Agenda item

[Report of the Assistant Director for Commissioning. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Adults and Health.]

The report will Request approval for extensions of up to 24 months and variation of the number of units of accommodation for three contracts delivering supported accommodation in the Single Homeless Pathway. The

extension and variations will facilitate a redesign of the pathway services, which will include consideration of bringing them back within the Portfolio of directly delivered Council services.

The Cabinet Member for Adults and Health introduced this report, which sought Cabinet to vary and extend three of the Council’s existing contracts for the provision of housing related support in the Single Homeless Sector, each for a period of 2 years. Cabinet’s permission was also sought to approve a clause in the contract variations to allow a provision to claim back funding from providers who do not fulfil their staffing requirements in their contract.

The Cabinet Member noted the ongoing developments and changes in this area, such as the decision to invest in a single homeless hub, which was due to open in early 2019. Whilst such development and changes were taking place, Cabinet were asked to approve a decision for those contracts to be extended to allow a review to take place.

RESOLVED

To approve, in accordance with Contract Standing Order (CSO) 10.02.1(b), the extension and variation of the following single homeless contracts as outlined below

1)    The extension of the contract with St Mungo’s Community Housing Association Ltd for the provision of an Assessment and Engagement Service and an Engaged and Planning Service for a further period of 2 years at a total additional cost of £876,186 with variations to the contract to reduce the number of Assessment and Engagement units from the current 25 down to 21 and the number of Engaged and Planning units down from 87 to 58 for which the contractor would need to discontinue its subcontracting arrangement with the North London Young Mens Christian Association (NYMCA);

2)    The extension of the contract with St Mungo’s Community Housing Association Ltd for the provision of a Specialist Substance Misuse and Offender Service at an additional cost of £372,190 per annum and of a Complex NeedsService at an additional cost of £319,240 per annum for a further period of 21 months resulting in an overall additional cost of £1,210,002.36 to cover the extension period with a variation to reduce the units used in the Specialist Substance Misuse and Offender Service from 52 to 50;

3)    The extension of the contract with St Ignatius Housing Association Ltd for the provision of a Moved Through Service for a further period of 2 years from 12^th Jan. 2019 with a variation to discontinue service provision in relation to Young People after 28^th Feb. 2019 and retain it only in relation to Adults at an additional cost of £287,648 to cover the extension period (consisting of £280,510 for the extended service in relation to Adults and £7,138.10 in relation to Young People).

Reasons for decision

It is in the Council’s overall interest to agree to the variations and extension of the current contracts whilst a redesign process is completed. The contracts were awarded for a period of four years with an option to extend for a further period of up to two years until 2021 in order to facilitate this.

Performance has been evaluated as good throughout the contract period. Performance returns are completed and submitted on time and targets are met. However, following a comprehensive review, it is proposed to address increasing demand for supported housing and improve service utilisation and delivery by varying the existing contracts to create new capacity in the interim period.

As a result of the sale of Dial House by owner Metropolitan Housing Association, the relocation of the Assessment Centre to 332 High Road Tottenham was approved by Cabinet on 11 September 2018 as part of the creation of a new single homelessness hub. The new property is in Tottenham Green and is comprised of nine flats with 21 rooms in total. To facilitate the effective implementation of this new service, the current contract needs to be varied and extended before the move to the new building takes place, which will be before April 1^st 2019.

Alternative options considered

Procurement of new contracts was considered, however this would not facilitate sufficient time to draw on recent service reviews to redesign the service and then engage with the market to identify best value and best practice.

There is only a statutory requirement to provide housing for single homeless people where they are identified as vulnerable and in priority need under Section 189 of the Housing Act (1996 amended 2002). However, Haringey like all London boroughs recognises the human, social and economic costs associated with homelessness and the need to ensure that people are adequately supported to recover from it and prevent future instances. Therefore, it is not deemed in the best interests of homeless individuals or the Council to cease the current contracts for the provision of supported housing services.

In order to deliver the priorities set out in the Supported Housing Review (2017), Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategies (2018), Single Homelessness Pathway Review (2018), short term transitional arrangements are required to facilitate a robust redesign and recommissioning process.