Decision details

David Austin (Head of Corporate Resources) introduced the report. The following key points were noted:

5.1       The council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy identified the need for continued cuts to be made to the council’s budget over the coming four years.

5.2       This report sets out £21m of cuts proposals against the target of £30m cuts in the two years to 2020/21 - £17m in 2019/20 and £13m in 2020/21.

5.3       The proposals are aligned to the 10 corporate objectives and Lewisham 2020 strategy.

5.4       Officers will be developing and returning with further cuts proposals for the second year (2020/21).

Jeff Endean (Housing strategy and Partnership Manager) introduced budget cut proposal CUS9: Cost reductions in homelessness provision – income generation and net budget reductions. The following key points were noted:

5.5       CUS9 comprises two proposals. The first is focused on generating income by investing in further developments like PLACE/Ladywell, which generate a net financial return to the council.

5.6       The proposal is to generate £460k of income from five temporary accommodation projects. This will also provide at least 90 new purpose-built homes as alternative to nightly paid accommodation. 

5.7       One of the five projects is to provide homes for adults with learning disabilities, which would allow residents currently housed outside of the borough to be brought back to Lewisham.

5.8       The second part of CUS9 is focused on reducing the number of households in nightly-paid accommodation through a number of measures, including the delivery of further council-developed alternatives like PLACE/Ladywell.

5.9       This part of the proposal is planned to save £641k over 2019/20 and 2020/21.

5.10    The committee also noted proposal COM9, cut to intensive housing advice and support service, and queried whether reducing this service could lead to more people falling into the cycle of homelessness, which could end up costing the council more.

5.11    Officers informed the committee that risk would be mitigated by the council’s work on the Homelessness Trailblazer project and extra investment in the Housing Options Centre and Single Homeless Intervention and Prevention services. As part of the Homelessness Reduction Act, the council is switching its focus to homelessness prevention and training frontline staff to support and advise residents at a much earlier stage.

5.12    Officers agreed to report back on the implementation of COM9 is six months to see how the pressures have changed and how the council has coped with the new arrangements.

Resolved: the committee noted proposal CUS9 and agreed to receive an update on the implementation of proposal COM9 six months after implementation.