Appendix 1

BLACKPOOL COUNCIL DRAFT REPORT

of the

DIRECTOR OF HOUSING AND SOCIAL SERVICES

to the

EXECUTIVE

1. Background

1.1 Since the introduction of the first piece of homelessness legislation in 1977, single people have been largely excluded from the safety net provision of social housing, particularly in areas of high demand for housing and high levels of homelessness. Whilst subsequent pieces of legislation have consolidated homelessness into the mainstream, and various community care legislation and the Children Act have improved housing options for some single people, it is still the case that only ‘vulnerable’ single people are accepted for re- housing.

The Housing Act 1996 Part VII defines vulnerability as being as a result of old age, mental ill health, physical disability, young person, emergency or domestic violence

The Homelessness Act 2002 extended the groups of single people who could be considered to be ‘vulnerable’ to include;

·  Unintentionally homeless 16 & 17 year olds

·  Unintentionally homeless care leavers aged 18 – 21

·  Unintentionally homeless adults who are vulnerable as the result of having an institutionalised background –e.g. care, prison and ex- services

The majority of single people who find themselves homeless, however, do not pass the vulnerability test and whilst local authorities have a duty to provide advice and assistance, free of charge, to anyone in their area, scarce resources often results in a situation where, accommodation providers are full and single people are unable to access any form of housing, emergency or otherwise.

2. The Local Context

2.1 The Supporting People Programme, which went live on 1st April 2003 aims to improve the quality of support to vulnerable people by focusing provision on local need, improving the range and quality of services, integrating housing related support with wider local strategies such as the Homelessness Strategy and monitoring its quality and effectiveness.

2.2 In Blackpool the Supporting People team is currently working with 7 providers who operate 12 schemes providing 203 units of housing related support to single homeless people at a cost in 2003/04 of £1,232,475.

Since April 2003 all providers of housing support services have signed an interim contract with payments being made under those contracts. A programme of contract reviews is underway to ensure that existing provision of housing related support is being delivered to those who need it.

Despite the number of ‘supported’ units of accommodation in the town, these are almost always full, and there are increasing numbers of single people who do not meet the ‘vulnerability’ test, and who find themselves without any form of accommodation, supported or otherwise. For many of these people the best they can hope for is a life of ‘sofa surfing’, the worst is a life on the streets.

2.3 The figures below demonstrate how the problem of single homelessness is on the increase in Blackpool.

Number Of Presentations From Single 'Non Priority' Applicants
April 2001 - March 2002 / 515
April 2002 - March 2003 / 641
April 2003 - March 2004 / 1120
April 2004 - December 2004 / 835

A more worrying trend is the increase in the number of single people, mainly males, who come into town from elsewhere without having made any provision for their housing needs, placing pressure on what are already over stretched resources.

In the period April – December 2004, of the 835 single non-priority people who presented as homeless at South King Street, 40% gave either NFA or an address from outside of Blackpool as their last address. These figures do not however include those people who present as homeless after a very short term of residency in the town nor do they include those single people deemed to have a priority need for housing or those people rough sleeping/ with a history of rough sleeping who fall within the remit of the Homeless Action Team (HAT).

2.4 Blackpool is now a town of extreme housing pressure. With a relatively small social rented sector (9%) and a private rented sector (20%) which single people on benefit are finding it increasingly difficult to access, especially with the introduction of the Housing Benefit Pathfinder Pilot, the problem is set to escalate out of control unless measures are put in place to tackle the issue of inward migration of single people.

3. Priority Need Single Homelessness

3.1  Since the introduction of the Homelessness Act 2002 which extended the categories of single people who could be considered to be vulnerable in housing terms, there has been a significant increase in the number of single people classed as having a priority need for housing.

Number Of Presentations From Priority Need Single Applicants

Number Of Priority Need Single People / 16/17 & other vulnerable young people / Other Categories / Total / % OOA
2002-2003 / 50 / 146 / 196 / 44
2003-2004 / 91 / 135 / 226 / 35
April - December 2004 / 81 / 139 / 220 / 26

Key

OOA - Out Of Area

3.2 Finding suitable temporary accommodation for single ‘priority’ applicants is becoming increasingly problematic as the Council’s temporary accommodation, primarily family hostels, was not developed with the needs of single people in mind, especially those with complex support needs. The majority therefore, find themselves spending increasingly longer periods of time in bed and breakfast accommodation whilst settled accommodation can be found.

4. Rough Sleeping

4.1 Blackpool undertook its first street head count in July 1997 and identified 15 people sleeping rough; this led to Blackpool being identified as one of the top 33 rough sleeping areas outside of London. A further count was carried in November 1998 when 12 people were found; this was used by the Government’s Rough Sleeping Unit (RSU) as the baseline figure for achieving the two-thirds reduction by March 2002.

Whilst we have consistently managed to meet the baseline figure of 4 and sustain the two-thirds reduction, the HAT team is aware there are nights when there are many more people sleeping rough on the streets of Blackpool. The team undertake street regular street outreach work with the latest report to ODPM revealing that in the period October – December 2004 51 different people slept rough on the town’s streets, of which 32 (62%) were from outside Blackpool.

Number Of Homeless Action Team Contacts / % OOA
April 2003 - March 2004 / 374 / 59
of which OOA / 219
April 2003 - December 2003 / 303 / 57
of which OOA / 175
April 2004 - December 2004 / 262 / 53
of which OOA / 141

The HAT team are finding it increasingly difficult to secure any form of temporary accommodation for their clients as they often have chaotic lifestyles and require accommodation, certainly in the short to medium term, which has specialist staff in place ideally with 24-hour cover.

4.2 The figures demonstrate that Blackpool faces significant pressures from a continual flow of vulnerable people who arrive in town with no local connection. As a consequence, the HAT team is repeatedly assisting new rough sleepers who have just moved into town. The situation is compounded by the large numbers of other, less vulnerable single people who come into town without having made any arrangements for their housing needs.

Whilst the majority of people with a history of rough sleeping find it difficult to access accommodation because of their support needs, other ‘non vulnerable’ people who come into town, with low support needs, find it much easier to secure their own accommodation, often with one of the Supporting People funded providers. This however is often at the expense of people who have demonstrated a local connection with the area and whose need may be greater.

5. Future Proposals

5.1 It is proposed therefore to take a more robust approach to local connection, as is already the case for those who make formal homeless applications under the Housing Act 1996 (Part V11) as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002 and who are deemed to have a priority need for housing.

This new approach is based on existing models used by Brighton & Hove, Cambridge and Leeds and will restrict access to long term services and any accommodation other than extremely short term, emergency accommodation, such as the Streetlife night shelter, to those people who have resided in Blackpool for a minimum of 6 months or who fulfil the other requirements as set down in the legislation. Those who do not have a local connection will be helped to either return to their home town or elsewhere. There will be a need to consider on occasion providing services to those without any connection where a client is clearly in need of support but support in these instances will be time limited.

5.2 This proposed criteria is being put forward to manage both the issue of rough sleeping and other single homelessness more effectively by prioritising already scarce resources, especially in relation to accommodation, for those who have a connection with the town.

5.3 Whilst the criteria will apply primarily to accommodation services, the Council would look to partner agencies who deliver other services to single homeless people to work closely with accommodation providers and rough sleeper services to ensure that those with no local connection are supported in seeking assistance elsewhere, preferably in their home town but if not somewhere acceptable to them where they will receive appropriate services. Colleagues in other local authorities will also be made aware of the plans put in place

5.4 It is also proposed that a percentage of bed spaces at any accommodation scheme funded by the Council, should be ring fenced for priority need single households who require specialist housing related support. The Council entered into such an arrangement with Streetlife in 2003 in response to the increase in presentations from 16/17 year olds and it has proved to work well.

5.5 In all cases, (except for emergency night shelter accommodation) it is anticipated that all admissions to bed spaces funded by the Council will be via specialist posts within the HAT team. It will be the Council’s responsibility to determine local connection, in line with the homelessness legislation. An IT database will also be developed in order that all providers will be able to access the names of those eligible for services.

5.6 Blackpool has a variety of services available to single people, for example, day centres, drop in centres and primary health care services. It is not the intention that those services will be restricted by this policy. It is important that there is no bar on those seeking support depending on whether or not they have a local connection. The intention of this policy is not to leave people unsupported but equally support should be time limited to ensure that clients do not become dependent on a local service. The amount of time an individual should be supported will depend on the individual with agencies working together to seek the most appropriate support package for an individual as part of their overall care plan.

6. Recommendation

The Committee is asked to consider the report and agree to the implementation of a local connection criteria as outlined above.

Steve Pullan

Director of Housing and Social Services

7 January 2005

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