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Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy - Barnet Council
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1 London Borough of Barnet Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2019-2024 (March 2019)
2 Foreword Everybody needs shelter, but for more than two decades Londoners have found it ever harder to afford a roof over their heads. To a rising generation of Barnet residents, home ownership is a distant dream. Renting has become a way of life instead. Yet renting can be unpredictable and insecure. This challenge is at the heart of our new approach to housing in Barnet. While most landlords are good, a persistent minority cut corners and exploit tenants. Barnet will insist on raising standards across the board.
The Housing Strategy introduces the LEAD agenda: Licensing, Enforcement, Advice and Data. We will look to widen the scope of our existing licensing requirements, increase the pace of enforcement, strengthen advice for both landlords and tenants, and improve our evidence collection so that we can better understand the needs of the growing private rented sector. Responsible tenants expect a fair deal: we are on their side. Complementing this plan is our Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy. Together with our partner organisation Barnet Homes, we are dedicated to preventing homelessness from occurring, and we work to intervene at an early stage before issues build up.
Too many Barnet families continue to live in temporary accommodation: through effective partnerships and innovative approaches we will bring that number down. Rough sleeping must be tackled through specialist staff who can get the right support to the most vulnerable.
In the medium term, Barnet needs more housing that is affordable, safe and secure. We have a development plan to meet demand and we call on developers and registered providers to work with us to get there. And in the wake of the Grenfell fire disaster, we have also put in motion the largest sustained investment in fire safety ever carried out in Barnet. Our integrated strategy is set out in the Housing Strategy 2019-24 and the Homelessness & Rough Sleeping Strategy 2019-24. These documents have been prepared alongside the draft Local Plan 2021 to 2036 which specifies our requirements for housing affordability.
Housing was once described as “the first of the social services”. That remains our vision in Barnet today. Everyone who contributes to the life of our borough should be able to afford to live here, in a home that is fit for the future. Cllr Gabriel Rozenberg March 2019
3 Contents 1. Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2019 – Executive Summary 2. Background 3. National and Regional Homelessness Context
North London sub-regional Housing Partnership 4. Review of Homelessness in Barnet 5. Tackling and Preventing Homelessness in Barnet
Objective 1: Preventing homelessness
Objective 2: Reducing the use of temporary accommodation and securing accommodation for people who are homeless
Objective 3: Establishing effective partnerships, working arrangements and support to those who are or used to be homeless, to improve their resilience and reduce the risk of them from becoming homeless again
Objective 4: Supporting rough sleepers to address their housing and other needs 6. Delivering the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 7. Action Plan Appendix 1: Relationship between the homelessness and other council strategies Appendix 2: Partnership working diagram
4 1. Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2019 - Executive Summary Through this strategy, the council aims to tackle all forms of homelessness and rough sleeping in Barnet. This includes those owed a statutory duty and also those who are single, sleeping on the streets, or in other transient arrangements, such as sleeping on a friend’s sofa. Our approach to formulating this Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy complies with the obligations explained in the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 and Homelessness Act 2002.
The council’s statutory homelessness service, including the provision of temporary accommodation, is delivered by Barnet Homes, our Arm’s Length Management Organisation. Many of the actions set out in this strategy are commissioned by the council and delivered by Barnet Homes. In order to formulate this strategy, we carried out a ‘Review of Homelessness’ in Barnet. The review assessed the levels and patterns of homelessness, and identified gaps in knowledge and services. The Review found that:
The number of households approaching the council for housing advice and assistance has remained high, however overall homelessness applications and acceptances fell by a third over the past five years as the Barnet Homes Housing Options Service continued to successfully prevent more households becoming homeless every year.
The most common reason for applying to the council as homeless was eviction from private rented accommodation, followed by eviction by friends or family and then breakdown of a relationship.
The council through Barnet Homes has implemented a number of initiatives and more effective ways of working together that have been very successful in securing appropriate accommodation and support for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness by successfully procuring and discharging its duty into private rented accommodation.
The council needs to continue to increase the supply of affordable housing to meet housing need.
The council with Barnet Homes needs to work more strategically with partners to tackle and prevent homelessness in Barnet.
Further work with partner and referral agencies is required to improve the end to end support available to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness, to improve their resilience and better tackle the underlying causes of homelessness across multiple services and sectors.
The number of people sleeping rough on any one night in Barnet has steadily reduced over the past five years. But more work is required to get more entrenched rough sleepers off the streets, address their needs and help them to secure accommodation. The Review is set out in detail in section 4.
5 Based on these findings, the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy identifies four strategic objectives and associated actions to address the issues identified in the Homelessness Review, as summarised below: 1. Preventing homelessness
Barnet Homes will improve advice and early support to prevent a target of 6,000 at risk households from becoming homeless by 2024.
By reviewing and remodelling the Barnet Homes Housing Options Service, Barnet Homes will provide tailored support to different households such as singles, families and vulnerable adults underpinned by the integration of the tenancy sustainment team to prevent homelessness.
All eligible and homeless households approaching the council through Barnet Homes for assistance will be provided with a personal housing plan to better address their individual housing and support needs.
A review of debt collection processes will be carried out across the council to ensure agencies are working together to maximise support to customers on low incomes, debt or those impacted by changes to their benefit entitlements. 2. Reducing the use of temporary accommodation and securing suitable accommodation for those who are, or may become homeless
By 2024, reduce the number of households living in temporary accommodation by over a third, from 2,759 to a target of 1,750. The Barnet Homes Temporary Accommodation Reduction Team will work to move more households into longer term suitable accommodation.
Barnet Homes will build on the success of its Private Sector Team (let2barnet), to procure a further 3,000 properties to discharge our homelessness duty directly into the private rented sector by 2024.
The council will use its own surplus land and buildings to deliver an additional 500 affordable homes by working closely with Barnet Homes and other key partners to maximise the delivery of social housing across the borough. 3. Establishing effective partnerships, working arrangements and support to those who are or used to be homeless, to improve their resilience and reduce the risk of them from becoming homeless again
The council will improve the strategic focus of tackling homelessness in Barnet by establishing a Homelessness Forum. This Forum will have representation from all key partners, ensuring that a multi-agency approach is being taken to prevent homelessness in the borough.
The council will work with partners to help households improve their resilience against homelessness for example by working together on providing, employment, welfare and mental health support at the same time.
The council will support vulnerable adults, victims of domestic abuse, young adults and care leavers at risk of homelessness and those impacted by welfare reform by commissioning a community outreach and mental health floating support service. This service will support people to maintain and maximise their independence and wellbeing.
6 4. Supporting rough sleepers to address their housing and other needs
Barnet Homes will recruit specialist staff to increase outreach and support provided to rough sleepers.
Accommodation will be procured specifically for entrenched rough sleepers and for those with low to medium support needs.
Barnet Homes will work with partners to provide advice and support to rough sleepers around health, benefits, education and employment and support those ready for independent living to move into longer term accommodation, with additional support provided to help them sustain their tenancy. A range of actions have been identified for the council and Barnet Homes, along with other organisations involved with tackling homelessness. Specific actions have been included for people who are more at risk of homelessness. Actions contained in this Strategy take consideration of how the council discharges its homelessness functions. Also considered are the functions exercised by the council’s Family and Adult Social Care services. The strategy promotes working across organisations and policy boundaries, to ensure social inclusion and equality of access to services.
7 2. Background Barnet is the most populous borough in London with a population that is projected to increase from 391,000 in 2017 to reach 466,000 by 2041. This growth is not expected to be spread evenly across the borough, with areas of development expecting to more than double their populations. The largest increase in the population is expected to be those in the age group 65+, with growth rates near three times of those ages 0-15 and 16-64. Much of this growth will be migration into the borough, from other areas of the UK and internationally which is expected to make up 52% of the increase in population.
Barnet is also a very diverse borough, with 39% of the population being Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and over half of all 0-4 years olds from BAME backgrounds. This is lower than the Outer London average of 43% and much lower than neighbouring Brent where 65% of the population are BAME. However, Barnet’s proportion of Other, Other Asian, Chinese ethnic groups is larger than neighbouring boroughs. Barnet also provides a home to the largest Jewish population in the country.
In Barnet, home ownership has fallen over the last ten years with more people renting as it becomes increasingly difficult for residents to buy their own homes because of increasing prices and a reducing supply. This trend is set to continue and by 2025 half of the borough may live in privately rented accommodation. As house prices have increased, so have rent levels. The average monthly cost of rent has increased by 25% between 2011 and 2017. Barnet has rent levels higher than the average for Outer London and almost twice that of the average in England. The average rent in the borough is projected to increase by between 3% and 4.5% in each of the next five years, as demand continues to outstrip supply.
Over the past five years there has been an increase of around 4% on average in each year.
In Barnet, high rents and relatively high levels of benefit receipt have combined to mean a larger impact of welfare reform that in other areas of the country. These changes affect households in work as well as those out of work. Most significant are the changes to Local Housing Allowance have limited the amount of housing benefit tenants in the private rented sector can receive (9,000 households with an average loss of £55 a week) and the overall cap on benefits affecting 700 households losing an average of £50 a week. The impact of homelessness is broad and far reaching. The right home is an important factor in a person’s health and wellbeing, not only does good housing help a person stay healthy, it also impacts on their ability to sustain a job, care for their family, contribute to their community and better manage their health.
It is clear that preventing homelessness has obvious benefits not only for people’s housing outcomes, but for reducing health inequalities and improving quality of life.
A recently commissioned Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) provides an objective assessment of housing need in Barnet and shows that 17,600 affordable homes are needed by 2041. This equates to 704 affordable homes a year. Barnet’s previous homelessness strategy was included in the 2015 Housing Strategy and set the aims of enabling families to remain close to support networks and in more settled accommodation. This was achieved by;
Increasing focus on early intervention and homelessness prevention measures, such as tenancy sustainment, youth meditation and domestic abuse support services. Homelessness preventions have increased from 832 in the year 2013/14 to 1,140 in 2017/18.
Formation of a Welfare Reform Task Force to work closely with households affected by welfare reform to minimise the risk of homelessness having supported over 1,100 households in a variety of ways over the last three years.
Increasing the effectiveness of Barnet Homes private rented sector procurement strategy, including the launch of their let2Barnet team and landlord incentive scheme for private sector landlords, so that the number of affordable private sector lettings to homeless households increased from 328 in 2013/14 to 649 in 2017/18.
9 3. National and Regional Homelessness Context The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 is one of the largest changes to housing and homeless legislation in recent times. With this, all local authorities have a duty to prevent homelessness for all residents, regardless of their priority need status. One of the key elements is that authorities have a duty to assist those who are threatened with homelessness within 56 days. The authority must also clarify what actions are to be taken when someone applies for assistance.
The Homelessness Act 2002 requires all local authorities to carry out a review of homelessness in the borough every five years (from the date of publication of the previous homelessness strategy) and then to produce a strategy based upon this evidence base. The homelessness review should assess:
The levels, and likely future levels, of homelessness in the borough.
The activities which are carried out for any of the following purposes; o Preventing homelessness in the housing authority’s district o Securing that accommodation is or will be available for people in the district who are or may become homeless; and o Providing support for people in the district who are homeless or who may become at risk of homelessness; or who have been homeless and need support to prevent them becoming homeless again; and,
The resources available to the housing authority, the social services authority for the district, other public authorities, voluntary organisations and other persons for the activities outlined above.
The government have also published a Rough Sleeping Strategy recently with the aim of assisting 6,000 vulnerable people off the streets by providing rapid specialist assessment and support. Backed by £100 million of funding, the strategy sets out the next steps towards achieving their aim of supporting everyone off the streets and into a home, and to end rough sleeping entirely by 2027. It sets out a three-pillared approach:
Prevention – understanding the issues that lead to rough sleeping and providing timely support for those at risk
Intervention – helping those already sleeping rough with swift support tailored to their individual circumstances
Recovery – supporting people in finding a new home and rebuilding their lives. This system has prevention at its heart, focusing on stopping people from becoming homeless in the first place and providing them with the right support to find work and live independently.
Longer term, those sleeping rough will be rapidly housed and offered comprehensive support to ensure their specific needs are addressed so that they can move into suitable long term accommodation at the earliest opportunity.
10 Regional Context The homelessness review and strategy must align itself with regional strategies, which in the case of Barnet is the Mayor of London’s Housing Strategy. The most recent Housing Strategy was published in June 2018, and is currently awaiting approval by the Secretary of State. This focused on reducing the number of rough sleepers in London, increasing the amount of affordable homes and improving the private rented sector. They key components from the strategy are:
Greater collaboration to increase the number of people in the private rented sector.
Allowing local authorities to combine their buying power.
Increase the housing supply for homeless households.
Increased funding from the GLA to help tackle the problem. North London sub-regional Context The council is committed to working with neighbouring boroughs to compare and review current housing need and homelessness practises, and identify opportunities for coordination and efficiencies wherever beneficial. Barnet’s commitment to such practices is demonstrated through its consistent participation at sub regional meetings, coordinated by the North London Housing Partnership, a strategic umbrella organisation that brings together housing and homelessness managers working within the following six North London local authorities: Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey, Islington and Westminster.
The group meets monthly with partners where Homelessness Prevention and Housing Needs service heads and managers share best practice, review services and discuss opportunities for coordination around homelessness and housing needs issues. Additional areas include:
Joint Rough Sleeper Leads Group: a quarterly meeting whereby the borough Rough Sleeper Commissioning leads, Community Safety and voluntary agency stakeholders (i.e. commissioned outreach team managers) meet to share knowledge, learning and best practise on rough sleeping matters, identify areas for coordination and joint working, and oversee sub regional rough sleeping projects.
Supply and Policy Group – a quarterly meeting for Temporary Accommodation and Housing Policy managers to discuss and coordinate work plans.
Directors Board – a quarterly meeting for Housing Directors from each borough to provide a strategic steer and oversight for sub regional working. Local Strategies A diagram representing the relationship between the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy and other key council strategies can be found in Appendix 1.
11 4. Review of Homelessness in Barnet The depth and scope of this review has contributed to a robust and holistic understanding of the key challenges facing the borough.
It has enabled us to sensibly predict future pressures and to determine what measures ought to be put in place. It has endorsed our current direction of travel. Our overall approach has been to educate, consult widely and gather evidence to inform a new strategy and delivery plan. Levels of Homelessness: The number of people to whom the local housing authority has accepted the main homelessness (housing) duty varied during the past five years as shown in Chart 1, and has overall reduced by around a third from 674 in 2013/14 to 444 accepted cases in 2017/18. There was an increase in homelessness acceptances in 2016/17 due to a backlog of cases from 2015/16 that were resolved in the following calendar year.
There was also a reduction in the number of homelessness applications and acceptances in 2017/18 due to an increased focus by the service on prevention activity.
The majority of homeless applications (58%) resulted in the council accepting the main homelessness (housing) duty compared to 51% for England. Barnet has the largest population of all London boroughs. To understand the levels of homelessness in relation to the population density, the rate of homelessness acceptances per 1,000 households has been calculated. In Barnet, the rate is 2.88 persons per 1000 population. As shown in Chart 2, this is a lower rate than in two-thirds of London boroughs. 1065 1029 699 936 761 674 677 422 640 444 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 Applications & Acceptances Year Chart 1: Applications and Acceptances of Homelessness from 2013/14 - 2017/18 in Barnet Applications Accepted as eligible, unintentionally homeless & in priority need
12 Homelessness acceptances in Barnet by household type: In 2017/18 over one third of households accepted as homeless in Barnet were lone parent families, with most being lone females. This has been the largest group in each of the past five years. Apart from female lone parents with dependent children and “other household groups”, the number of households that have been accepted in each category has remained stable over the past five years. Chart 3 shows that there are more single males being accepted as homeless in Barnet than lone females in each of the past five years, with the exception on 2015/16.
The reason for this is not captured in a way that allows meaningful analysis to be carried out. As part of the requirements of the Homelessness Reduction Act, capturing more detailed information is mandatory and going forward the council will use this to help better inform its understanding and inform our approach to tackling homelessness amongst this group. 10 Newham Kensington and Chelsea Hackney Barking & Dag Wandsworth Enfield Waltham Forest Ealing Bexley Greenwich Croydon Lewisham Bromley Redbridge Brent Westminster Southwark Tower Hamlets Haringey Harrow Lambeth Havering Hammersmith and...
Barnet Sutton Kingston upon Thames Richmond upon... Hillingdon Hounslow Islington Merton Camden Homelessness Acceptance Rate (per 1,000 Households) Borough Chart 2: Homelessness Acceptance Rate Across London 2017/18 500 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18 Chart 3: Households in priority need by type - 2013/14 - 2017/18 Lone parent household with dependent children: Female Applicant All other household groups Couple with dependent children One person household: Male Applicant One person household: Female Applicant Lone parent household with dependent children: Male Applicant
13 Demographic breakdown of homelessness acceptances: In 2017/18, 69% of those accepted as homeless were between the ages of 16 and 44 years old, and 95% of all applicants were working age (16-59). Most applicants are under 45 and there are relatively few applications from older people. This over representation of the younger age groups is not unique to Barnet, with a similar national trend recorded. Chart 4 shows the ethnic breakdown of those who are accepted as homeless. Comparing Chart 4 against the borough’s ethnic profile, the ethnic groups of those that submit homelessness applications and are accepted as homeless is different from the overall make-up of the borough.
Here, White ethnic groups are underrepresented with Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) overrepresented. BAME groups make up 63% of those accepted as homeless but only account for 39% of the overall population of the borough. This data shows that, in Barnet, some groups are more at risk of becoming homeless than others. The most at-risk groups are those that are single parents with dependent children, ethnic minorities and those who are under 45. This is a trend reflected at a national level. Rough sleepers: In 2013/14, there were 153 rough sleepers in Barnet1 as seen in Chart 5. As the borough has worked with neighbouring boroughs and the Government to reduce rough sleeping in Barnet, this has also reduced by over two thirds over the past five years, and at the last count 53 individuals were sleeping rough in the borough.
The definition of rough sleeping provided by the MHCLG is widely recognised as being too narrow and does not capture the full extent of rough sleeping. The definition means that local authorities cannot include verified rough sleepers staying in night shelters on the night of the rough sleeper estimate or count, including rough sleepers sleeping in Barnet’s Winter Night Shelter. Therefore, it is likely that the number of rough sleepers in Barnet is higher. 1 This information about people seen rough sleeping is derived from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN), a multi-agency database recording information about rough sleepers and the wider street population in London - https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/chain-reports 31% 28% 25% 3% 7% 6% Chart 4: Ethnicity of all homelessness applicants 2017/18 White Black Asian Mixed Other Not Stated
14 Reason for becoming homeless: The largest single reason for becoming homeless in 2017/18 was ‘termination of a shorthold tenancy’, as shown in Table 1. This accounted for just over a fifth of all homelessness applications. Over each of the past five years, this has been the largest single reason. The second biggest includes households no longer able to stay with friends of relatives. In 2017/18, nearly one third of stated reasons for homelessness were categorised in the ‘Other’ category. The number of households with this as the reason for homelessness has doubled since last year. The reason for this sudden increase remains unclear, however we do believe this can be partially explained for some vulnerable clients because of alcohol abuse, debts, drug misuse, mental health, loss of employment and/or loss of benefits.
As part of the requirements of the Homelessness Reduction Act capturing this information is mandatory and going forward the council will collect this to help better inform its understanding. 153 125 88 106 53 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 Rough sleepers Year Chart 5: Rough sleepers in Barnet Total number of rough sleepers Reason for becoming homeless 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18 Other reason (e.g. homeless in emergency, sleeping rough or in hostel, returned from abroad) 47 87 46 67 135 Loss of accommodation due to termination of assured shorthold tenancy 238 208 111 181 97 Other relatives or friends no longer willing or able to accommodate 79 81 46 81 43 Violence 44 49 29 52 40 Loss of accommodation due to reasons other than termination of assured shorthold tenancy 100 103 56 73 32 Parents no longer willing or able to accommodate 94 72 82 109 31 Rent arrears on private sector dwellings 36 22 22 19 24 Left other institution or LA care 5 16 11 30 22 Left hospital 15 5 7 14 7 Left prison/on remand Non-violent breakdown of relationship with partner Rent arrears on local authority or other public sector dwellings Harassment 0 6 1 1 1
15 Table 1: Reasons for Homelessness As the loss of a private rented tenancy is the main cause of homelessness, our focus is on sustaining current housing where practical and preventing housing problems escalating to crisis point. This usually means sustaining existing tenancies in the private rented sector. Despite the difficulties with securing private rented accommodation, the sector has a crucial role in the prevention of homelessness. 48% of the successful preventions in 2017/18 involved securing alternative private rented accommodation. Activities to securing accommodation for people who are homeless: At the end of 2017/18, there were 2,579 households in temporary accommodation (TA).
Chart 6 shows over the last five years the number of households in TA has increased from 2,401 in 2013/14 to 2,941 in 2015/16, and since reduced by over 10% to 2,579 households at the end of 2017/18.
The decline in households in TA, after the 2015/16 peak is in part due to the success of Barnet Homes let2barnet Team. The team secures long term temporary accommodation at Local Housing Allowance rates which is of a good quality. The team have been successful in procuring around 500 units or more of private rental accommodation every year since 2015/16 which has allowed the council to discharge its homelessness duty more effectively. Chart 7 shows that between 2013/14 and 2017/18, the number of households living in TA on the councils’ regeneration estates (classified as non-secure tenants) has reduced by 25% as the development of the regeneration schemes have progressed.
In 2013/14 there was 1,145 households living in TA on council regeneration estates. This reduced to 876 at 2401 2758 2941 2757 2579 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 TA numbers Year Chart 6: Number of households in temporary accommodation (TA) Households in TA Rent arrears on registered Provider dwellings Loss of accommodation due to requirement to leave accommodation provided by Home Office as asylum support Mortgage arrears Left HM-Forces Total applicant households 674 677 422 640 444
16 the end of 2017/18. As schemes progress, there is less TA available, leading to a reduction in the supply of affordable TA in borough. This has led to the increase in the number of households being placed in private rented sector at a higher cost to the council. Consequently. The number of households housed in private sector and other TA has increased from 569 units in 2013/14 to 817 units in 2017/18, costing significantly more (£3m+ per annum) than what can be recouped by the council through the benefit system. The cost pressure generated is discussed in more detail in the resources section of the strategy.
Social Housing: Chart 8 shows in 2017/18 404 council properties became available to let, a decline of just over 200 from the previous year. All bedroom sizes saw a decline in the number of lettings in 2017/18, with a significant reduction in the availability of one-bedroom units. This was generally due to less turnover in the stock as tenants stayed longer in existing accommodation. Chart 9 shows Barnet currently has over 3,100 households registered as being in some form of housing need (as at 1st April 2018). The chart below shows a comparison between 1145 1097 1197 994 876 569 678 868 855 817 686 983 876 889 876 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 Number of households Year Chart 7: Temporary accommodation housing type over the past five years LA/HA stock Private sector leased (by LA or HA) Other types (including private landlord) 219 272 161 222 221 159 121 95 70 9 19 14 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 Voids Year Chart 8: Number of properties let by bedroom size between 2015/16 - 2017/18 1 bed 2 bed 3 bed 4 bed
17 the number of households on the register across the different bands in each of the past three years. Due to a change in IT systems and data integrity issues, the data available only goes back three years and not the preferred five. Band 1 deals with those with an urgent need to move and represents a relatively small number of households who are provided accommodation as quickly as possible. Households in Bands 2 and 3 have seen a decrease in the overall number of households waiting for social housing as they receive more priority and therefore have successfully been allocated housing.
The number of households allocated Band 4 status was stable in 2015/16 and 2016/17, but increased significantly in 2017/18.
This is due to a large number of homeless households lacking a local connection of 5 years or being housed in suitable long term temporary accommodation (as set out in the council’s Allocations Policy), a strong property market, a competitive private rental sector and an increase in cases presenting with housing related debt. 50 23 23 248 242 183 362 201 147 2,157 2,223 2,751 - 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 Number of housholds on waiting list Year Chart 9: Number of households on the Housing Register and in housing need Band 1 Band 2 Band 3 Band 4
18 5. Tackling and Preventing Homelessness in Barnet Objective 1 - Preventing Homelessness The Homelessness Reduction Act aligns with Barnet council’s efforts to prevent homelessness. The new prevention duty ensures that holistic homelessness assessments are completed earlier – providing greater opportunity for early intervention to resolve an applicant’s housing need. Holistic assessments consider the needs of every household member including children and including those with disabilities, and recommendations from these assessments consider all household members.
In its broadest terms, a ‘homelessness prevention’ is where the council takes positive action to provide housing assistance to a household who has approached the council and considers themselves to be at risk of homelessness in the near future, and as a result the household is able to either remain in their existing accommodation or obtain alternative accommodation, providing a solution for at least the next six months.
Objective 3 in this strategy looks at building household resilience to tackle the underlying causes of homelessness and thus minimise the risk of homelessness materialising. Prevention performance: Chart 10 shows that in 2017/18, 1,296 households were prevented from becoming homeless. This included 426 households who were supported to remain in their existing home, and 870 households who were supported to obtain alternative accommodation. The council’s continued focus on preventing homelessness has resulted in a steady increase in preventions since 2014/15. As shown in Table 1, the main causes of homelessness in Barnet are the loss of a private rented tenancy, eviction from family or friends’ accommodation, and violence or the threat of violence respectively.
The section below presents effective approaches for preventing homelessness caused by these issues.
Loss of private rented tenancy: Barnet Homes’ Tenancy Sustainment Team works with households to try to keep them in their current home, or to help them move to alternative accommodation if staying is not an option. The Team provides a high standard of housing 424 370 354 325 426 470 462 663 811 870 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 Prevention numbers Year Chart 10: Homelessness Preventions in Barnet Able to remain in existing home Assisted to obtain alternative accommodation
19 advice to households around complex landlord and tenant disputes, disrepair, mortgage and rent arrears and welfare benefits.
The team negotiates with landlords, and where staying is not an option, helps households to find accommodation in the private rented sector or where appropriate to access other accommodation. Eviction from family or friends’ accommodation: In these cases, trained mediation officers engage with family and friends to seek resolution to the issues causing the eviction and refer to other support services to help build better relationships. There is often the misconception from applicants that they need to go into temporary accommodation before Mr J was an assured shorthold tenant, living in a block of flats, and he approached Barnet Homes for help when his landlord sought possession of his accommodation.
The landlord intended to complete major renovation works at the block, and insisted that Mr J vacate his property to allow this to take place. On top of this, the landlord actively harassed Mr J - threatening to send in builders to carry out works without making provision for Mr J to move elsewhere. Barnet Homes’ Tenancy Sustainment Team intervened; after ensuring an end to the harassment and working to prevent the eviction, the Team negotiated with the landlord to provide alternative accommodation for Mr J within the same block. At the same time, the Team put Mr J forward for sheltered accommodation - on the grounds of Mr J’s disability.
As a result of these efforts, Mr J secured two genuine housing options; the landlord agreed to offer Mr J a short-term license within the same block, and an offer of sheltered accommodation became available. Mr J chose the latter, and has since moved into sheltered accommodation.
A single woman with low level mental health problems had been living at the family home all her life. She provided written notice from her parents stating that things at home were becoming more and more tense and unstable, and that they were asking her to leave. The Housing Needs Team arranged a meeting with her and her parents at the family home to discuss her housing options. The property was a large five bedroom house occupied by the customer, her parents and two lodgers. Her parents described the situation and stated that they were getting to the point where they were unable to cope. While speaking to the family altogether there were many issues that the daughter stated had caused her frustrations which her parents were unaware of.
The parents questioned why she hadn’t told them about them before and she stated she felt uncomfortable talking about such things to her parents as she felt they might be ashamed of her. They told her that this would be the furthest thing on their minds and were happy that the issues were being discussed in the open. The daughter and parents however still felt that she should have her own place. The daughter was 31 years old and was in receipt of Personal Independence Payments, and was therefore exempt from the single room rate for Housing Benefit. The family were unaware of this and were very happy with this new information as their daughter could find her own place to live.
After Barnet Homes provided support and information to find a property, the parents were happy to keep their daughter at home while she looked for her own place and were happy to assist with paying the deposit.
20 they can access social housing. Barnet Homes’ Housing Needs Officers explain the realities of housing in Barnet and that many people face long periods in Temporary Accommodation and may never access social housing. These difficult conversations help families to understand the choices that are available to them. Violence or the threat of violence: Good quality advice is key to preventing homelessness and helping households to make informed decisions on the choices available to them. The Domestic Abuse One Stop Shop is an excellent example of how quality advice at the right time can lead to better outcomes for victims of domestic abuse.
Coordinated by Barnet Homes, the One Stop Shop brings together a range of specialists in one place to enable close partnership working and a range of choices around housing, refuge places, Sanctuary safety measures, legal advice and support. The council also participates in the ‘Pan-London Housing Reciprocal Agreement’, which is a housing pathway for people with a social housing tenancy in London who are at high risk of harm where they live and includes those suffering from domestic abuse, other types of violence against women and girls (such as sexual violence and exploitation), gang related crime, serious youth violence, hate crime and other serious reasons relating to community safety.
Care Leavers: It is important that Children in care are appropriately prepared and supported to live independently and do not find themselves unnecessarily homeless and living in temporary accommodation due to the lack of suitable accommodation available upon them reaching adulthood (18+). The council will increase the supply and range of housing options available for care leavers, in particular for those ready to move into independent living, by working closely with colleagues in Family Services to develop a ‘Placement Programme’ to better meet care leavers housing and other needs. Promoting resilience: Despite their strong track record in preventing homelessness, Barnet Homes’ Housing Options Team has over 2,500 households a year approaching them for housing advice and assistance.
This number is projected to increase because of rising housing costs, the impact of welfare reform and population growth. To prevent homelessness, supporting households to become more resilient to economic changes will be key through helping households access better employment and more affordable housing options.
Despite the approaches above, there are instances where a household has made themselves homeless intentionally - for example by wilfully not paying their rent or by refusing a reasonable offer of accommodation from Barnet Homes that results in the housing duty being discharged. To avoid this duty from being discharged, it is important that work is completed earlier to ensure that households access the right advice and support from partners at an earlier stage. There are also households that are not eligible for housing assistance under the Act due to their immigration status. Where this is the case, advice will be given on their housing options, and if there are vulnerable members in the household such as dependent children or adults with significant mental of physical health needs, referrals will be made to Family Services and Adult Social Care.
Family Services will assess whether they owe any duties to the household under section 17 of the Children Act 2004 and Adult Social Care taking into account sections 22-23 of the Care Act 2014.
21 The council through Barnet Homes aims to prevent around 6,000 households from becoming homeless between 2019 and 2024 by: ➢ Establishing dedicated teams to provide targeted support to singles and families, preventing on average 1,200 households every year from becoming homeless. ➢ Providing specialist advice and support through the Barnet Homes Tenancy Sustainment Team to enable more households to remain within their accommodation. This will include a ‘Personal Housing Plan’ developed with 100% of applicants to address their individual needs.
Being clear on the advice on the different accommodation options available which may include placements outside the borough and in some cases London where properties are more affordable.
Commissioning a review of debt collection across the council to ensure agencies are working together to provide maximum support to customers and provide support for households on low income, debt, or impacted by benefit changes through the Barnet Homes Welfare Reform Task Force. This will include reviewing the Discretionary Housing Payments Policy to better support households at risk of becoming homelessness.
Improve multi-agency working between housing and partners to ensure care leavers at risk of homelessness are identified early and appropriate action taken to improve their outcomes and success into adulthood by providing advice and support for example through ongoing money management and tenancy support.
22 Objective 2 - Reducing the number households living in Temporary Accommodation and securing sufficient accommodation for those that are at risk and those that are homeless Temporary accommodation (TA) can include housing available in the short term on our own regeneration estates; short-term housing leased from private landlords; or hostels and hotels.
Temporary accommodation in Barnet is initially provided as interim emergency accommodation in properties whilst a homelessness application is assessed. After assessment, longer term suitable accommodation – including long term TA - is provided to households where a homeless duty has been accepted. However, due to the shortage of this accommodation, Barnet Homes also procures self-contained flats rented from private landlords on a nightly basis or for a fixed term, which is known as block-booked TA.
Despite an increase in the number of successful prevention cases, and reduction in homelessness acceptances over the past five years, the number of households in TA is reducing but remains high at 2,579 households at the end of 2017/18. There is a shortage of temporary accommodation generally and it is difficult for the council to find affordable, suitable temporary accommodation within Barnet. Most temporary accommodation is in the private sector, and some of it is located outside the borough. This is mainly due to a strong property market operating in London where demand has outstripped supply, a freeze on Local Housing Allowance rates and the rise in private rents which has not kept pace with wage inflation.
This has meant that the Council has had to procure more expensive temporary accommodation for households approaching the Council as homeless. TA volumes are provided in Table 2 below.
Table 2: Households in TA (monthly) Period Total TA Long Term TA Block booked TA Nightly paid TA End 2017/18 2579 1716 619 244 To support customers to move from TA into longer term accommodation, Barnet Homes set up a ‘Temporary Accommodation Team’. Since April 2016, this team has reduced numbers in TA by 14 units per month on average. This year, to avoid new placements into A single mother of one, Ms B approached Barnet Homes for assistance as she faced eviction from her private rented accommodation. To prevent her becoming homeless, Barnet Homes had to place Ms B into emergency temporary accommodation.
However, this studio property was both expensive and small for Ms B and her child. Barnet Homes’ Accommodation Solutions Officer took on the case, to move Ms B on into more suitable long-term accommodation. At her interview, Ms B informed the Officer that she had family in another borough. The Officer located a suitable property in that borough that was both affordable and larger than the studio, and Ms B was happy to accept this option. Barnet Homes supported Ms B with the move by assisting with removals, paying for travel and ordering a bed and sofa for the new property.
23 TA, Barnet Homes have piloted an ‘Accommodation Solutions Project’ and secured additional placements into the private rented sector and council stock. The council continue to monitor average length of time in TA, and we are moving on households who have spent longest in TA into longer term housing. The great difficulty of securing good quality temporary accommodation in London, particularly at prices within the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) cap, has created a significant financial burden for the council. Providing more housing that people can afford will be important in helping to reduce the number of households living in TA.
The council agreed a Temporary Accommodation Placements Policy in 2016. This will mean placing households out of borough and in some cases, out of London in more affordable locations, subject to criteria. We have to take these steps and will do so in a fair and sensitive way, mitigating the potential impact on homeless households as effectively as we can and working closely with household members to ensure this. In order to reduce the use of temporary accommodation the council will need to increase the supply of all forms of private and affordable housing available across the borough. With the loss of private rented accommodation still one of the largest drivers of homelessness in Barnet, it is important that the council supports responsible tenants and ensures that landlords provide a good quality offer.
A fresh approach to the private rented sector will be adopted by the council as detailed in our Housing Strategy, with a focus of Licensing, Enforcement, Advice, and Data. Our LEAD agenda will include consideration of the case for selective licencing, which means that all landlords in some areas would be required to obtain a licence, additional resources for the private sector enforcement team and improvements to the information and advice available to tenants on their rights and obligations. By improving housing conditions, we hope to prevent the risk of homelessness materialising.
On-going pressure on the housing market means that it is important that the number of properties remaining empty in Barnet is kept to a minimum. This is also to the benefit of the property owners as their property would provide a rental income if it were made available for letting. Improving standards in the private rental market alongside bringing more empty properties back in to use would help increase the supply of housing available to households at risk of homelessness in Barnet. Ms M is a single mother with 2 children. She faced eviction from her private rented property because the landlord could no longer afford the mortgage payments.
Ms M approached Barnet Homes for assistance. Because Ms M has limited income, she could not afford another private rented property within Barnet, or within many areas of London. Barnet Homes’ Accommodation Solutions Officer took on the case, and sought to resolve Ms M’s housing issue and to avoid the need for emergency temporary accommodation. The Accommodation Solutions Officer located a suitable, affordable property for Ms M in another town where Ms M has family. Ms M has accepted the property, and Barnet Homes is paying for the removals and supporting Ms M with the move. Due to the Officer’s efforts, Ms M has not needed emergency temporary accommodation.
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