Issue - items at meetings - Homelessness: Training Session

42.1    This item was presented by Narinder Sundar, Commissioning Manager, BHCC Housing Commissioning Unit; and Richard Denyer-Bewick, Quality Assurance and Risk Manager, BHCC Rough Sleepers’ Team.

42.2    Members were told that rough sleepers present a significant local challenge. Most rough sleepers (around 65%) have no local connection, and may originate from a wide variety of places – they are not just displaced people from London. Rough sleepers typically have very complex needs, including mental health, physical health and substance misuse issues.

42.3    The council provides or commissions a number of services for this group of people, working with and alongside other organisations including local church groups. One such organisation currently runs St Patrick’s Night Shelter, providing 14 beds, but will shortly be closing the service. A group of city churches plan to open extra cold weather provision, which should replace some of this capacity; and the council also funds an extreme weather shelter scheme.

42.4    In answer to questions regarding how the number of rough sleepers was counted, the committee was told that the methodology of the official count was nationally fixed; although recognised as inaccurate, the consistency over time of this count allows the current situation to be compared with past situations. The council also undertakes its own count which is much more accurate; typically, the local count produces around double the results of the national count.

42.5    In response to questions regarding the trigger for opening the extreme weather shelter, members were told that the shelter is opened whenever there is a forecast for freezing weather across three consecutive days. The shelter is opened on day 1 of the forecast period, and the situation is reviewed daily thereon.

42.6    Members were also told that the location of the emergency shelter is not widely publicised, as the shelter is only accessible via referrals; it would be too dangerous to simply allow rough sleepers to turn up on spec. Although requiring referral might seem to risk delaying access to an emergency provision, in fact the great majority of rough sleepers are known to agencies and can be referred very quickly.

42.7    Members were also informed that the council had bid for funding for a project that would identify and swiftly intervene with new rough sleepers, aiming to get them off the streets with immediate effect. This scheme would be available to people with or without a local connection.

42.8    In response to a question about the occupancy rate at city hostels, members were told that rates were very high – in practical terms, there is a waiting list for places and the Homelessness team works hard to encourage timely ‘move-on’ to less intensively supported accommodation for hostel residents in order to free up places for the most needy.

42.9    The Chair thanked the officers for their contribution, praising their wide knowledge of city homelessness issues.