Further to a request from Cabinet, this report sets out the current levels of and causes of homelessness. In particular, the number of households presenting as homeless, numbers placed in temporary accommodation and data on rough sleeping and how these pressures have continued to grow. It also sets out the various actions that are being put in place to address these pressures.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)     notes the current pressures on the homelessness function provided by the Council and the level of spending on the service including provision of temporary accommodation to comply with its statutory duties;

(b)     endorses the setting up of a Homelessness and Temporary Accommodation Working Group, to be chaired by the Portfolio Holder for Housing & Planning, to explore and identify measures aimed at relieving the pressure and spending on homelessness; and

(c)     requests that a report is presented to Cabinet within six months setting out the initial outcomes from the activities undertaken by the working group to inform future decisions.

Cabinet considered a detailed report of the Housing and Planning Portfolio Holder (A.5) which set out the current levels of, and causes of, homelessness. In particular, the number of households presenting as homeless, numbers placed in temporary accommodation and data on rough sleeping and how those pressures had continued to grow. It also set out the various actions that were being put in place to address those pressures.

Cabinet was aware that the Council’s Housing Solutions Service was experiencing increasing numbers of homelessness cases. This was impacting on the service’s ability to discharge the Council’s statutory duties effectively and cost efficiently. The Council was committed to ensuring accessible high-quality customer services, but the levels of demand meant that, in some instances, the Council was finding it increasingly challenging to meet the minimum levels of statutory housing duties.

Members were reminded that the Homelessness Act 2002 set out the definition of homelessness and the duties that local housing authorities owed to those who were accepted as being homeless or threatened with homelessness. Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 provided the primary homelessness legislation setting out the statutory duties on local housing authorities to prevent homelessness and provide?assistance to those who were at risk of being homeless or actually homeless.

It was reported that the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 had placed new duties on local housing authorities to intervene earlier to prevent homelessness and to take reasonable steps to relieve homelessness for all eligible applicants, not just those that had priority need under the Act. This legislation had sought to provide increased protection to people facing homelessness. It had extended the length of time an individual or household could be seen as at risk of homelessness, from 28 to 56 days, which in turn had increased the length of a local housing authority’s prevention duty.

More recently, the enactment of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 had placed a duty on local authorities in England to provide support to survivors of domestic abuse and their children. All eligible homeless survivors of domestic abuse automatically received ‘priority need’ status for homelessness assistance.

Cabinet was advised that the Council had seen an 87% increase in homelessness approaches between 2018/2019 and 2023/24 and a 26% increase in homelessness applications during the same period.

Members were informed that the top five causes of homelessness had remained static during this time and included the loss of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy in the private rented sector, relationship breakdown, eviction by family, domestic abuse and eviction by friends.

There had been a 77% increase in the number of households being placed in temporary accommodation between 2018/19 and 2023/24.

Expenditure by the Council on temporary accommodation in the first nine months of 2024/25 had been £2.1 million.

Expenditure on rent deposits in the same period had been £164,713.36 and a further £153,617.52 had been spent on rent in advance payments all of which had been paid to assist those faced with homelessness into settled accommodation.

Cabinet was made aware that the cost of providing temporary accommodation and other homelessness services was accounted for within the General Fund and, alongside the money committed from the Council’s General Fund budget to fund homelessness services, funding was awarded by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government to support the prevention and reduction of homelessness and rough sleeping. Confirmation had already been received that the Homelessness Prevention Grant funding for 2025/26 would be £1,456,782, an increase from just over £1 million in 2024/25.

As set out in previous reports, the cost of responding to homelessness was presenting a significant resource / financial challenge for most Local Authorities nationally and was of such significance that it was now one of the highest risk factors in terms of the wider financial sustainability of Councils. Although financial support from the Government was welcomed, it fell significantly short of the associated costs.

With all of the above points in mind, it was proposed that a Homelessness and Temporary Accommodation Working Group be established, to be chaired by the Portfolio Holder for Housing & Planning, to support the Council in exploring and identifying measures aimed at relieving the pressure and spending on the service. Membership of this group would be predominantly Officers.

Although various options would be explored via the proposed working group, measures initially identified to relieve pressure and reduce spend were focussed on:

Ø Potential to increase income streams;

Ø Reducing the use of temporary accommodation through early prevention measures;

Ø Ensuring the quality of the temporary accommodation offered; and

Ø Increasing the availability of accommodation in the private rented sector.

To ensure that the Council responded to the unprecedented levels of demand in order to not only reduce costs but also ensure that the Council met its statutory homelessness duties and that homeless households and those threatened with homelessness were adequately assisted and supported:-

It was moved by Councillor Baker, seconded by Councillor Scottand:-

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)     notes the current pressures on the homelessness function provided by the Council and the level of spending on the service including provision of temporary accommodation to comply with its statutory duties;

(b)     endorses the setting up of a Homelessness and Temporary Accommodation Working Group, to be chaired by the Portfolio Holder for Housing & Planning, to explore and identify measures aimed at relieving the pressure and spending on homelessness; and

(c)     requests that a report is presented to Cabinet within six months setting out the initial outcomes from the activities undertaken by the working group to inform future decisions.