Agenda item

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

The Sub-Committee considered a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services presenting the Statutory Homelessness Annual Summary 2020/21 and the following points were made:

·         There had been a significant increase in the number of approaches to the City of London Corporation’s statutory homelessness service during the COVID-19 period, including households living in precarious situations as well those affected by domestic violence and relationship breakdown.  To help manage this increase in demand for services, new working arrangements had been introduced including online self- referral, phone assessment and a triage service to determine homelessness, eligibility and local connection for all approaches.  Work had also been undertaken to introduce a more collaborative way of working, both with existing partners such as the No First Night Out team and by fostering new working relationships, including with temporary accommodation providers.  A Committee Member was pleased to note the increased emphasis on collaborative working and underlined the need to continue to build on this.  Another Member suggested this include regional partners and the Head of Homelessness Prevention and Rough Sleeping confirmed that the City of London Corporation had good links with sub-regional bodies and forums which met regularly to discuss changes in legislation and policy as well as share good practice.  The City of London Corporation was also a member of the Mayor of London’s Life Off the Streets taskforce.

·         The Chairman queried whether there were enough resources in place to support statutory homelessness services in light of the requirements of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 as well as the pressures of the COVID-19 period.  The Head of Homelessness Prevention and Rough Sleeping advised that the COVID-19 period had placed significant pressure on staff and resources, but a focus was being placed on developing a sustainable service model that would be sufficient to meet future service demand.  In response to a question from a Committee Member, the Head of Homelessness Prevention and Rough Sleeping confirmed that forecasting was used to review and anticipate future demand for the City of London Corporation’s statutory homelessness services and that a range of forecasting data would be presented to the next meeting of the Sub-Committee on 28 June 2021 as well as to the Away Day on 15 July 2021 for Members’ information. 

RESOLVED, that the update be noted.