Published: Wednesday 16 September 2020
Helping vulnerable residents at risk of homelessness at the earliest opportunity is among the priorities in a new Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Reduction Strategy recommended for approval by the Council’s Leadership Team this evening (Wednesday 16 September).
The Strategy sets out how the Council will meet its commitment to preventing homelessness in a borough with high housing costs and the second largest rate of residents living in temporary accommodation in England per head of population.
Created using resident feedback from a public consultation held earlier this year, the five-year Strategy is accompanied by an action plan detailing what the Council will do – and when – to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
It outlines the Council’s priorities across four areas:
- Preventing residents from becoming homeless and assisting them when they have become homeless
- Providing suitable accommodation for homeless households
- Reducing and working towards the elimination of rough sleeping
- Working with partners to prevent homelessness earlier
The Strategy aims to tackle the root causes of homelessness through early intervention and prevention and support residents to find sustainable housing solutions. The action plan sets out how the Council will support potentially homeless households to explore the full range of options, including resettlement in the private rented sector to address the shortage of Social Housing Supply.
Residents are at the heart of delivery of the Strategy and the Council will be setting up a multi-agency steering group to help oversee the delivery of the action plan.
Cllr Kim Taylor-Smith, Deputy Leader and Lead Member for Grenfell, Housing and Social Investment, said:
“Homelessness can have a devastating impact on residents’ lives and this Strategy sets out our commitment to do all we can to tackle it at the earliest possible stage.
“This is not something we can do alone, and we will be working closely with partner agencies and our communities to ensure that those that need help are able to get it when they need it, not when it is too late.”
Read documents for the Leadership Team meeting and watch online from 6.30pm via the Council’s YouTube channel.