Agenda item

Resolved: the committee noted the report and agreed to receive a further update at its meeting in January.

Lee Georgiou (SGM Housing Needs and Refugee Services) introduced the report. There was a discussion and the following key points were noted:

1.1  Thecommittee noted that it is clear that the use of nightly-paid temporary accommodation (TA) needs to be avoided as much as possible.

1.2  The committee stressed the importance of early intervention and encouraging people to approach the council early in order to reduce the need for emergency TA.

1.3  The committee noted that the council can help people find alternative accommodation in the private rented sector (PRS) and that a significant number of people who approach the council are already living in the PRS.

1.4  The committee noted that many people in temporary accommodation out of the borough were not connecting with local services as they thought their stay in TA would be short

1.5  The committee noted the positive feedback from residents where longer-term out of borough accommodation had been found.

1.6  The committee expressed concern about the 90 minutes travel priority in the Council’s locational priority policy for the allocation of temporary accommodation.

1.7  The committee suggested that it could lead to people being sent as far as Basildon or Luton.

1.8  The committee noted that being placed 90 minutes from the borough could make the time and cost of travel to work impractical for someone with a part time or low paid job in the borough.

1.9  The committee referred to Chart 3 in the report and asked for a breakdown of those placed out of borough with the 90 minute travel priority and those with no locational priority.

1.10      The committee asked if landlord licensing might present an opportunity to build up relationships with more landlords to get people out of nightly paid and into PRS accommodation.

1.11      The council recognises the importance of early intervention and has been working to increase successful preventions by keeping people in their current homes and finding alternative PRS accommodation before households are made homeless.

1.12      The council recognises that the term “temporary accommodation” can be misleading as it doesn’t reflect the fact than many people can be in TA for up to 18months.

1.13      With this knowledge, some households might make different decisions about moving and settling to longer term accommodation out of the borough.

1.14      Officers cited the positive experiences of households that had moved to Harwich, Essex.

The Chair proposed to suspend standing orders to continue the meeting. The Select Committee agreed to suspend standing orders.

1.15      Less than 5% of households in TA have been placed further than 90 minutes away.

1.16      Any offer of accommodation the council makes must be “suitable” to that household. Each case is assessed individually. A household can’t, for example, be placed in accommodation that they can’t afford.

1.17      The council is currently reviewing its resettlement service for residents placed out of borough. The team will be also be doubling in size to six officers to provide more help and support for households placed out of the borough. This includes inspecting properties and providing information about local services.

Resolved: the committee noted the report and agreed to receive a further update at its meeting in January.