Agenda item

Report of the Assistant Director of Place (Economic Growth and Housing)

Further to Minute No. 5 of 28 June 2022 the Committee considered the report of the Assistant Director of Place (Economic Growth and Housing) that provided an update on activity undertaken relating to the Riverside Dispersed Accommodation Programme (the Programme) since June 2022.

The report indicated that following a strategic review of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2018-23 it was agreed to introduce a pilot service to provide dispersed temporary accommodation and support services for vulnerable households, particularly for those who struggled to access tenancies; that the pilot project was a Housing First-style approach to preventing homelessness by providing person-centred support for families to help them sustain a tenancy and prevent them from falling into temporary accommodation or shelters; and that the pilot was initially part funded by the Riverside Impact Fund – which aimed to provide opportunities to test outcomes-based commissioning models with its mission being to find a new approach to protect and support some of the most vulnerable families in the borough, whilst reducing council expenditure on costly bed and breakfast and other private rented sector accommodation.

The Programme was evaluated by an independent company, Impact Limited, to assess the impact of the pilot which concluded that without this service, customers’ progression to living in independent accommodation would have been much slower with subsequent consequences relating to health, wellbeing, family cohesion, etc; and that of the 37 families involved, only one failed to successfully progress to a regular social housing tenancy with Riverside in Sefton, due to a preference for being housed in a different borough.

The report continued that following the successful completion of the project pilot the Council commissioned the Riverside Dispersed Accommodation Project for a further two years from September 2022; and detailed how families would be supported by the Programme.

The report also advised that Sefton Council won the Best Initiative for Tackling Homelessness category at this year’s Northern Housing Awards for its Riverside Dispersed Accommodation Service.

The report concluded by providing information on case studies relating to six families supported by a Support Worker through the Programme.    

Members of the Committee asked questions/commented on the following matters:

·       Who funded the evaluation of the pilot, carried out by an independent company, Impact Limited, to assess the impact of the pilot.

·       Systems that were in place to liaise with neighbours, and offer support if necessary, in the vicinity of properties to be used to house families in the pilot scheme.

·       Future funding/grants for the continuation of the pilot scheme, including the Flexible Homelessness Support Grant.

·       It was welcome to note that the pilot evaluation concluded that there was a positive return on investment which represented potential public spending costs savings associated with homeless families.

·       The positive outcome of the pilot in maintaining family cohesion.

·       It was pleasing to note that Sefton Council won the Best Initiative for Tackling Homelessness category at this year’s Northern Housing Awards for its Riverside Dispersed Accommodation Service.

·       The informative case studies of six families supported by the Support Worker through the initiative and which detailed the types of work and support provided.

·       The Sefton wide nature of the scheme

·       The potential to include other registered social landlords in schemes to provide similar services.

·       The challenges facing the Council to widening the scheme. 

RESOLVED:

That the update on activity undertaken relating to the Riverside Dispersed Accommodation Programme since June 2022 and the continued approach to the Programme be approved.