Issue - meetings

This report provides information on the arrangements in place in Haringey to meet the housing needs of those young people living in semi-independent accommodation. 

At the December 2013 meeting, Committee members noted that there are 55 [16-17] year olds [10% of the total number of LAC in the borough] not living with a family, in separate accommodation, and they felt it would be important to look at this group separately .They agreed that a report be compiled which is focused on this group of young people and sets out the council’s support to them and how this compares to other local authorities, working with a similar cohort. 

Committee Members noted that there were now 40 [16-17] year olds living in semi independent accommodation. The support to young people living in this type of accommodation was set out in the report.  It was important to note that  all these young people  have an allocated social worker  who   will meet with them on a regular basis , they will continue to have LAC  reviews  and will receive  regular monitoring visits from the  placement  officer.  The report provided assurance to members  about the as safeguards in place to ensure the properties, that  young people  were living in, were to a good standard as there was no external inspection of these units/ properties .  Also despite the previous negative assumptions made about the quality of these accommodation units, following a comprehensive review of the quality of accommodation offered by the council to young people,   they were found to be generally good quality. Members of Aspire were also now accompanying young people in care to inspect offered accommodation before moving in. This was a positive development, as the young people were able to better talk about their issues and concerns about the accommodation with the young person from Aspire before moving in and know their rights about the improvements that they can expect.

Where units were found to be adequate there would be   support from the council to improve the placement [there were no units found to be inadequate].  The council were aiming to work in an appositive way with the providers to support improvements and there was felt to be a good response from the landlords about this.  An action plan had been compiled following the review of accommodation and this included training with providers to set out what is expected of the property and service to the tenant.

Members were pleased to note the support and focus around 16-17 year olds and the attention being given to the quality of their accommodation. Members requested a report back to the March meeting on the progress with the action plan with some case studies highlighting the improvements / issues.