Issue - meetings

Additional Temporary Accommodation options

Meeting: 22/11/2018 - Cabinet (Item 38)

38 Additional Temporary Accommodation options pdf icon PDF 138 KB

To receive the report of the Cabinet Member for Community and Wellbeing

Additional documents:

Decision:

            RESOLVED

 

(i)         That the proposal to lease nine flats at Copnall Court, Broadbridge Heath from Saxon Weald to let as temporary accommodation to homeless households as an alternative to bed and breakfast accommodation, often outside the Horsham District, be approved.

 

(ii)        That the signing of the lease be completed by the Head of Legal Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Community and Wellbeing.

 

REASONS

 

(i)            To support the council to meet its statutory responsibility to provide short-stay temporary accommodation. The current level of temporary accommodation does not meet current levels of demand.

 

(ii)           Securing accommodation within the district will enable the council to meet its statutory housing duties at a lower cost than the current alternative of placing households in bed and breakfast accommodation. Local accommodation will also keep households closer to employment, children’s schooling and social and support networks.

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member for Community and Wellbeing reported that it was proposed to lease nine units of accommodation from Saxon Weald to be used as temporary accommodation for homeless households, which would reduce the Council’s reliance on bed and breakfast, improve the outcomes for homeless families and reduce the council’s expenditure on bed and breakfast accommodation.

 

The Council had a statutory duty to provide interim accommodation for people in urgent need of housing and currently owned and managed 70 units of accommodation, leasing a further six units from Stonewater Housing Association.  Demand for short-stay accommodation had risen sharply in the past 12 months and this was anticipated to continue.  The introduction of the Homeless Reduction Act (HRA) had highlighted the need to work proactively with households at risk of homelessness.

 

The predicted annual net cost for supplying bed and breakfast accommodation during 2018/19 was in the region of £300,000.  

 

The units proposed for leasing were new build properties and benefited from being modern, energy efficient and in a central accessible location within the District.  The proposal was to lease the units from Saxon Weald for a period of ten years and return them in a habitable and compliant condition after this period.  This proposal would enable the Council to keep households owed a homeless duty closer to support networks, children’s schooling and employment that might otherwise be jeopardised if bed and breakfast accommodation were secured outside the Horsham District.

 

The Community and Wellbeing Policy Development Advisory Group supported the proposal.

 

            RESOLVED

 

(i)         That the proposal to lease nine flats at Copnall Court, Broadbridge Heath from Saxon Weald to let as temporary accommodation to homeless households as an alternative to bed and breakfast accommodation, often outside the Horsham District, be approved.

 

(ii)        That the signing of the lease be completed by the Head of Legal Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Community and Wellbeing.

 

REASONS

 

(i)            To support the council to meet its statutory responsibility to provide short-stay temporary accommodation. The current level of temporary accommodation does not meet current levels of demand.

 

(ii)           Securing accommodation within the district will enable the council to meet its statutory housing duties at a lower cost than the current alternative of placing households in bed and breakfast accommodation. Local accommodation will also keep households closer to employment, children’s schooling and social and support networks.