Agenda item

The Mayor opened the debate on Homelessness. This was a subject of growing concern with increasing numbers of single people and families becoming homeless and there being a visible increase in the number of rough sleepers. ‘All People’ all Places, the main local recipient of funds from the Mayors charity were focused on supporting people who became homeless and have no accommodation. Therefore, it was fitting for the final council debate meeting to consider this key issue.

The Mayor hoped the debate would allow a sharing of experiences and allow the council to develop solutions in this context. The Mayor had invited two external guests to share their local and daily working knowledge of homelessness and to ‘set the scene’ for the debate.

The Mayor introduced Matthew Downie of Crisis who opened the debate by providing a presentation on homelessness. He highlighted the current trends and policy implications including: the causes, consequences, and the scale of homelessness. The presentation also provided information on the number of applications for housing as a result of homelessness, with information on the numbers of: acceptances for housing, where homelessness had been prevented and relief cases. Mr Downie presented the impact of national policy and provided some suggestions of what the council could still do in this context.

The Mayor invited the second speaker, Mr Michael Baker, Chair of the Board of YMCA North London. Mr Baker focused on YMCA North London's work with young people that it came into contact with on a daily basis. This was aimed at creating a supportive and energising environment which was open to all, where young people could belong, contribute and thrive. Tackling youth homelessness was at the core of their strategy, and the primary objectives of the Life Academy foyer programme were to stabilise chaotic lives, restore self-esteem and enable young people to contribute to their community and reclaim their place in society.

The Mayor thanked Mr Downie and Mr Baker for their valuable contributions which would help stimulate the debate and bring forward further ideas and solutions for tackling homelessness.

The debate ensued and the Members made the following comments:

• The accumulative impact of past government polices, an unregulated rent sector, and less homes being built creating a nationwide problem of homelessness.
• The council’s moral duty to tackle homelessness had to be considered against a difficult national policy context and with decreasing powers.
• The council was a first contact point for homeless families unable to afford housing and in need of support. This meant working with community groups to signpost families to housing solutions before they become homeless and ensuring resources are available to help people access services.
• The problematic government cuts to public agencies, in particular Mental Health services which a young single homeless person may access. This meant a greater need for local authorities and agencies/ partners to work together and effectively combine their available resources to look after homeless people. 
• The results of the LGA [Local Government Association] survey, which included a significant increase in the short term reasons for homelessness.
• The forced sale of high value council housing stock was expected to have a negative effect.
• Councillors could provide essential support information to a rough sleeper by accessing :
• http://www.streetlink.org.uk/

• Homelessness had increased as a result of failings in housing system which included: problems with access to accommodation and increase in short term tenancies.
• Rogue landlords needed to be tackled to disrupt them continuing to take advantage of the continuing demand for housing by increasing rents, only providing short term tenancies and evicting families who fall behind on rent. The new private sector lettings agency recently launched by the council will provide families with a safer and fairer option.
• There was a need to revive a civil route for tackling rogue landlords with both a national strategy and ongoing local strategic approach, to ensure tenancy lengths were extended and poor conditions of housing tackled.
• Within the council, there was a need to continue tackling tenancy and RTB [Right to Buy] fraud. 
• Continuing to argue to government for an increase in social housing.
• Homelessness required national action as instability for families affected children’s education. Homelessness was a long standing problem for Haringey and the council needed increased resources to make a difference.
• The previous buffer of council housing had slowly eroded away through increased RTB sales.
• The issue of hotel homelessness of the 80’s had re - appeared with increased number of families in emergency accommodation for increased lengths of time. Understanding that this experience can have a detrimental impact on children’s attainment.
• Homeless families from communities fleeing persecution and in need of accommodation through their circumstances and not through choice should be recognised.
• The Government should be challenged on their housing policies and council land for housing should be safeguarded. Also the forced planning position on social housing development, inflicted by the government should be acknowledged so residents do not blame the council for lower ratios of social housing being built.
• Council housing was not subsidised and continuing to voice that London’s relationship with developers should be redefined to increase housing in the borough and London. The Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel will be examining the viability assessments for affordable housing and reporting their findings and recommendations to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in the coming quarter.
•  Closer links between private and public sector to increase housing in London were needed.
• The Housing and Planning Bill would have a negative impact, undermining social rented sectors, and increased RTB was expected to have a detrimental impact on housing stock numbers, with a potential 149 homes that could be sold in the borough.
•  The growing public stigma of homelessness should be tackled through understanding the background of the homeless person sleeping rough and helping them receive the right help and support.
• More and more people on the edge of homelessness through circumstances not in their control. 
• Re -housing people outside London was likely to increase. The detrimental impact of recent changing national housing polices making it difficult to strategically plan ahead housing availability.

Responding to the debate, the Leader of the Council remarked on its quality and echoed the sentiments of fellow councillors and the external speakers on how aspects of housing crisis have been evident to everyone in the borough with the visible increase in rough sleepers, the increased number of housing- related cases in surgeries and the range of people affected, rising rent levels and significant houses price increase making purchasing a home difficult.

It was important to note that this was not a problem just for Haringey and the solution would need to be London wide and on a national basis. There was a significant need to build more homes in London, 50, 000 being built a year to meet demand. The council would need to be clear and honest about what this meant. There was a strong feeling about London remaining a mixed community and this would inevitably mean a change in the skyline for London, including estate regeneration and building up housing at higher density with a social mix.

There were concerns about the Housing Bill including its disregard of social housing, the unfairness of Starter Homes which would only be affordable to a small group of people on high incomes. The tackling of rogue landlords and the rogue landlords register were the only redeeming features of the Bill.

The Leader referred to the Housing Benefit changes which reduced access to the private rented homes market and the abolition of housing benefit for under 22s, would be devastating to vulnerable young people. The required 1% reduction in rents would also impact on housing income for councils and delay repairs in housing stock. 

The Leader continued to speak about the scale, nature and complexity of homelessness prevention and officers were constantly being challenged to find new effective ways for preventing homelessness to keep up with demand. Local authorities had to deal with difficult circumstances but meet the challenges by building more housing, bringing forward build to rent, ensuring the recently launched lettings agency was a success. She welcomed the challenges to the Housing Strategy and Homelessness Strategy and undertook to ensure that the strategies would take account of the discussion.

The Leader thanked the Mayor for taking forward this debate. The debate had signalled the ongoing commitment of the council to ensure good oversight of housing crisis and ensure the council were working hard to tackle this.

The Mayor thanked all councillors for their participation in the debate and further thanked Matt Downie and Michael Baker for their contributions.

NOTED