Agenda item

[Report of the Assistant Director for Commissioning. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Housing and Estate Renewal.]

The young people's supported housing pathway has been re-designed and recommissioned. The aim of the new pathway is to offer young people a greater range of accommodation settings and support levels, including 24-hour, visiting and floating support services.

 The Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Families introduced this report which sought approval from Cabinet to award contracts for the provision of the Young People’s Supported Housing Pathway.

The Cabinet Member noted the contracts sought to award provision of 35 units of visiting support accommodation, which included a specialist service for unaccompanied asylum seeking children who had become old enough to qualify for those services. There would also be a 10 unit Housing First for care leavers, which would be the first of its kind in the United Kingdom. Those services would be in addition to services that had already been commissioned to support LGBTQ+ young people with stonewall housing and also services that the Council would be looking to commission separately to provide support for young women and young parents towards the end of 2019.

The contracts would be for provision of a range of support across issues, such as health and wellbeing, crime and safety, employment and skills, and building financial resilience. It was highlighted to Cabinet that those proposals and the specifications for the contracts were developed in consultation with young people who were also involved in interviewing the providers as part of the procurement process.

The Cabinet Member closed by claiming the contracts were an important element in delivering on the Administration’s manifesto commitment to tackle homelessness in the borough.

Following questions from Cllr Barnes, the following was noted:

• There were no bids for Lot 1 (Assessment Centre) and Officers believed the reason for that was around identifying a suitable property. The incumbent provider was North London YMCA. They had not bid because they were in the process of exploring their options for the provision of future services. They would continue to operate the Assessment Centre despite not having made a bid for Lot 1. The Council was negotiating how the services might look beyond 1^st March 2019 and the North London YMCA had been exploring extension to the existing contract and what other services could be offered there to meet young people’s needs. Officers assured more services were to be offered to young people than what was currently being offered at this 24/7 site.
• Lot’s 2 and 3 would mostly be provided from street properties which Officers claimed would be more attractive to a number of the organisations the Council was working with because they were easier to acquire.
• No decision had been made with regards to retendering Lot 1. However, Officers would monitor how the Pathway worked with the new services and, if the Council identified the need for the assessment function to continue, it might explore having the assessments take place at a different building to its current one.

Further to considering the exempt information at item 22,

RESOLVED

To approve the award of three contracts for the Young People’s Supported Housing Pathway, to the organisations outlined in the exempt report, for a duration of three (3) years with option to extend for a further three (3) years, with a commencement date of 1^st March 2019. The total value of the contracts for the initial three (3) years is £553,041 and the total value of the contracts over the six (6) years is £1,106,082.

Reasons for decision

The Homelessness Reduction Act sets out a responsibility for local authorities to prevent and relieve homelessness at the earliest stage. In Haringey, our Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategies clearly outline our commitment to tackling the causes and triggers of homelessness and addressing housing vulnerability. In addition, the Council has a statutory duty to provide accommodation and support for care leavers and homeless 16-17 year olds. Young people are especially vulnerable to homelessness triggers due to their age, economic status and lack of experience living independently. Supported accommodation helps young people address the issues that led to their homelessness, prepare for independent living and secure long-term housing security. Therefore, a Supported Housing Pathway which specifically addresses the needs of young people is required.

The current contracts for Young People’s Supported Housing Services expire on the 28^th February 2019.

A full tender process was conducted by a joint team of Council officers and service users following a period of service re-design. The Pathway structure reflects in-depth consultation and design work with young people, frontline practitioners and neighbouring boroughs:

a)            Lot 1 was for the provision of a high-support Assessment Centre,

b)            Lot 2 for the provision of Visiting Support Services. This Lot includes discrete services for former Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children, in recognition of the specialist services that this cohort requires.

c)            Lot 3 for Housing First for Care Leavers.

Alternative options considered

Extend the current Housing Related Support Contracts for young people beyond the 28^th February 2019

In March 2017, Cabinet approved the recommendations of the Supported Housing Review, which committed to commissioning a new and integrated pathway of supported housing for homeless young people and care leavers. This pathway would offer a range of new provision types, settings and support levels, with services tailored to meet different needs and a focus on enabling young people to build on their assets. The existing supported housing contracts did not deliver this vision; therefore, a re-design exercise was required.

Do nothing

The Council’s statutory duties under the Homelessness Reduction Act (2017) and the Children and Social Work Act (2017) require appropriate housing to be available to relieve homelessness for particularly vulnerable groups. The Young People’s Supported Housing Pathway is a key element of this provision in Haringey, so it is not considered a viable option to let the contracts expire without identifying alternative provision.