141 Assisting Ineligible Rough Sleepers PDF 142 KB
Minutes:
The Head of Housing and
Community Services introduced the report and explained that current
housing legislation sets out certain persons not eligible for
assistance, which largely relates to immigration status. While
Local Housing Authorities (LHAs) were prevented from providing
housing support to ineligible EEA nationals, there had been
encouragement to ensure accommodation for those who are street
homeless during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Rough Sleeper Initiative
and Homelessness Flexible grants could not be applied to ineligible
persons, however a new grant for the containment of Covid-19 could
be used to fund housing assistance.
In response to questions, it
was clarified that there was no central policy that could be
adopted, and that Maidstone Borough Council would be one of the
first LHAs locally to create a document specifically relating to
EEA nationals in this period.
Specialist advisors from the
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government had been
consulted regarding the assistance to ineligible rough sleepers as
proposed.
RESOLVED: That option 2 set out in the
report be adopted.