In November 2013 we had adopted the “Manchester Homelessness Strategy 2013 – 2018” that set out the Council’s priorities to address and prevent homelessness for the next five years (Minute Exe/13/154). In November 2017, as part of the work on the Homelessness and the City Centre Review, we had agreed proposals for the 2013 strategy to be revised to address a number of matters including the implications of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 (Minute Exe/17/139).

A report now submitted by the Strategic Lead for Homelessness explained that the Council had undertaken the City Centre Review (Minute Exe/17/024) which had brought about additional investment for services for people who were rough sleeping. During late 2017 an in-depth review of the wider causes of homelessness in Manchester had been undertaken. That had included analysis of the available resources within the service to address the impact of the Homelessness Reduction Act. The Homeless Reduction Act had come into effect in April 2018. That had widened the access to prevention services for all households at risk of losing their home. Whilst that enabled the Council to support people who might be at risk of homelessness it also resulted in an increase in demand for services, and a requirement for closer partnership working.

A new strategy for addressing and reducing homelessness in Manchester had been developed through the Manchester Homelessness Partnership (MHP). The Partnership had been established in 2015 to bring together those with a personal insight into homelessness and the organisations working to reduce homelessness. The Partnership had since provided a radically different approach to how services were designed and commissioned, and had been instrumental in the development of the new strategy.

The report set out the how the partnership had developed this strategy. The strategy was to focus on three key aims:

• making homelessness a rare occurrence: increasing prevention;
• making any experience of homelessness as brief as possible: improving temporary and supported accommodation; and
• making sure homelessness a non-recurring experience: increasing access to settled homes.

The report also described the plans for the implementation of the strategy and the Council’s participation in that. It also set the new strategy in the context of the work being done across Greater Manchester. It was highlighted that this new strategy was to be for the whole city, so adopted by the Partnership as a whole, rather than a document produced and adopted solely by the Council. A copy of the document was appended to the report.

Decision

To endorse the proposed Strategy and commend it to the Manchester Homeless Partnership Board.