Report of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services and the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods)

This report sets out the collaborative work undertaken by the Homeless Service and Children’s services to support families who are impacted by homelessness.

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services and the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) which set out the collaborative work undertaken by the Homeless Service and Children’s Services to support families who were impacted by homelessness.

The main points and themes within the report included:

• Background information;
• School and travel;
• Support for families;
• Reducing the use of bed and breakfast and out of city placements;
• Prevention;
• Apex House as a model;
• Placing families directly into dispersed accommodation;
• Nightly rate accommodation;
• Private Rented Sector;
• Domestic Violence and Abuse;
• Refugee Transitions Outcomes Fund (RTOF); and
• Transformation Programme.

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

• Who funded school transport when a homeless family was moved to a different area;
• The impact on families of living in temporary homeless accommodation and the impact on children of having to leave their area and move elsewhere;
• The importance of intervening early, when families first started struggling to pay their rent, and the roles housing providers and schools could play in this;
• Concern about the impact of rising costs of living and private landlords increasing rents;
• Concern about insufficient housing stock in the city;
• Concern about families in overcrowded housing who were not classed as homeless;
• People, predominantly women and children, becoming homeless due to domestic abuse, while the perpetrator was able to remain in the family home;
• Consideration about the safety of refugee families when allocating housing, for example, if racist, anti-refugee groups were active in the area; and
• To request more information on nightly rate accommodation.

The Ward Councillor for Miles Platting and Newton Heath highlighted how unaffordable rents were for people on the minimum wage.  She expressed concern at the length of time that people were in dispersed temporary accommodation.  She also expressed concern that people who were found housing in the private sector still did not have secure long-term accommodation, if they only had a six-month secured tenure.  She reported that homeless people from other areas were being placed in temporary accommodation in her ward, whereas people from her ward who had become homeless were being placed elsewhere.  She advised that consideration should be given to the needs of displaced families and the needs of and impact on the host community.    The Chair suggested that figures on homeless families being placed in their ward could be provided to Members through Ward Co-ordination, noting that this disproportionately impacted on certain wards.  She also expressed concern about the children who were being moved out of their communities and the impact of that.

In response to a Member’s question, the Director of Housing Operations informed the Committee that the Private Rented Sector Team was working to source permanent accommodation for homeless families in the private sector and to prevent families from becoming homeless through engagement with landlords and families, including providing incentives.  He confirmed that links were being made with schools and other services, especially in relation to early intervention to prevent homelessness.  He acknowledged Members’ comments about the challenges facing families placed in bed and breakfast accommodation, advising that the average length of stay was 20 days but that this was still too long and that the transformation programme aimed to reduce the use of bed and breakfast accommodation.  In response to the comments from the Ward Councillor for Miles Platting and Newton Heath, he advised that a mixed model, using both social rented and private sector accommodation, was needed but that housing had to be of good quality with a reputable provider and appropriate for the family.  In response to a Member’s comments about a specific case in her ward, he offered to provide a response outside of the meeting, if she provided him with further details.

The Director of Education reported that, if a child had an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP), the Council had a statutory duty to fund home to school transport, which could be a taxi or a school bus.  If a child did not have an EHCP, she advised that the Council would pay for a travel pass, if required due to distance, although she advised that she was aware of some cases where schools were arranging to collect the child from home, particularly where a family was temporarily being accommodated further away.

The Strategic Lead (Homelessness) informed Members that the Council funded an advice contract which could assist people who were struggling to pay their rent and that there would a campaign to encourage people to get advice at an earlier stage before they have built up rent arrears.  She encouraged Members to promote this to residents at their advice surgeries.  She confirmed that there was a clear process for the placement of refugee families which took into account the safety of the area. 

The Strategic Director of Children and Education Services drew Members’ attention to previous items that had been brought to the Committee about domestic abuse and advised that he would discuss with the Director of Housing Operations the issue raised about perpetrators remaining in the family home, while the partner and children had to leave.

In response to a Member’s question, the Director of Housing Operations reported that Apex House had been more successful than other accommodation in finding settled homes for the families placed there. 

The Strategic Lead (Homelessness) informed Members that nightly rate accommodation was where a family was accommodated in a property on an emergency basis, which was paid for on a nightly rate, and that this was being used to reduce the use of bed and breakfast.  She advised that her service had just started trialling moving people who presented as homeless directly to temporary accommodation rather than placing them in a bed and breakfast first.  In response to a Member’s question, she outlined how the Homeless Floating Support Service worked with a range of partners including Early Help, schools and GPs to support families in dispersed temporary accommodation.

The Deputy Leader reported that the transformation process was at the early stages and that he wanted to come back to the Committee in a couple of years’ time to show the improvements that had been made in keeping families closer to their communities.  The Chair advised that the Committee would continue to monitor this.

Decision

To receive a further report in 6 months’ time.