Report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods)

This report sets out the position of Manchester City Council’s Homelessness Service in terms of how it supports local residents and how the emerging transformation programme is seeking to increase the prevention of homelessness, continue the reduction in rough sleeping, reduce the use of temporary accommodation and support residents, with a wide ranging variety of needs, including that of securing a place to call home.

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) which set out the position of the Council’s Homelessness Service in terms of how it supported local residents and how the emerging transformation programme was seeking to increase the prevention of homelessness, continue the reduction in rough sleeping, reduce the use of temporary accommodation and support residents, with a wide ranging variety of needs, including that of securing a place to call home.

The main points and themes within the report included:

• National, regional and local context;
• Homelessness Strategy and Partnership;
• Finance;
• Equalities and diversity; and
• Risks and issues.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• Comparisons with other core cities;
• Improving inclusion and diversity, including on the Housing Board, noting the high percentage of homeless people who were from ethnic minority groups;
• People, predominantly women and children, becoming homeless due to domestic abuse, while the perpetrator was able to remain in the family home;
• What percentage of homeless families were being placed outside the city;
• That homeless families were being dispersed to particular areas of the city with more affordable rents and the impact of this, for example, on rent levels, school places and access to NHS services;
• Whether a ward-level breakdown could be provided of where families were being dispersed to;
• Praise for the work of the homelessness team;
• To welcome the focus on preventing homelessness;
• What was being done to expedite support for tenants to secure accommodation following notice being given under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988;
• Support for homeless people with drug and alcohol addictions;
• People who were in overcrowded accommodation and hidden homelessness, for example, young people who were couch surfing;
• What was being done to support younger people, including those living with families where they were no longer welcome;
• That more needed to be done to provide suitable and affordable homes in the city, including social rented properties; and
• How the budget was split between those in temporary accommodation and those sleeping rough.

The Director of Housing Operations reported that the high number of people presenting as homeless in Manchester was not dissimilar to levels in London and other cities.  He advised that people were approaching the Council at the point of crisis and that work was taking place to increase early intervention to prevent people from becoming homeless.  He acknowledged the importance of increasing diversity across senior decision makers and when listening to the voices of local people. He advised that work would be taking place to address this over the coming months and offered to provide Members with further information.  He advised that approximately 30% of temporary accommodation was outside of the city, due to the affordability of properties, but that the preference was to house people within the city and that this would be a focus within the transformation work.  He acknowledged that at present temporary accommodation within Manchester was concentrated in particular areas and advised that this would also be looked at as part of the transformation work.  He also drew Members’ attention to the Housing Strategy which was being developed.  He offered to provide Members with the requested ward breakdown.  In response to the question about homeless people with drug and alcohol issues, he advised that investment during the pandemic had enabled services to engage with homeless people who had been difficult to engage with in the past and provide wraparound support to them, although there were concerns about how long the funding arrangements would be in place.  The Strategic Lead (Homelessness) explained how the circumstances of the lockdown and the vastly reduced number of people going into the city centre had impacted on people living on or begging on the streets of the city centre, disrupting the way they had been living and persuading them to engage with services and enabling them to move on with their lives.  She advised that discussions were taking place between different services and Greater Manchester Police to look at how this work could continue and how to prevent these people from falling back into a street-based lifestyle.

The Strategic Lead (Homelessness) informed Members about the work that was taking place to prevent and address domestic abuse, following the introduction of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and the funding that had been provided by the government to support the additional responsibilities that local authorities had under this new legislation.  She advised that this work included support for the Sanctuary and Safe Space Schemes to enable victims of domestic abuse to remain in their own home.  She reported that new contracts had been put in place with organisations so that, where victims did need to leave their home, they had access to support including housing, financial support and specific support relating to domestic abuse.  She advised that, where a family had been given notice under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, the Private Rented Sector Team was working to identify suitable alternative accommodation in the private rented sector to prevent the need for the family to go into temporary accommodation.  In response to a Member’s question, she reported that the figures on rough sleepers within the report were part of the national count and included rough sleepers anywhere within the city’s boundaries, not just the city centre.  She advised that the Council was working closely with Centrepoint to support young people affected by homelessness, including those struggling to live with family, those who were couch surfing and young people with more complex needs.

In response to a Member’s question, the Director of Housing Operations advised that there were families of various sizes who needed suitable accommodation.  He acknowledged that it was a challenge to find suitably sized social housing and advised that the Council needed to be creative in working with the private sector to source suitable affordable homes.  In response to a Member’s question about the cost effectiveness of placing families outside of the city, he advised that this would be looked at as part of the transformation work. 

The Deputy Leader advised that, although affordable housing and overcrowding were beyond the remit of the homelessness report, these issues, including the Housing Strategy, could be scrutinised at a future meeting of the relevant committee.  In response to a Member’s question about whether the Council should be using its influence to get partners to build more social rented housing, the Chair suggested that the Executive Member for Housing and Employment could be invited to a future meeting and that the Committee could look at areas where homelessness overlapped with housing.

The Chair thanked officers and voluntary and community organisations for their work in this area.

Decisions

1. To request a ward-level breakdown of the areas of the city that homeless families are being dispersed to.

2. To request information on how the budget is split between those in temporary accommodation and those sleeping rough.

3. To note that the Director of Housing Operations will provide further information on diversity and inclusion, including in relation to the Housing Board.