Agenda item

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Committee received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services on the City of London Corporation’s work with rough sleepers.

The City continues to be part of a pan-London approach to addressing rough sleeping and is represented at the Greater London Authority’s (GLA’s) operational leads meeting. The Mayor’s Rough Sleeping Group has been replaced with the No First Night Out Tasking Group, which the Assistant Director People attends.

The counts of rough sleepers during the past three months are as follows: May – 30; July – 33; and August – 40. The counts continue to fluctuate but there is a noticeable trend across London that rough sleeping is increasing and it is high in the City. Rough sleeping is driven by a range of factors, many beyond the control of the City. The count does not reflect how long people are on the streets, what their complex needs are or the services they may have received. It is hoped that, as a result of the additional resources agreed by the Committee in July, the numbers will go down. The City continues to be engaged in four partnership-based projects – Gold Standard, City Lodge, No First Night Out (NFNO) and the Pathway model – that all address rough sleeping. Updates for these projects are as follows:

· The advice and homeless service has achieved the Silver standard for homeless

prevention services, awarded by the National Practitioner Support Service, and is

completing the challenges required to achieve the Gold award.

· Work on the City Lodge has now been completed and it was opened in June 2017.

· The NFNO project continues to attract interest on a regional and national level and

the project has been extended for another two years with funding from central

government.

· Regarding the Pathway model, the City has been negotiating access to

accommodation in the adjacent borough and details are in the body of the report.

The outreach contract has now been extended for an additional two years.

The Committee noted that this was Davina Lilley’s last Committee meeting before she left the City Corporation. Members thanked Ms Lilley for all of her hard work and wished her well with her retirement.

RESOLVED – that the report be noted.