Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Cabinet Member for Housing Services, Private Renters, and Planning considered the report which sought Cabinet Member approval for the receipt of grant funding from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) under the Rough Sleeping Initiatives (RSI) programme 2022-2025.

The grant had been awarded following a successful bidding process to the Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) Programme. The paper provided some detail as to how the grant would be spent, including the provision of directly delivered and externally commissioned services, as set out in the successful funding bid, and allowed under Contract Standing Order (CSO) 17.3.

The Cabinet Member congratulated the team on the success of the bid and of securing such a substantial sum to support rough sleepers in the borough.

The Cabinet Member RESOLVED

1.    To approve the receipt of grant funding from the Rough Sleeping Initiative Programme, in the sum of £3,641,429 over 3 years as permitted under Contract Standing Order (CSO) 17.1.

2.    Pursuant to CSO 17.3, to approve the award of grant funding to identified partner agencies listed in the table at 2.3, which were set out in the successful bid for funding.

3.    To note that the following delivery partners were identified as part of the bid:

1)    St Mungo’s for the delivery of the Haringey Housing First Service for Rough Sleepers. This is an ongoing service that has been in place since 2018 and is for the provision of intensive floating support to 5 people. The service is part of an existing contract with St Mungo’s for the provision of wider Housing First services across the borough.

2)    Thames Reach for the delivery of an existing service which provides the Haringey Street Outreach Team. There is an existing contract in place with Thames Reach for 2021-23 with provision to extend for a further year (2023-24). The contract was funded in 2021-22 by the RSI 4 allocation, and it is likely that the service will be commissioned, beyond 2023-24 and to continue into 2024-25 on the same basis. Grant funding from RSI-5 of £548,844 is ringfenced for this intervention for a period of 3 years for 2022-25. Haringey were also granted a total of £1,194,188 for the delivery of a night shelter, with Thames Reach named partner in the bid for the delivery of the service. It is recommended that Cabinet approves the award of a new £1,194,188 contract to Thames Reach Charity Ltd for the delivery of the Haringey Night Shelter at Clarendon. In the first year, the service is expected to be fully functional from Autumn 2022 and will result in a part year cost of up to £228,577 and Haringey has received ring-fenced funding of this amount. A further 2 years funding has been agreed making a total of £1,194,188 over 3 years.

Reasons for decision

This funding has been awarded to the Council following a successful bid to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The funding is ringfenced for the purpose of reducing and ending rough sleeping, as set out in the bidding process and was awarded on the basis of specific initiatives and delivery partners.  As such a tender process is not appropriate because grant monies cannot be awarded to other organisations or for other initiatives than those specified in the bid.

Partner agencies Thames Reach Charity and St Mungo’s were an integral part of designing the bid, in partnership with the Council’s Housing-Related Support Service. The bid focused on the strengths of each organisation, a proven track record of working in partnership to reduce rough sleeping in the borough and the ability to mobilise initiatives at the required pace. Thames Reach were identified as the provider of the night shelter service on the basis of the discrete benefits to residents and to service delivery in having the same organisation delivering street outreach services and ‘off the streets’ accommodation.

The Clarendon building from which Thames Reach will run the night shelter is currently undergoing refurbishment; it is anticipated that this should be completed in September 2022, after which the service will commence.

Alternative options considered

The Council could decide not to accept the grant. However, the successful bid was based on strong evidence of continued demand for services to tackle rough sleeping in the London Borough of Haringey, for which there is no other identified funding stream. Therefore, it is in the Council’s interest to accept the grant in order to deliver against the commitments set out in the Borough Plan (2019-2023).