Newark & Sherwood, Mansfield and Ashfield DCs - Homelessness Review and Strategies

1. Newark & Sherwood, Mansfield and Ashfield DCs - Homelessness Review and Strategies Launch 5th June 2019 www.homeless.org.uk Let’s end homelessness together

2. The Team • Homeless Link Team • Helen Woods, Homeless Link Associate (Lead) • helen.woods@homelesslink.org.uk • Phil Saunders, Homeless Link Associate • phil@philsaundersassociates.com • Wendy Green – Homeless Link Consultancy Manager • wendy.green@homelesslink.org.uk • Mark Goldup, Homeless Link Associate • mark@hgo-consultancy.ltd.uk Homelessness Review & Strategy www.homeless.org.uk Let’s end homelessness together

3. Review and Strategies • Joint review • Separate strategies – responses to the review • Commonality of aims & objectives • Commonality of action planning • Local policy context

4. Methodology • Desk-top study • Interviews/meetings with key contacts • Provider forums • Survey of Support Needs • Quantitative Analysis • Service User Involvement • Project Steering Group Everyone has a right to a place to call home and the support to keep it

5. National Housing Policy Context - Highlights • Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 • Government Rough Sleeping Strategy • Welfare reform - Universal Credit • Announcement on Supported Housing • Legal, Regulatory and Financial Framework for the PRS • Care Act 2014 • The Social Housing Green Paper • Children and Social Work Act 2018

6. Sub Regional Policy Context • STP (now Integrated Care System) • JSNA • Youth Homelessness Action Plan 2017 • A Framework for Tackling Domestic and Sexual Abuse in Nottinghamshire • Nottinghamshire Memorandum of Understanding • Local policies in District strategies

7. Interviews • Homelessness • Housing – strategy and service delivery • Housing related support • NCC – inc HRS commissioning • NHS • Social Care • Criminal Justice • Voluntary Sector

8. Survey of Support Needs • Demographic Characteristics of Service Users • Length of Stay in Services (inc. TA) • The Support Needs of Service Users (Disability/Mental Health/Substance Misuse/Offending) • Job Readiness and Meaningful Use of Time • Move-On Accommodation/Independent Living • Dependence on Welfare Benefits

9. Themes • Reducing the Impact of Poverty on Homelessness • Responding to the Shortage of Social Housing • Responding to the Shortage of Supported Housing and Housing Related Support • Working with the Private Rented Sector • Addressing the Causes and Consequences of Homelessness (inc. “client group” issues) • Reducing the Negative Impact of Homelessness on the Community (inc. Rough Sleeping) • Improving Customer Services for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness (inc. implementation of the HRA requirements) • Improving the data available to all relevant agencies

10. Progress since January • Finalised the Homelessness Review • Drafted and Finalised the Homelessness Strategies • Consultation of Ashfield Strategy • Local Action Planning • Launch today!

11. Review Highlights: Mansfield • Largest number (189) of people considered statutorily homeless • Higher number per 1,000 population (4.04) • Acceptances peaked in 2012-13 (180) and last year (189) • High proportion of young people under 25 (37% of all decisions)

12. Review Highlights: Ashfield • Lower number of statutorily homelessness people per 1,000 pop (2.28) • Below the average for England (2.41) • Slightly under the East Midlands average of 2.29 • Significant increase in the number of homeless acceptances over the last 10 years from 30 in 2008/09 to 123 in 2017/18

13. Review Highlights N&S • Newark & Sherwood had 88 statutorily homeless people • Of these, 26% were aged 16-24 • Lowest number of homeless people (1.7) per 1,000 of the population of the three districts included in the review

14. The P1E data tells us the reasons for statutory homelessness Reasons for Homelessness P1E

15. Services Required

16. Aims • Preventing homelessness is everyone’s business • Prevent as many residents as possible from becoming homeless • Ensure that if anyone has to sleep rough, it is brief and does not happen again • Help as many residents as possible to move seamlessly without the need for emergency or temporary accommodation • Provide a good quality service that customers are highly satisfied with.

17. Objectives • To improve financial resilience through a proactive and integrated local welfare benefits system • To increase the amount of social housing available and increase the sustainability of social housing tenancies • To deliver additional supported housing and housing related support as required • To increase the amount of PRS housing available to and increase the sustainability of PRS tenancies • To ensure support needs are met, in order to reduce the risk of homelessness and increasing support needs

18. Objectives • To minimise rough sleeping and street activity and encourage the community to do their bit to end homelessness • To achieve high customer satisfaction with the outcome and experience of the support provided by Housing Options • To ensure services are designed based on robust evidence and effectively monitored and evaluated

19. Theme 1 Reducing the Impact of Poverty on Homelessness • Research how households at risk of homelessness can be proactively supported to improve their financial resilience • Review the accessibility and take up of advice on money, debts and benefits • Identify opportunities to integrate local welfare benefits services with the Housing Options team • Work with partners to develop sustainable pathways out of homelessness that minimise the levels of poverty experienced

20. Theme 2 - Responding to the Shortage of Social Housing • Work with social housing partners to deliver the required additional tenancy sustainment support, using external funding where available • Research the underlying causes of tenancy failure in social housing • Identify the barriers to homeless households accessing social housing • Work with partners to reduce the number of evictions from social housing

21. Theme 3 - Supported Housing and Housing Related Support • Work with partners to deliver the required additional supported housing using external funding where available • Work with partners to deliver the additional required housing related support using external funding where available • Identify the barriers to sustainable move on from supported housing • Identify barriers to accessing supported housing by those households who need it • Conduct an annual review of support needs of supported housing residents and evaluate if these needs are appropriately met

22. Theme 4 - Working with the Private Rented Sector (PRS) • Work with partners and PRS landlords to remove the barriers to homeless households accessing the PRS • Secure funding to introduce the Call Before You Serve scheme • Research the underlying causes of loss of a PRS tenancy

23. Theme 5 - Addressing Causes & Consequences of Homelessness • Actions relating to specific needs groups (enhance services for people experiencing Mental Ill Health, Physical Ill Health, Substance Misusers, Offenders, Vulnerable Young People and people affected by Domestic Violence) • Work with partners to ensure robust pathways to prevent homelessness upon discharge from an institution • Improve access to specialist support and treatment • Proactive assistance as early as possible • Prevent the underlying causes of homelessness • Work with partners to provide joined up support to households with multiple and complex needs • Contribute to the development of Nottinghamshire County Council Youth Homelessness Strategy in 2020

24. Theme 6 - Reducing the Impact of Homelessness on the Community • Ensure any rough sleeping is brief and non-recurrent • Minimise and manage the negative impacts of street activity by rough sleepers, supported housing residents and others – MEANINGFUL USE OF TIME • Work with partners to ensure the welfare needs of rough sleepers and those at risk of rough sleeping are met (winter shelter, breakfast club, soup kitchen, outreach nurse, day centres, public support, community safety, etc) • Multi-agency commitment to ensure rough sleepers get a flexible range of person-centred support and accommodation. • Establish a Homeless Reduction Board? • Create a community homeless prevention charter?

25. Theme 7 - Improving Customer Services • Regularly gather customer feedback • Provision of personalised advice in Plain English (or other languages if required) • Research customer journeys into homelessness to identify early opportunities for prevention • Conduct a 6/12 month review of the Duty to Refer • Review the effectiveness of PHPs • Increased provision of support to those seeking and taking up social and PRS tenancies. • Conduct an annual review of council staff and partner training needs • Work with partners to identify how those with lived experience of homelessness can be included in the design and delivery of services

26. Theme 8 – Improving the data available to relevant agencies • Work with partners to develop a governance structure to oversee the delivery of this strategy • The governance structure will agree the monitoring and outcomes data to be reported to them – e.g. HCLIC • More robust data on which to base medium and long term decision making on. • The governance structure will be responsible for identifying good performance and areas for improvement, ensuring any required remedial action is taken as appropriate • The governance structure will regularly share the monitoring and outcomes data with all relevant partners

27. MHCLG funding • £795,000 to continue and enhance the Street Outreach service during 2019/20 • £510,796 to: • Provide shared housing with support • Employ landlord liaison officers to broker tenancies and provide support • Support those with no recourse to public funds into work • Support patients and prisoners facing homelessness • Extend Call before You Serve across the county • Set up a local lettings agency

28. Homeless Link is the national membership charity for organisations working directly with people who become homeless in England and providers of supported housing. We believe everyone has a right to a place to call home and the support they need to keep that home. We work to make services better and campaign for policy change that will help end homelessness. What we do Minories House 2 - 5 Minories London EC3N 1BJ Tel: 020 7840 4441 www.homeless.org.uk See our Supported Housing Alliance website: http://www.homeless.org.uk/supported-housing-alliance @homelesslink www.facebook.com/homelesslink Everyone has a right to a place to call home and the support to keep it