The Head of Housing and Communities introduced the report as set out in the agenda papers.  She highlighted that at its peak, there were 420 households in temporary accommodation (TA), and she outlined the measures taken by the Housing Options team to reduce this figure.  The changes implemented in 2023/24 saw various results and these were set out in paragraph 2.5 of the report.  The Head of Housing and Communities highlighted the decrease in households in TA at the end of 2023/24 as being 304, and she gave an update at the meeting to say that this figure had further reduced to 277 households. 

Members were invited to speak, and they made comments which included:

·         Thanked the Head of Housing and Communities and her team for the report and the work carried out so far;

·         this was a great example of invest to save;

·         welcomed the reduction of households in TA;

·         sought clarification on how the proposed re-structure would decrease the TA figures;

·         the housing team was doing a good job, and supported funding to further improve the situation;

·         sought latest figures on homelessness and ‘sofa-surfing’;

·         clarification sought on whether the changes would be permanent or temporary, to ensure that the proposals worked;

·         the report appeared to come across as ‘management heavy’;

·         considered the proposed approach to be a sensible way forward;

·         this was a lot of money to transfer;

·         the restructure consultation needed to be completed, prior to any changes taking place;

·         suggested update reports came to the Housing and Health Committee more frequently than 6-monthly, as set out in paragraph 2.9 of the report;

·         clarification sought on when the staff consultation would end; and

·         suggested that many of the points raised at this meeting be incorporated into the report which would be considered by the Policy & Resources Committee.

In response to points raised by the committee, the Head of Housing and Communities confirmed the following:

·         To help determine how a restructure would make a difference, work had taken place on the analysis of TA accommodation, such as time spent in TA; triage was enhanced; there was feedback from staff via the consultation; also working with partners; managing the Council’s own TA; and investment in the Council’s landlord team would all help bring costs down;

·         homeless figures would be circulated to the Committee;

·         the changes would be permanent, and so-far over a 12-month trial period, the new processes had been successful;

·         the intention was not for the process to be management heavy, there would be managers in place, but a lot of the work would be operational, with frontline staff; and

·         the staff consultation would end on 27 August 2024.

The Chair moved the following motion:  That update reports be presented to the Housing and Health Committee each quarter, rather than 6-monthly.  This was seconded by the Vice-Chair and on being put to the vote was agreed.

Resolved:

(1)      That it be recommended to the Policy and Resources Committee that a virement of £421k from the Temporary Accommodation Budget to Housing Salary Budget be approved.

(2)      That update reports be presented to the Housing and Health Committee each quarter, rather than 6-monthly.