Agenda item

To receive a presentation from Harriet Potemkin, Strategy & Policy Hub Manager.

The Chair, Councillor Levy introduced the Preventing Homelessness in Enfield 2018-2023 Draft Strategy and welcomed Harriet Potemkin, Head of Service & Policy Hub Manager, and Nick Martin, Head of Temporary Accommodation & Procurement to the meeting. The Strategy will be presented to Cabinet by April 2019, the actual date is yet to be confirmed. As a subject of pre-decision scrutiny, the views of Overview & Scrutiny were requested.

The Chair reminded Members that tonight’s meeting was for the Committee to play the role of critical friend and to make comments, observations and constructive criticism. The primary intention however is to assist and guide Officers and the Cabinet Member on how best to present this report to Cabinet in the future.

The strategy sets out Enfield’s ambitions in preventing homelessness in Enfield and its proactive approach in delivering a high-quality service that will support the needs of all homeless applicants.

The following was highlighted:

·         This is a very early draft of the strategy and over the next couple of months there will be cross council and partner engagement to further develop the draft document.

·         The new Director of Housing has taken up post this week and has stated that she is keen to develop a new ambitious approach to homelessness.

·         Officers welcomed questions and input from Members to help guide a more ambitious strategy.

·         Since Enfield’s last strategy was produced in 2013, homelessness has increased across the country, and at a significant rate locally. At 31^st March 2018, there were 3,323 households in temporary accommodation in Enfield, a 70% rise from 2012. Enfield is now the second highest provider of temporary accommodation in England.

·         In a climate of increased demand for services, increased costs of homelessness and cuts to public spending it is ever more challenging to provide effective services that are value for money. This makes it essential to share knowledge, expertise and pool resources with our partners in order to meet that challenge.

·         Partnership working is key to successfully delivering housing options and advice services that are value for money. It is essential that all partners ensure their role in preventing and tackling homelessness in Enfield remains a priority.

·         The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 places more emphasis on early identification and prevention work to tackle homelessness

·         Enfield’s Preventing Homelessness Strategy contributes towards its wider strategic aims of good homes in well-connected neighbourhoods; sustaining strong and healthy communities; and building the local economy to create a thriving place.

In-depth discussions took place on the draft strategy and the following issues were raised:

·         It was suggested that the strategy includes more of a focus around landlord licensing and housing responsibilities for landlords.

·         It was also felt that there was not enough reference in the document regarding the financial context and it was hoped that this would be addressed in the final strategy.

·         Members also felt that it was important to see more detail around the supply and demand of properties in the document, in particular looking at placing homeless households out of the borough as it was felt that this was a big part of the solution.

·         Following on from this point Councillor Smith questioned why 56% of Temporary Accommodation in Enfield is taken by other boroughs. This net figure is key, and it was hoped that this issue would be reflected more clearly in the strategy.

·         The strategy needs to ensure that the right support and advice is provided to residents to prevent homelessness and empower them to make positive choices about where they live.

·         The vision must enable people to make informed choices so that they access housing that meets their needs and they can afford. The key is sitting down and talking to people about their personal circumstances and, with council support, raising the issue of moving to private sector housing.

·         Nick Martin, Head of Temporary Accommodation & Procurement spoke about the new ‘move on project’ which involved conversation with residents with a view to moving into private sector housing. There had been a big response to this project; 100 reviews had currently taken place which had resulted in 23 families moving to private sector housing during October 2018. The drive to move people into private sector housing will continue.

·         Concerns were raised regarding the lack of social housing in Enfield and Members questioned how this was being addressed. Harriet advised that a new housing strategy is also being developed that will address this issue. Nick advised that Enfield has also developed a brand called ‘Enfield Lets’ and to date 31 properties have been procured via this scheme. The hope is to potentially scope this as an entity.

·         Discussions took place regarding ‘Capital Letters’, a collaborative Pan London Procurement Initiative and the impact if any, this would have on Enfield.

·         In reference to page 10 of the draft strategy Councillor Needs was interested to hear what was meant by ‘comparatively low numbers of rough sleepers in Enfield’. She asked for clarification on these figures, how they were recorded, and how this compared to neighbouring boroughs.

Nick agreed to find out this information and feedback to the committee.

Action: Nick Martin/Susan O’Connell

·         Councillor Needs expressed her thanks and congratulated officers at John Wilkes House on the professional and helpful way they continue to deal with the day to day issues that Councillors go to them with. 

In conclusion the Chair thanked Harriet and Nick for an informative and encouraging report.

AGREED that:

·         Councillor Smith would, if necessary draft some further comments/questions on the strategy and forward these to Officers accordingly.

·         If there were any further points of clarification resulting from today’s discussions Officers should please forward these to members of the Committee.

·         Officers to take away the points and suggestions made and look at including them in the strategy.