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 providing detail on the various City of London interventions funded by the Rough Sleeping Initiative grant for the 2021/22 financial year and the following points were made:

·         The Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) was launched by the Government in March 2018 with the aim of reducing overall rough sleeping numbers in the 83 local authorities with the highest numbers of people sleeping rough, based on the 2017 rough sleeping snapshot.  On 15 May 2021, the City of London Corporation was notified that it would receive a total of £1,028,677 for the 2021/22 financial year.  This was the largest RSI grant allocation to date and would fund 14 different interventions provided by a minimum of eight organisations.  Most interventions would fund new or existing posts, employed directly through the City of London Corporation or via commissioned partners.  It was also planned to fund various accommodation services, specialised services around immigration and talking therapy and a personalisation budget.  Further details of how RSI grant awards for the 2021/22 financial year had been apportioned to local authorities across England would be provided to Committee Members following the meeting.

·         In response to question on the planned Year 4 interventions, the Rough Sleeping Service Manager confirmed that the Mobile Intervention Support Team service had been launched in April 2021.  This service, provided by Thames Reach, offered in-reach support to individuals in temporary accommodation with the aim of stabilising them in accommodation and ensuring they received the right level of health intervention. This service had been funded for a six-month duration and would cease in October 2021; however, consideration could be given to extending the service should there be sufficient client need. 

·         The Chairman noted the new post of EU Advisor and underlined the need for support to be in place for any individual repatriated to their home country.  The Rough Sleeping Service Manager confirmed that the new post had been designed to offer a specialised immigration service to provide qualified assessments to 15-20 clients per year including investigation, liaison and submission of applications to the Home Office and embassies, direct case management of the client and ongoing contact with referral services.  The EU Advisor would not have direct involvement with the repatriation process but the City of London Corporation was committed to offering a reconnection process in which support was put in place for individual clients prior to repatriation. 

·         A Committee Member welcomed the successful RSI funding application.  It would be important to ensure that robust monitoring was in place to demonstrate the effectiveness of initiatives and support future funding applications.  The Rough Sleeping Service Manager advised that the City of London Corporation worked closely with its delivery partners to monitor progress and outcomes.  A report would be presented to the next meeting of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Sub-Committee on 4 October 2021 outlining how performance was monitored across the interventions funded via the RSI.

RESOLVED, that the report be noted.