The Head of Housing Services submitted a report to the City Executive Board on 23 January 2018 which notes the amendments made to the draft Housing and Homelessness Strategy 2018-21 following 6 weeks of public consultation and seeks the City Executive Board’s approval of the amended draft Strategy (and its associated appendices).

The City Executive Board is asked to

1.    Note the amendments made to the draft Housing and Homelessness Strategy 2018-21 in response to feedback from the public consultation; and

2.    Adopt the amended draft Housing and Homelessness Strategy 2018-21 and its associated appendices.

In addition the City Executive Board will be asked to recommend that Council adopt the strategy and authorise the Head of Housing Services to make appropriate amendments.

Councillor Rowley, Board Member for Housing, will move the recommendations.

Recommendation: subject to the decision of the City Executive Board on 23 January, Council is recommended to resolve to

1.    Adopt the amended draft Housing and Homelessness Strategy 2018-21 and its associated appendices.

2.    Delegate authority to the Head of Housing Services to make minor editorial changes as recommended by the Housing Panel of the Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 16 January and by the City Executive Board at its meeting on 23 January, and to update the Strategy and Action Plan as required in accordance with the monitoring and review process set out in Chapter 10 of the Strategy

Councillor Goddard arrived for the start of this item.

Council considered a report from the Head of Housing Services to the City Executive Board on 23 January 2018 which noted the amendments made to the draft Housing and Homelessness Strategy 2018-21 following 6 weeks of public consultation and sought the City Executive Board’s approval of the amended draft Strategy (and its associated appendices) and recommend its approval to Council.

Councillor Rowley, Board Member for Housing, presented the report and moved the recommendations which were adopted on being seconded and put to the vote.

Council resolved to:

1.    adopt the amended draft Housing and Homelessness Strategy 2018-21 and its associated appendices.

2.    delegate authority to the Head of Housing Services to make minor editorial changes as recommended by the Housing Panel of the Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 16 January and by the City Executive Board at its meeting on 23 January, and to update the Strategy and Action Plan as required in accordance with the monitoring and review process set out in Chapter 10 of the Strategy

The Head of Housing Services has submitted a report which requests that the City Executive Board approve that the Draft Housing and Homelessness Strategy 2018-21 (and its associated appendices) can be published as a draft strategy for a period of public consultation.

Recommendation: That the City Executive Board resolves to

1.     Approve the draft Housing and Homelessness Strategy 2018-21 as a draft for public consultation in line with requirements of the Homelessness Act 2002.

2.        Approve that as part of the consultation process, a meeting of key stakeholders is convened to assess the causes and potential remedies for the rising levels of street homelessness.

The Head of Housing Services submitted a report which requested that the City Executive Board approve the Draft Housing and Homelessness Strategy 2018-21 (and its associated appendices) to be published as a draft strategy for a period of public consultation.

Cllr Rowley, Board Member for Housing, spoke to the report. The draft strategy which brought together three previous strategies, sought to address the City’s housing crisis. He was grateful to Scrutiny for its recommendations which were accepted. 

He had not been aware of Cllr Wade’s concerns until she had expressed them earlier in the meeting. He noted however that some of the press reports alluded to had been inaccurate. The Council had, rather, made several hundred successful interventions with rough sleepers. He pointed out that the Council’s role was simply to issue legal notices to those sleeping in inappropriate places (eg fire exits), giving them the opportunity to remove their belongings rather than having them removed. There was no intention on the Council’s part to persecute or prosecute such vulnerable members of the community but, rather, to support them  by whatever means were open to it.

After consultation and stakeholder events the strategy would come back to the Board for final approval.

In relation to other organisations providing support such as charity groups and Churches, officers confirmed that appropriate steps were taken to advise about property assessments, safety etc for a client group which sometimes had  high levels of need.

There was recognition that the present challenges in relation to housing were exacerbated to a great extent by the collective consequences of government policies.  Members were very appreciative of the work done by officers to address these challenges. Cllr Rowley said that the strategy set out what the Council could and would do but that, inevitably, was not everything. Changes at a national level were needed.

There would be briefings for Members as part of the consultation process in October with a further session once guidance on the Homelessness Reduction Act had been received. 

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1.     Note acceptance of Scrutiny Committee’s recommendations

2.     Approve the draft Housing and Homelessness Strategy 2018-21 as a draft for public consultation in line with requirements of the Homelessness Act 2002.

3.        Approve that, as part of the consultation process, a meeting of key stakeholders is convened to assess the causes and potential remedies for the rising levels of street homelessness.

The Strategy and Service Development Manager introduced the report and highlighted the five key strategic aims and priorities.  She said there will be a six week consultation running from 21 September to 3 November 2017 and various stakeholders will be engaged in a variety of ways.  The Council would be actively targeting hard to reach groups and going out to engage with them at their own meetings.

The Board Member for Housing added that the Council could not solve the housing crisis in the city and needed to work with a range of partners.  The Council was making strong representations to government about national housing and homelessness policies and funding.

The Chair invited some external contributors to speak to inform the Panel’s deliberations on the strategy and the two subsequent items.

The Service Manager of the Oxford Street Population Outreach Team (SPOT) addressed the Panel.  She said that her team was fully funded by the City Council and included seven outreach workers who worked within the parameters set by the Council, its partners and government.  They worked on the basis that rough sleeping was harmful and dangerous and was not a safe option for people, so all other options would be explored.  Rough sleepers had very differing needs that had to be considered on an individual basis.  As such it was not helpful or accurate to describe rough sleepers as being a ‘community’.  There had been a significant increase in the numbers of people sleeping rough in Oxford, with about 25 new arrivals per month.  The Council was looking creatively at options which St. Mungo’s had some experience of from Bristol, Brighton and Reading.  She welcomed Council initiatives such as looking to utilise empty buildings as shelters.

A homeless person known as Neo addressed the Panel.  He said that in his view the numbers of rough sleepers had been under-stated but he agreed that the numbers of new rough sleepers were increasing, with a number of recent new arrivals coming from Banbury.  These people had complex issues and there was a need to break down barriers and build their trust but the approach taken by Outreach was too heavy-handed.  The local connection policy was a big issue because some rough sleepers had been in the city for a long time now and were clearly not going anywhere and needed more help.  It was now starting to get cold, which would lead to increased alcohol and drug use as rough sleepers struggled to cope.  There were not enough beds in the city and although the churches were coming together to provide ten extra beds, rough sleepers needed somewhere warm they could go 24 hours a day.  He said he was looking to open a shelter and had volunteers, some money and public support but needed a building. 

Sgt. Peter Neale addressed the Panel.  He said that there were massive vulnerabilities associated with rough sleeping and the feelings of hopelessness people felt, including addiction, debt and human exploitation.  As it got colder,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 115