Agenda item - Homelessness and rough sleeping strategy 2025 to 2030

22.1 Cllr Paul Nann, Cabinet Advisor for Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, and Harry Williams, Director for Housing People Services, presented the report to the committee. The priorities of the strategy are: innovative ways of predicting rough sleeping, improving temporary accommodation, and targeting support for vulnerable people particularly families and children.

22.2 The committee asked questions on topics including: lessons learnt from the previous strategy, the inclusion of the Homeless Bill of Rights in the strategy, co-production and sharing of data, the need for better collection of data on young people, recognising the difference between young people who are homeless with their families and those who are homeless on their own, the desire to have service users represented in the consultation, work with the community and voluntary sector, the correlation between sexual/domestic abuse and homelessness, work with health professionals, awareness in schools, LGBTQ+ people and sudden homelessness, temporary accommodation needs specific for 18-24 year olds, access needs for disabled people who are homeless, prevention of homeless people being forced into sex work, the potential future reduction in the homeless prevention grant, the national homelessness strategy, the use of council powers to purchase smaller student blocks, new legislation that may see landlords selling properties, the difference between the number of application and those the council has a duty for, working with landlords to improve standards, work with 6^th forms, support for women suffering economic abuse, support for care leavers, older people’s homelessness.

22.3 RESOLVED:

People Overview & Scrutiny Committee agree to note the findings of the review of homelessness 2025.

People Overview & Scrutiny commented on proposed priorities and commitments set out in the draft homelessness and rough sleeping strategy 2025 to 2030.