Agenda and minutes

None.

No submissions were received.

Pre-decision Scrutiny of the 5 year plan to prevent homelessness, increase accommodation and focus support.

The Housing Team presented their 5-year plan to prevent homelessness, increase accommodation and provide focussed support to people.  Officers gave a presentation which provided detailed explanation of how the team plan to deliver the plan.

Challenge:

In your presentation, there seemed to be reference to an increase in the number of homeless males. Is this trend related to a particular age group?

Housing Team: We are seeing generally younger single men who aren’t necessarily working, but there are mixed reasons why people enter the system.  The legalisation changed during pandemic requiring us to house everybody, so this is the reason for the increase in single males now being accommodated, alongside everyone else under public health responsibilities.

I notice that you referred to a client centred approach, but I can’t see any consultation having taken place with service users, which should be the central part of any plan. Please can you explain how we anticipate service users’ views will influence the plan and whether any of this data will be included prior to Cabinet adopting the plan?

Housing Team: The reason client views weren’t part of the drafting was due to some staff sickness. We have done previous client surveys on the application process and accommodation needs, so we did have some views to base the plan on. We may not have enough to factor in ahead of Cabinet but it’s very much a live document. We are currently undertaking a review of service users, so we will be using that information and we actually have found benefits of doing it this way as we are asking better questions of service users and therefore the input they will have will be more useful going forward.

I didn’t see a great emphasis on empty homes in the report. I take on board that solving homelessness is a bigger issue than simply housing stock, but what are we doing to encourage bringing empty homes back into housing stock? Are there grants to encourage them, given that the average house price is £352k in Monmouthshire?

Housing Team: This is a point well made. There is empty homes activity undertaken bi-annually where we contact owners of empty properties, but we are also as part of our staffing restructure moving empty homes into the Monmouthshire Lettings Team and we are looking to bring in another Senior Accommodation Officer which will give it additional resource.  We have loans that people can apply for up to £25k if they sign up to a long lease and there is a new recently established national empty homes scheme administered by Rhondda Cynon Taff Council on behalf of Welsh Government, with a £25k grant available. Recently established and we have received 2 applications already. You may also be aware that the Council is considering the empty homes tax premium. There are a lot of empty properties, but the vast majority are in good condition and are not a problem in the community and are delayed due to probate and other legitimate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The work programme and amendments were noted.

The planner was noted.

·         15^th November 2022

·         3^rd January 2023 – Special Meeting

·         26^th January 2023 – Special Meeting

The minutes of the meetings held on the following dates were approved as an accurate record:

·         15^th November 2022

·         3^rd January 2023 – Special Meeting

·         26^th January 2023 – Special Meeting

The date and time of the next meeting was noted.