SCRUTINY PANEL 3 - HOMELESSNESS AND
ROUGH SLEEPERS
1.
Purpose/Objectives of the
Review
To review the way
in which the Council and its partners engage with rough sleepers, consider the best way in which ‘Housing
First’ can be used to reduce rough sleeping in the borough,
and understand the nature and extent of ‘hidden
homelessness’ and how it can best be
addressed.
Key
Lines of Enquiry
Ø
To gain an
understanding of why people sleep
rough
Ø
To gain an
understanding of the causes and extent
of rough sleeping in the borough, the impact that rough
sleeping has on the health, safety and life expectancy of people
who are sleeping rough, and the implications for safeguarding and
community safety.
Ø
To gain an
understanding of the work that is currently being undertaken by
Northampton Borough Council (NBC) and local groups, services and
organisations to engage with rough
sleepers
Ø
To consider the
effectiveness of the action that is being taken (by NBC and local
groups, services and organisations) to help people who are sleeping
rough to come off the streets
Ø
To gain an
understanding of the ‘Housing First’ model and consider
how best it could be used to reduce rough sleeping in the
borough
Ø
To gain an understanding of the
nature and extent of ‘hidden homelessness’ in the
borough, including the profile of the people affected and what
contact (if any) they have had with NBC, Northampton Partnership
Homes or local advice agencies
Ø
To explore various ways of connecting with, and engaging with,
harder to reach groups
Ø
To gain an understanding of the specific needs and assistance
provided for young people, between the age of 16-25, including care
leavers
Ø
To gain an understanding of the specific needs and assistance
provided for ex-Offenders
Ø
To understand how data, statistics and demographics are gathered
and used to meet the needs of rough sleepers, men and women, who
are homeless
2.
Outcomes Required
·
To understand how rough
sleepers are engaged with and to make recommendations for
improvement, as appropriate.
·
To
understand the ‘Housing First’ model and to make
recommendations on how it could be used to reduce rough sleeping in
the borough
·
To
understand the nature and extent of ‘hidden
homelessness’ and to make recommendations on how it could be
tackled
·
To
understand how people become homeless
3.
Information Required
·
Background data
·
Background reports
·
Best practice data
·
Desktop research
·
Evidence from expert internal witnesses
·
Evidence from expert
external witnesses
·
Site visits (if
applicable)
4.
Format of Information
·
Background data, including:
Ø
Presentation to set the scene:
Rough sleeper
engagement
Homelessness in
Northampton
Housing
First
Tackling Hidden
Homelessness
Ø
Relevant national and local background research
papers
Ø
Definitions –
Rough Sleepers, homeless, and Hidden Homelessness
Ø
Homelessness Reduction Act 2017
Ø
Barriers to housing people and maintaining
successful tenancies
Ø
Relevant Council Policies and Strategies
Ø
Statistics:
Rough
sleeper data
Hidden
homelessness data and information
Homeless
data, including LGBT statistics
Ø
Relevant Legislation:
Homelessness Reduction Act 2017
The Health
and Social Care Act 2012
Ø
Relevant published papers on homelessness
and rough sleeping, for example Central Government’s paper
– Rough
Sleeping (England) 2018,
Housing First - A Good
Practice Briefing -
Shelter
Ø
HomelessLink
paper
https://www.homeless.org.uk/sites/default/files/site-attachments/Annual%20Review%202017_0.pdf
·
Best practice external to
Northampton
·
Case studies – hidden homeless and
rough sleepers
·
Internal expert advisors:
Ø
Cabinet Member for Housing,
NBC
Ø
Housing Options and Advice Manager,
NBC
Ø
Cabinet Member for Community Safety,
NBC
Ø
Chair of the Community Safety Partnership
(CSP) and the Community Safety Team
·
External expert advisors:
Ø
Head of Protecting Vulnerable Persons,
Northamptonshire Police
Ø
Director, NACRO
Ø
Director, NAS
Ø
Director of Public Health,
Northamptonshire County Council
Ø
Director, Adult Social Care, NCC
(specifically in relation to ex-Offenders)
Ø
Director, Housing First
(England)
Ø
Manager, Hope Centre
Ø
Service Manager, Salvation
Army
Ø
Service Manager, Jesus Army
Ø
Chief Executive, Central Northamptonshire
CAB
Ø
Homelessness Charities such
as:
·
Shelter
·
Crisis
·
Joseph Rowntree Trust
·
Big Issue
Ø
Healthwatch Northamptonshire
Ø
Director, Maple Access Centre
Ø
Director, SAAFA
Ø
Skype interview, or similar, link with
American organisation regarding the Housing First
initiative
Ø
MPs – Michael Ellis, Andrea
Leadsom, Andrew Lewer
Ø
Community Co-Chairs, all Northampton
Community Forums
Ø
Representative of the Landlords
Forum
·
Site visit(s) to the Hope Centre,
Women’s Refuge, Oasis House; other organisations that support
homeless people and rough sleepers, Emmaus Centre in Bedford.
Representatives of the Panel to accompany the Out Reacher Workers
and attend the Rough Sleepers count.
Site visit to Re-Store Café. The Deputy Chair to visit
Manchester.
5.
Methods Used to Gather
Information
- Minutes of
meetings
- Desktop
research
- Site
visits
- Officer
reports
- Presentations
- Examples
of best practice
- Witness
Evidence:-
Ø
Key witnesses
as detailed in section 4 of this scope
6.
Co-Options to the Review
·
Ian Bates, Director, Umbrella Fair Committee, to be approached
suggesting that they are co-opted to this Review for its life.
7. Community Impact
Screening Assessment
- A Community Impact Screening
Assessment to be undertaken on the scope of the Review
8. Evidence gathering
Timetable
May 2018
– March 2019
·
15 May 2018
- Scoping meeting
|
·
5 July
- Evidence gathering
·
6
September
- Evidence gathering
|
·
8
November
- Evidence gathering
|
·
24 January
2019
- Evidence gathering
·
14 March
- Approval final report
|
|
|
Various site visits will be programmed during this period, if
required.
Meetings to commence at 6.00 pm and will be held in various
locations around the borough.
9.
Responsible Officers
Phil
Harris, Head of Housing and Wellbeing
Tracy Tiff, Scrutiny Officer
10.
Resources and Budgets
Phil
Harris, Head of Housing and Wellbeing, to provide internal
advice.
11.
Final report presented
by:
Completed by March 2019. Presented
by the Chair of the Panel to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee
and then to Cabinet.
12.
Monitoring procedure:
Review the impact of the report after six months (approximately
November/December 2019)
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