1.       CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

2.      INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

2.      

2.1     Despite long periods of lockdown and the moratorium on possession proceedings, the Housing Service has experienced overall demand for our services that is fairly consistent with previous years.

2.2     Persons may present to the Housing Service at either Prevention or Relief stage. Prevention can be summarised as those who are threatened with homelessness and the thrust of the Homelessness Prevention Act is to assist people in being able to remain in their homes. The Relief stage is entered if the threat of homelessness cannot be prevented; or may occur when the person presents to the Council as not having any accommodation at the time.

2.3     Table 1 below sets out the number of new approaches to the Council over the past three years. The 2020/21 figure is for the first 3 quarters ending December 2020. The figure in brackets is an estimate for the whole year based on an average of the year to date.

Table 1.

2.4     Unsurprisingly, the number of people seeking housing advice has grown compared to the previous year, which is a reflection on the financial hardship that has been endured during the various lockdowns. However, through a combination of early advice and help together with the moratorium on possession proceedings, the number of people needing to go on to make a homelessness application has reduced from the previous year.

2.5     The above is also reflected in the those assisted under the Homelessness Reduction Act, which centres on our ability to prevent homelessness. Prevention can be achieved through a range of measures including negotiating with families and landlords, so that the person can remain in their current housing for at least 6 months. Table 2 below demonstrates the increasing success of the Housing Advice Team in preventing homelessness.

2.6     For those applicants who we are unable to prevent becoming homeless, they are more likely to need assistance through the traditional homelessness route, which has resulted in an increase in the number of main duty cases.

Table 2.

2.7     To provide an indication of the reasons why a household may be threatened with homelessness the following table is a breakdown of the main causes of homelessness amongst Prevention cases over the last three years:

Table 3.

2.8     The moratorium on possession proceedings has had a dramatic impact on the number of cases whose homelessness is due to their tenancy ending in both the private and social housing sectors. Since the end of March 2020 there have been various regulatory edicts that have extended the notice period that landlords must give their tenants; stays on possession hearings in the Courts; and a halt to eviction warrants being executed by bailiffs.

2.9     However, this pause in possession proceedings is only temporary and at some point in the future landlords will once again be able to exercise their ability to regain possession of their properties, which is likely to greatly increase the number of persons approaching the Council for help with their housing. Although the County Courts have resumed hearing cases, these are being prioritised to the most serious e.g. arrears of more than 6 months, significant anti-social behaviour. We anticipate it will take some months for the Courts to work through the current backlog of listings and for the impact to be seen in homelessness applications.

2.10  Unfortunately, the reduction in rented homeless cases has been offset by a significant increase in persons becoming homeless as a result of family and friends no longer willing to accommodate them; and relationship breakdowns – both non-violent and as a result of domestic abuse.

2.11  In normal circumstances, if the Council cannot prevent a household from becoming homeless the Council may be under a duty to secure temporary accommodation whilst it makes further enquiries. A local housing authority would normally owe this duty to households that meet the statutory definition of ‘priority need’. This might be due the households having a dependent child or a household member who is pregnant. These are referred to as Part 7 cases in Table 4 below.

2.12  The Housing Service has been able to assist a large number of people, so that in spite of the increase in approaches the number of Part 7 cases in temporary accommodation remains lower than in 2018/19. Table 4 below sets out a snapshot at the end of January in each year.

Table 4.

2.13  During the pandemic the government urged local housing authorities to accommodate all persons who were homeless. Maidstone Council was in a positive position at the time, largely due to the excellent impact of the street homeless Outreach Service. Very few people were street homeless in Maidstone at that time, as most were already being assisted through the Rough Sleeper Initiative (RSI).

2.14  The number of people being accommodated through the RSI project has grown over the last year and the figure in Table 4 includes those who have been assisted through the Winter Provision and Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP). Due to the reduction in the number of street homeless in Maidstone and the resources available through the purchase of our own accommodation, it was not necessary to operate a Winter Shelter this year. In addition, Covid19 restrictions in the use of shared bedding areas, normally a feature of Winter Shelters, would have made such an approach undesirable. 

2.15  The increase in approaches came not from those who were actually street homeless but people who were in precarious housing situations e.g. mainly sofa-surfing. The nervousness of hosting families caused by the pandemic has resulted in an increased number of sofa-surfers losing their ability to move from one accommodation to another and ending up in making an approach to the Council. An exit strategy is being developed to help this cohort move from temporary accommodation into more settled housing.

2.16  The cost of providing temporary accommodation has largely been mitigated by the Council’s temporary accommodation strategy, including the investment in its own accommodation. The Council has also been successful in applying for housing grants that will be able to offset the additional costs of providing accommodation to single households as part of the Winter Provision and SWEP.

3.   AVAILABLE OPTIONS

3.1     To note the report.

4.       RISK

5.        REPORT APPENDICES

·   None

6.        BACKGROUND PAPERS

·      Homelessness and Rough Sleeper Strategy 2019-2024