Subject: Evictions from short term Temporary Accommodation and Supported Housing Annual Report
Date of meeting: 28th September 2022
Report of: Executive Director for Housing, Neighbourhoods and Communities
Contact Officer: Name: Aaron Burns
Tel: 01273 294263
Email: Aaron.burns@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Ward(s) affected: All
FOR GENERAL RELEASE
1. PURPOSE OF REPORT AND POLICY CONTEXT
1.1 Since June 2017 an annual report has been presented to Housing Committee, highlighting the numbers of placements ended by the contracted providers of Emergency Accommodation over the year.
1.2 This report outlines a review of placements ended over the past year and a comparison to previous year/s. The previous regular annual report of Emergency Accommodation placements ended by the Emergency Accommodation providers was presented to Housing Committee on 22nd of September 2021. This report provides details for 2021 – 2022.
1.3 The significant impact of the pandemic on the Housing service, including accommodating more than 800 people who had been rough sleeping or in congregate accommodation and those at risk of rough sleeping as part of the ‘Everyone In’ response to the Covid-19 emergency should be noted. Any comparison between ending of Emergency Accommodation placements by the provider over the period 2020/21 and previous years should continue be viewed in this context.
1.4 This report separately details evictions from Supported Housing in the city. It should be noted that emergency accommodation and supported housing are not directly comparable as they are very different types of accommodation.
- Emergency accommodation is general needs, and the staff of the provider is focused to manage the accommodation. Separately there is a floating support service provided by SouthDown and Welfare Officers who check on residents during office hours on a rota basis or when there are specific needs. The Welfare Officers act as a conduit between the accommodation provider and resident to ensure any matters are resolved in a timely and amicable manner. In addition, they will work with residents to resolve any matters relating to assisting with documentation to claim Housing Benefit, referrals to support services where it is identified a resident requires support, and encouraging engagement with options to move on from emergency accommodation.
- In the case of Supported Housing, a support need is identified through an assessment, and a referral made to the appropriate service that matches that need when a suitable vacancy occurs. Supported Housing is divided broadly into low need, medium need and high need and consists of accommodation with on-site support staff who also manage the accommodation. Medium- high need Supported Housing may also have 24-hour on-site staffing.
- In addition, we have provided the figures from our off street accommodation for rough sleepers for completeness.
2. RECOMMENDATIONS:
2.1 That Housing Committee notes the performance and evictions reported.
2.2 That Housing Committee notes the measures the council is incorporating in future contracts for emergency and temporary accommodation to minimise the risk of evictions, in addition to measures to minimise the risk of unplanned moves from Supported Housing.
CONTEXT/ BACKGROUND INFORMATION
3.1 Emergency Accommodation
3.1.1 This report sets out the findings of the analysis of placements ended by the providers through 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022. It focuses on emergency/short term accommodation only and not longer-term leased, or Seaside Homes accommodation. We have included details of evictions from Manoj House the Council’s first owned and managed emergency accommodation provision.
3.1.2 Evictions from supported housing commissioned by the single homeless and rough sleeper team, have also included for the same period, and separately reported are that of evictions from our off street accommodation for rough sleepers for completeness.
3.1.3 The table below details the placements each year in emergency accommodation and details of where accommodation was ended by the provider.
3.1.4 Total number of placements for 1st April 2021 – 31st March 2022 is 1485. 6.1% of these placements (91) were ended by the accommodation provider: 55 placements were ended by providers or hotels procured as part of the ‘Everyone In’ initiative in response to Covid. These hotels had both onsite support workers and a security presence. 36 were ended by contracted providers (emergency accommodation block booked providers). 33 residents were subsequently re-accommodated.
3.1.5 Table 1 (below) demonstrates that the number Emergency Accommodation placements ended by providers has reduced significantly since 2020/21
|
Period |
Number of placements |
Number of placements ended by provider |
Percentage of those accommodated where accommodation ended by provider |
|
01/04/17 to 21/03/18 |
996 |
33 |
3.30% |
|
01/04/18 to 31/03/19 |
1040 |
39 |
3.70% |
|
01/04/19 to 31/03/20 |
1706 |
185 |
11% |
|
01/04/20 to 31/03/21 |
1581 |
253 |
16% |
|
01/04/21 to 31/03/22 |
1485 |
91 |
6.10% |
Table 1 :Total placements ended per year (2017/18 – 2021/22)
3.1.6 Table 2 (below) provides details of placements ended by each provider. The providers offering the highest number of placements are all below the average (i.e. are less likely to evict than a provider who offers less units). It should also be noted that those providers offering more Emergency Accommodation will tend to be taking residents with higher needs.
|
Accommodation Provider |
Number of Cancellations by Provider |
Number of Placements |
Percentage of those accommodated where accommodation ended by provider |
||||
|
Baron Homes |
9 |
177 |
5.08% |
||||
|
Quays |
10 |
295 |
3.38% |
||||
|
Moretons |
2 |
92 |
2.17% |
||||
|
Wardley |
2 |
21 |
9.52% |
||||
|
Kings Hotel |
2 |
23 |
8.69% |
||||
|
Smart Brighton Beach |
6 |
109 |
5.50% |
||||
|
Solutions |
7 |
62 |
11.20% |
||||
|
Britannia |
7 |
112 |
6.25% |
||||
|
Smart SeaView |
4 |
37 |
10.80% |
||||
|
SDR |
6 |
53 |
11.30% |
||||
|
Colgate & Gray |
11 |
256 |
4.29% |
||||
|
The Strand |
3 |
19 |
15.70% |
||||
|
Savoy |
8 |
75 |
10.60% |
||||
|
Gullivers |
2 |
18 |
11.10% |
||||
|
Circle |
6 |
45 |
13.33% |
||||
|
Grange |
1 |
8 |
12.50% |
||||
|
Russell |
1 |
9 |
11.11% |
||||
|
Marine Parade |
1 |
50 |
2% |
||||
|
Hudsons |
1 |
5 |
20% |
||||
|
Castle |
1 |
3 |
33.33% |
||||
|
Cranmead |
1 |
16 |
6.25% |
||||
|
Total |
91 |
1485 |
6.10% |
Table 2: Placements ended by provider (2021/22)
3.1.7 Table 3 (below) provides a summary of the reasons placements were ended
|
Reasons for placement ended |
Client numbers |
|
ASB |
26 |
|
Arrested |
1 |
|
Physical assault |
7 |
|
Unauthorised visitors |
7 |
|
Damage |
15 |
|
Substance misuse/dealing |
16 |
|
Threat to staff/residents |
18 |
|
Arrears |
1 |
|
Total |
91 |
Table 3: Reasons for the end of placements (2021/22)
3.1.8 Prior to a placement ending, providers have to issue warnings and inform the Welfare Officer team so we can try and resolve the issue and prevent the eviction. Evictions are always the last resort and are undertaken once council staff have been notified and all avenues to sustain the placement have been exhausted.
3.1.9 Our welfare team have been key in reducing overall levels of eviction from emergency accommodation and their early involvement has been key in the significant reduction in evictions seen in the last period. The approach has also been successful in our first owned emergency accommodation, Manoj House which saw 0 evictions in the 2021/22 period.
3.1.10 However, it isn’t fair to compare evictions between Manoj House and other Emergency Accommodation providers. Because of its location, residents tend to be accommodated at Manoj House if their needs are relatively low. This means they are less likely to demonstrate the behaviours of higher needs placements, and therefore less likely to be evicted.
3.1.11 Also, Manoj House has high on-site staff presence, which again may not be the case with other Emergency Accommodation providers. Due to the provision on staffing and other facilities on site the unit costs of this property are high.
3.2 Supported Housing
3.2.1 As at the end of 2022 there were a total of 710 Supported Housing units commissioned by the Single Homeless and Rough Sleeper Housing Team. In 2021/22 there were 441 departures recorded from these units. These related to 404 individual people as some individuals moved on twice through the supported Housing pathway which explains the difference in figures. Most of these were part of a planned move. However, 23 of the 441 (just over 5%) were evictions. The reasons for these evictions were as follows:
· 3 people evicted for arrears,
· 20 for behaviour that could not be managed safely.
3.2.2 Figure 1 (below) shows the breakdown of evictions by each Supported Housing scheme.( 2021/22)
3.2.3 The largest number of evictions were from Phase One which houses people with high and complex needs with the second largest from William Collier House which is for people with medium/high needs. Figure 2 (below) shows unplanned moves in supported housing compared to number of placements made in each project broken down by provider. H/M/L means high support needs; medium support needs or low support needs.
Figure 2: Evictions from supported accommodation providers
3.2.4 Table 4 (below) provides a percentage breakdown of the number of unplanned moves in relation to the number of placements, by each provider.
|
Accommodation Provider |
Support Need |
No. of Cancellations |
No. of Placements |
Unplanned moves (%) |
|
Stanley Court |
Low |
0 |
32 |
0% |
|
Leslie Best |
Low |
0 |
13 |
0% |
|
Fred Emery Court |
Low |
0 |
26 |
0% |
|
The Coracle |
Low |
2 |
52 |
3.85% |
|
George Williams Mews |
Low/Medium |
4 |
85 |
4.71% |
|
Seagull Project |
Medium |
1 |
47 |
2.13% |
|
Gloucester Street |
Medium |
0 |
28 |
0% |
|
St Patrick’s |
Medium/High |
2 |
34 |
5.88% |
|
William Collier House |
Medium/High |
5 |
158 |
3.16% |
|
Equinox Women’s Service |
Medium/High |
1 |
36 |
2.78% |
|
Phase One |
High |
8 |
104 |
7.69% |
|
Total |
|
23 |
605 |
3.80% |
Table 4: Unplanned moves in relation to total placements
3.2.5 Although not supported housing, Figure 3 below shows the number of unplanned moves for off the street accommodation which is commissioned for rough sleepers, compared to number of placements. In 2021/21 these comprised the service at No Second Night Out and Off the Street Offer. They are set up to be assess people and rapidly move them on to alternative accommodation suited to their needs.
Figure 3: Evictions from accommodation for rough sleepers
3.2.6 Figure 4 (below) shows that 9 people on total had an unplanned move from NSNO which is 4% of placements, while OSO had 5 unplanned moves accounting for 10%. OSO has 30 bedspaces while NSNO had 48.
 |
Figure 4: Evictions from accommodation for rough sleepers
4. ANALYSIS & CONSIDERATION OF ANY ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS
4.1 The welfare officers continue to provide assistance to people placed into emergency accommodation, and this has proved of significant benefit in reducing evictions and enabling people to manage in accommodation.
4.2 The expansion of alternative suitable move on accommodation for people with multiple and complex needs who find it difficult to manage in traditional Supported Housing accommodation, through Housing First and Housing Led Supported accommodation provided through the Next Steps Accommodation Programme (NSAP) and Rough Sleeper Accommodation Program (RSAP) has reduced the amount of time such people have had to stay in emergency accommodation and has improved outcomes for this client group.
4.3 Manoj House, the council’s first owned and managed emergency accommodation has in its first year of operation in 2021/22, experienced no evictions. Due to the sensitive location next to a school, only carefully assessed people are placed there and so this would skew comparisons with other emergency accommodation where little consideration can be given to which people are placed.
4.4 Joint working protocols with Health & Adult Social Care are being considered that would enable joint assessments for people with additional needs to allow for appropriate placement and support packages where these needs are identified.
4.5 The Housing Needs service is being transformed following the severe impact of the Covid pandemic on the service which demanded reactive and agile working. This transformation is aimed at reducing the overall need for emergency accommodation, by increasing prevention outcomes, and in addition to enable people who are placed in emergency accommodation to move on quickly.
4.6 Re-procurement of emergency accommodation over the coming months will place greater obligations on providers to collaborate with Housing Needs service and this, coupled with focused support and a shorter stay will enable greater focus on avoiding eviction.
4.7 Supported Housing is due to be re—commissioned over the coming year which will be informed by analysis of needs and to be aligned with accommodation commissioned by Health & Adult Social Care. This provides an opportunity to ensure Supported Housing better meets the needs of people now and in the future and enable an increase in positive move on.
5. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & CONSULTATION
5.1 Engagement is carried out through the Temporary Accommodation Action Group which comprises current and former residents, various support agencies, council members and other homelessness services. The group is chaired and hosted by Justlife so as to demonstrate independence, transparency and impartiality to all parties.
5.2 Engagement with Supported Housing providers is carried out in quarterly meetings. Feedback from residents in Supported Housing is collected and analysed on a regular basis and will be considered as part of the forthcoming recommissioning strategy.
6. CONCLUSION
6.1 The council’s response to the Covid 19 pandemic resulted in short term emergency accommodation being made available to a large group of clients with a variety of care and support needs in addition to those owed a statutory accommodation duty. The impact of the pandemic is now receding.
6.2 The overall numbers of evictions have reduced considerably over the last reporting period and this is a trend we can expect to continue with the measures we have and will put in place.
6.3 The evictions from Supported Housing are relatively low and over the course of the next year as recommissioning takes place we will aim to see further reductions as accommodation will be better matched to analysed needs.
7. Financial Implications:
7.1 There are no direct financial implications arising from the recommendations of this report.
Finance Officer Consulted: Monica Brooks Date: 30/8/22
Legal Implications:
7.2 There are no legal implications to draw to the committee’s attention arising from this report.
Legal Officer Consulted: Liz Woodley Date: 31/08/2022