Agenda and draft minutes

To confirm the minutes from the previous meeting

It was agreed that the Housing and Community OSC meeting minutes on 22 September 2016 would be reviewed at the next meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies received from Cllr Fethney and Cllr Silwal.

Councillor Timmis was absent.

To receive any declarations of interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered -

(i)            must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent

and, if the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest, or a personal interest which is also prejudicial

(ii)           may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter (and must withdraw to the public seating area) unless they have been granted a dispensation.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Members’ Register of Interests, or is not the subject of a pending notification, must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal and prejudicial interests are defined in Part 2 of the Code of Conduct For Members

[If a member is in any doubt as to whether they have an interest which should be declared they should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer before the start of the meeting]

There was no declaration of interest.

An opportunity for members of the public to make statements or ask questions in accordance with the rules as to public participation

There was no public participation.

None

N Brathwaite presented this report explaining the purpose was to provide the committee with an overview of the proposed Homelessness strategy 2016-2020. The report includes the approach taken to develop the strategy and an update on national and local trends, key changes in legislation and the council’s commitment to achieving a Gold Standard homelessness service.

N Brathwaite was happy to take questions

Cllr W Wyatt-Lowe said that this week was mental health week and that he had gone to a national session yesterday. He is trying to introduce mental health into policies and would love to see more on mental health in this strategy. Cllr Wyatt-Lowe will email N Brathwaite which will include approximately 7 places where he would like mental health and safeguarding mentioned.

N Brathwaite explained that it’s a little difficult to break it down exactly, although it doesn’t directly mention mental health it’s definately included in the strategy and it’s taken very seriously and they do aim to tackle it, additionally N Brathwaite confirmed that the strategy is underpinned by the service and team plan, which specifies specific tasks that are required of the service to achieve outcomes. She is happy to take comments on board.

 Cllr Mahmood asked if vulnerable people could be added to page 18, 4.4.

N Braithwaite explained that there is a vulnerable person’s strategy policy and that is to be reviewed shortly, there are a few policies/strategies that feed into this policy.

Cllr Imarni referred to page 9, 4.9 housing allowance, are there concerns about us competing. She also referred to 5.1 on page 10 welfare reforms, which part will affect us. On 5.5 with extending the period do we have the means to support this?

N Brathwaite said that the local housing allowance helps us around the support we give our tenants we have over 150 tenants in rented property, there are concerns around rising rent and we need to ensure tenants can afford the rent and yes we are competing with other local authorities as they offer better incentives for landlords, in particular London Boroughs. We are looking at better incentives and enhancing the scheme, placements in the area are becoming an issue which does cause an impact on the service and this will increase. There is a second sitting in Parliament this month regarding the homelessness reduction bill; if this is brought in it will cause an impact on the service in terms of capacity and management of temporary accommodation.

Cllr Imarni asked if she could have a list of associated partners.

Cllr Adeleke referred to page 10, 4.1-6, in 2014 you identified 7-30 people sleeping rough, what happened when you identified these people.  He also suggested as well as a Chair from the voluntarily sector to used 1-2 members to get them involved. N Brathwaite welcomed members involvement in the Homeless forum.

N Brathwaite said homelessness it’s a growing problem. People let us know and we send an outreach worker to them team to them. The number  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61.

N Brathwaite introduced this report the purpose of the report is to update the committee on the performance of the Elms contract, managed by the DEN’s.

She explained that the report detailed challenges with the hostel manager and how partnership works has been excellent and achieved improvement, good things are now happening since the new manager has been in place.

N Brathwaite was happy to take questions on the report.

Cllr Bassadone asked what the average age of people staying at the Elms.

N Brathwaite said that its mainly young people between 18-35 and the majority are males.

Cllr Bassadone asked the question, what you do when people disappear and haven’t paid rent, do they ever come back.

N Brathwaite stated that this is then connected to their housing register application, there is an arrears policy including former arrears. The majority of people do return to the Elm’s and then we put a repayment system in place.

Cllr Imarni referred to page 30, the severe weather protocol and extra staffing levels, we can’t predict this.

N Brathwaite said that we have access to additional information, this enables us to track the weather, we are slipping into the winter period so we have to be cautious, there are crash pads available for emergency weather.

Cllr Imarni asked where these extra people come from in severe weather.

N Brathwaite stated that they can come from across the border.  But many are already working with an known to the service

Cllr Wyatt-Lowe suggestion that the KPI’s should include measuring the success of training given to residents.

N Brathwaite said that there was no successes to report when they wrote this, since then there has been someone who has achieved a catering course and someone who has done carpentry and is hoping to set up their own business.

Cllr Wyatt-Lowe referred to page 30 the performance section, does this include mental health.

N Brathwaite assured Members that they have attended all DBC essential training.

Cllr Adeleke asked if it was appropriate to advertise for volunteers to do a good deed for the DEN’s, there is a man from London that comes over to cut their hair, it would be nice if more people could get involved.

 N Brathwaite said it was a good idea and she can explore ways of advertising.

Cllr Imarni mentioned the lady in DBC that provides toiletries and raises money for sanitary products; she wanted to commend the good work which is happening.

Cllr Mahmood expressed his view and how he was alarmed to see such a high turnover off staff and asked if we have an open minded approach and more intervention.

N Brathwaite stated that DEN’s had an extremely difficult period with the previous manager and this had a knock on affect, they did monitor this and they do meet regularly.

Cllr Mahmood asked for paragraph 3 to be looked at as it goes from passed to future and asked if a quarterly review could be done instead  ...  view the full minutes text for item 62.

Agreed

Julia Hedger to give an update on new builds in November.