The Interim Director of Housing has submitted a report to approve the allocation of homelessness prevention funds for 2020/21 with the purpose of helping to meet the objectives of the Housing and Homelessness Strategy 2018/21.

Recommendations: That Cabinet resolves to:

1.    Approve the allocation of Homelessness Prevention funds to commission homelessness services in 2020/21 as outlined in paragraph 36 to 48 and in Appendix D of the report; and

2.    Delegate to the Interim Director of Housing in consultation with the portfolio holder for Housing the discretion to revise the intended programme within the overall budget if required.

The Interim Director of Housing had submitted a report to approve the allocation of homelessness prevention funds for 2020/21 with the purpose of helping to meet the objectives of the Housing and Homelessness Strategy 2018/21.

Linda Smith, Cabinet Member for  Leisure and Housing, introduced the report, which set out the proposed allocation of Homelessness Prevention Funding for the coming year. The report detailed the many and various purpose  to which this funding was put such as  initial engagement and assessment; preventing homelessness; and supported accommodation. In relation to the latter she was pleased to be able to report an increase in the number of beds compared with previous year (from 234 to 256). She was also pleased to report that the latest snapshot of the number of  people sleeping on the street (25, measured on one night in January) was encouraging. While the objective remained of ensuring that no one should have to sleep on the City’s streets, this latest figure represented a considerable improvement on the November 2019 figure of 43 and was the lowest since 2015.

The Chair thanked Rachel Lawrence and members of her team for their work in this important area. 

Cabinet resolved to:

1.    Approve the allocation of Homelessness Prevention funds to commission homelessness services in 2020/21 as outlined in paragraph 36 to 48 and in Appendix D of the report; and

2.    Delegate to the Interim Director of Housing in consultation with the portfolio holder for Housing the discretion to revise the intended programme within the overall budget if required.