Agenda item

This report provides a high-level overview of Homelessness Prevention services within London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.

Jon Pickstone (Strategic Director for the Economy) addressed the Committee. He set out that core issues raised by the three papers (homelessness, complaint management in housing services, and retrofitting housing stock) were common across local authorities. Jon explained that H&F’s approach to each issue was founded in partnership, across and beyond the council.

In introducing the homelessness prevention paper, Jon noted that the number of people housed in temporary accommodation in London was increasing as was the number of rough sleepers. Jon also outlined Local Government Association reporting that spending by councils on temporary accommodation had reached a record high in England placing financial pressures on many local authorities.

Roy Morgan (Assistant Director of Housing Management) provided an overview of Homelessness Prevention services within London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (H&F), including the four teams providing homelessness prevention services, demand for housing services, prevention of homelessness service offer, and benchmarking exercise.

The Chair asked about the comparison between the actual number of homelessness approaches in 2023/24 and the forecast of the same made in November 2022.  Roy Morgan remarked that there was a greater demand involving more complex cases some of which were related to mental health.  The housing market also faced greater challenges due to rising cost of living as a result of the high interest rates and CPI. 

Responding to the Chair’s further question on the teams’ coping strategies, Roy Morgan advised that with additional resources, 6 more fixed-term contract staff were engaged to help frontline free up the stock-up case management.  A couple of additional case handlers were appointed to deal with assessment to clear the backlogs which had dropped from 249 cases in the summer to the current 150.  He remarked that the jobs were demanding and many other authorities were facing the same workforce challenges. To enhance staff resilience, service realignment would be carried out next year to prepare for growth in demand and capacity.

Jon Pickstone advised that the Housing Service, in consultation with Councillors Umeh and Ree, was working closely with the Finance team on an evidence-based approach around budget assessment and resources allocation from the General Fund for 2024/25, including keeping abreast of the wider situation in terms of homelessness and temporary accommodation across London.

Noting the demand for housing services had peaked at the months of June and July (page 14), Councillor Adronie Alford asked about the situation from this September onward.  Roy Morgan said that he did not have the data at hand but the trend was steady in the past few months.  

Councillor Alford referred to three different homelessness cases she had handled this week and believed that the Council might not have stressed to these residents that by leaving the property before the eviction or the serving of the eviction notice, they had made themselves “intentional homeless”. The message of completing the due process did not seem to be getting through.  Roy Morgan trusted that the Housing team must have stressed the importance for them to stay until eviction and they should get the same assurance from the Citizen Advice.   In reply to her further question, Roy advised that the residents in the case studies (pages 16 & 17) remained in the same accommodation after the Council resolved their cases.

Richard Shwe commended the work of Citizen Advice and H&F Law Centre which provided valuable assistance to residents to prevent them from becoming homeless. 

The Chair asked whether the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 which put prevention of homelessness on a statutory footing had changed the approach to residents. Roy Morgan confirmed that it had as the requirement gave the Council the opportunity to prevent their homelessness by giving them the required support.

Councillor Asif Siddique asked about the response time to homelessness approach.  Roy Morgan noted that it was a statutory duty for officers to deal with homelessness once a case was received. After fact-checking and understanding the root cause of the homeless situation, the Housing team would provide a range of preventative interventions such as enabling residents to stay within their existing accommodation or move on to properties within the Private Rental Sector. 

For residents under the “intentional homeless” situation as raised by Councillor Alford, Roy Morgan said that the Housing team would see whether the residents could stay with immediate family/close friends, and having assessed their employment/benefit entitlement, signpost them to private rental schemes or arrange temporary accommodation for them. Sometimes, they might need to be placed outside the borough due to the lack of suitable property in H&F. Addressing Councillor Siddique’s concern about out-of-borough placement for family with members and children working and studying within the borough. Roy Morgan highlighted the pressure on demand for H&F properties, particularly those with 3 beds or more.  Unfortunately, the Council had to offer accommodation outside of the borough. At the request of Councillor Siddique, Roy agreed to provide a demographic breakdown of homelessness approaches received in the current year.

NOTE: The breakdown provided by officer is attached in Appendix 1

Councillor Paul Alexander considered it helpful to convey a message on housing in H&F to give borough residents a sense of hope.  Richard Shwe (Director of Housing) assured that the Housing team spared no effort in putting the residents first by tackling homelessness issues together, speaking with private landlords, utilising the Council’s housing stock etc. Jon Pickstone highlighted that over the longer-term, the Council would be building more homes, including more affordable family-sized homes and would also be considering through planning policy how to increase the numbers of affordable family-sized homes in the borough for which demand was particularly acute.

Councillor Alexander was concerned why the private rented sector in H&F could not meet the demand.  Roy Morgan noted that rental in the borough was extremely high, with one bed could be as high as, say, £2,000 pcm. In addition to expensive rent, private landlords were more willing to let privately than getting referral from the Council.  As such, it was more cost-effective to work with private landlords outside of the borough. He added that some households had already been assisted by Discretionary Housing Payments in securing landlord/tenant negotiation successfully hence preventing from becoming homeless. Jon Pickstone noted that Local Housing Allowance only covered rents towards the cheaper end of the private rented sector and that some private landlords had exited the market due to changes in economic, financial, and regulatory conditions.

The Chair expressed concern about the standards of temporary accommodation.  Richard Shwe advised that the Assistant Director of Housing Standards had raised the relevant issues with all registered landlords, covering both public and private housing, for follow up in the next 12 to 18 months. 

Councillor Siddique asked about the possibility for the Council to claim possession of long-vacated properties and put them for more useful purpose. Richard Shwe remarked that it was an area requiring urgent changes as called upon by local authorities throughout the nation.  Unfortunately, it did not seem the central government was going to change its way of doing things.

Councillor Frances Umeh (Cabinet Member for Housing) thanked officers’ presentation about the short-, medium- and long-term measures devised to tackle the rising trend of homelessness.  She appreciated the tailored support offered to prevent homelessness in face of so many challenges, including the soaring rent, the frozen of local housing allowance since 2020 and the rising cost of living.

Councillor Wesley Harcourt (Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Ecology) said that he was a trustee of a local Citizen Advice.  He noticed the recent surge of application for advice on homelessness resultant from a recent change to Section 21 Eviction Notice and asked about the way forward for H&F. Roy Morgan undertook to look at the impacts of the change and revert.

ACTION: Roy Morgan

Question from the floor

In reply to the question of Adeola Fadipe, LBHF resident, John Hayden (Assistant Director of Repairs) gave an account on the position of Council’s voids and the actions taken, timeframe and personnel involved in turning them over to decent home standards.  On what had been done to deal with residents under-occupying properties, Roy Morgan said that officers in housing and temporary accommodation teams who had noted the situation during regular home visits would encourage the households concerned to consider downsizing to smaller accommodation. Adeola Fadipe pointed out that a single parent with a child under 18 on the housing register waiting for a 2-bed might be entitled to one bed once the child turned 18, with the adult dependent living with the parent becoming literally homeless.  She and Roy then exchanged views on housing allocation policy and the Council’s statutory duty to prevent homelessness.

RESOLVED

That the Committee noted and commented on the report.