wilding, Rough Sleeping & Single Homeless Manager introduced the report. He highlighted that this was an annual report which provided an overview of the allocation of funding to provide services for rough sleepers and single homeless people in Oxford in the financial year 2022/23. The provision of services was aimed at preventing and tackling rough sleeping and addressing single homelessness in the City.

The Rough Sleeping & Single Homeless Manager highlighted a number of points, including:

·       There was a recommendation in the report for Cabinet related to the lease of Floyds Row, which was the homelessness engagement and assessment centre.

·       Floyds Row was intended to be used as interim accommodation for homeless people while they were supported to access longer-term accommodation, but had not been used as such during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Council was looking to return Floyds Row into interim accommodation imminently, which was addressed in the report.

·       The Council planned to move towards its post-pandemic model of service delivery in relation to Rough Sleeping and Homelessness.

·       The new joint commissioning arrangements with partners for Homelessness services would begin in April 2022, which was a key milestone (set out in paragraphs 13 to 17 of the report).

·       There was not much change from the previous annual report. The main change was that many of the services would now be part of the new countywide Homelessness Service.

The Committee raised a number of points, including:

·       Greater Change – concerns were raised about the organisation’s fundraising model, how many people the funding would help and how the Council was ensuring value for money. The Rough Sleeping & Single Homeless Manager said that the Council first funded Greater Change through Government funding during the pandemic and that he could share some impact analysis which had been undertaken. He added that the £25,000 funding had supported around 30-40 people, which he felt offered good value for money.

·       The Old Fire Station – the set-up at the Council-owned building was praised as a valuable provision. It was requested that the provision of the Old Fire Station building to Crisis on a rent-free basis by the Council be referenced and recognised in the next annual report as a grant or gift in kind. The Rough Sleeping & Single Homeless Manager confirmed that he was happy to look into doing that.

At this point in the meeting, the following declarations of interest were made:

·       Cllr Wade: stated that she was a Trustee of The Gatehouse charity; she made the declaration for reasons of transparency; it was not a pecuniary interest and there was no decision to be taken by the Committee related to the organisation, therefore Cllr Wade was not precluded from discussion.

·       Cllr Dunne: stated that she represented the Council on The Gatehouse Management Committee; she made the declaration for reasons of transparency; it was not a pecuniary interest and there was no decision to be taken by the Committee related to the organisation, therefore Cllr Dunne was not precluded from discussion.

The Committee made additional points related to:

·       Day Services – the report referenced a reduction in day services and a question was raised about what was planned and how it would take effect. The Rough Sleeping & Single Homeless Manager explained that the pandemic had led to a reduction in need for Day Services and that the provision met the needs that the City had, but funding would be kept under review.

·       Number of people out on the street ­– the Committee raised concern about the number of people out on the street at the moment and asked whether numbers were increasing. The Rough Sleeping & Single Homeless Manager said that numbers were lower than before the pandemic, but that this would continue to be closely monitored and work to reduce those numbers was ongoing.

The Committee resolved to recommend to Cabinet that:

·       The Council recognises the financial value to Crisis of providing the Old Fire Station as part of its future reports on the Allocation of Homelessness Prevention Funding.

·       The Council continues to monitor closely the outcomes and value for money of its grant to Greater Change.