Agenda item

This report sought Cabinet member approval for the continued interim use of the Osborne Grove building as a night shelter and assessment centre for individuals experiencing rough sleeping. The extension was proposed for two years, until 31/03/2027, or until a long-term plan for the building was established. Additionally, the report requested authorization for the Cabinet member to delegate future decisions regarding further extensions of the temporary use to the Director for Adults, Housing and Health and the Corporate Director of Finance.

Osborne Grove was a nursing home that had been decommissioned and operated by the Council until 2020. It was located on Upper Tollington Park in Finsbury Park. The building comprised 35 individual rooms and was being used by the Housing Related Support Team in Haringey Council as a night shelter and assessment centre.

The Cabinet Member RESOLVED:

Recommendations

That the Cabinet Member:

2.1. Approves the continued meanwhile use of directly delivered, Osborne Grove Nursing Home, 16 Upper Tollington Park, N4 3EL, as a night shelter and assessment centre, for 2 years until 31/03/2027.

2.2. Note that options for the long-term use of the building and site are subject to further consideration and will be the subject of further report by officers to Cabinet. Page 1 Agenda Item 6 2.3. Delegates authority further to extend meanwhile use of the building to the Corporate Director of Adults, Housing and Health in consultation with the Corporate Director of Finance limited to 31/03/2027.

Reasons for decision

3.1. The Osborne Grove building is currently in meanwhile use as a directly delivered night shelter and assessment centre and already has a team in place. The service is a critical component of the borough’s approach to reducing homelessness and rough sleeping in the borough and in its first year has reduced the numbers of people rough sleeping by nearly 40%. If accepted, this proposal will ensure that there is no gap in provision for people experiencing homelessness while discussions are held on the long-term use of the building and the cohort it should accommodate. The Capital Projects and Property Team have confirmed that there is no alternative meanwhile use of the building. Officers considered that there will not be a longer-term application deliverable over the proposed meanwhile use period. This request has also been previously considered using the Corporate Property Model’s Asset Performance Assessment.

3.2. The night shelter and assessment centre allows the council to accommodate people who currently have No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF). Haringey currently has a very high proportion of people rough sleeping with NRPF. Often, this cohort has significant mental or physical health needs which are unmet while street homeless. When left street homeless for months or years, these needs tend to escalate and often this results in pressure on expensive services elsewhere in the NHS or Council, including on Adult Social Care. There is strong evidence to show that those who are brought into accommodation are quickly supported to regularise their status and source appropriate accommodation.

3.3. The Council has been awarded £1,348,484 in the Rough Sleeping Initiative 2025 – 2026. £489,493 of this provision is awarded on the basis of the borough providing a night shelter. A governance process to accept the grant funding is in progress. If Cabinet decides not to accept the grant award when the report seeking acceptance comes before it, then an alternative source of funding will need to be identified and authorised to ensure that the Osborne Grove service was funded adequately.

3.4. Ring-fenced grant funding is available – and next year’s funding has been confirmed - via the Rough Sleeping Initiative to deliver a night shelter at Osborne Grove, if accepted this funding will make the proposal cost neutral. The Council has a track record of successfully delivering services funded by grant, and Osborne Grove is a critical part of its approach to reducing Page 2 homelessness and rough sleeping. The service’s budget for 2025/26 currently shows a small shortfall. This is due to having not received the final confirmation of additional funding by time of writing this report. This will have been received early in the new financial year. A full break down of the finances of the service for 2024/25 are available at Appendix A. This shows a projected gap in the funding available for 2026/27. A parallel piece of work is currently underway to look at rents in General Fund properties. Though this has not finished yet it is looking increasingly likely that rent and service charge will be raised above the figures used as the basis for this report and significantly reducing any potential shortfall. Additionally, it is assumed that the funding that has been available this year would be made available again, though it is expected that there would be an increase in the overall amount of funding as well as a change in the rules regarding ringfencing of funds which would allow the council to use the allocation in any way that we see fit which would allow that shortfall to be met.

3.5. An announcement of the long-term funding settlement for the Rough Sleeping Initiative is not expected until the end of 2025. If, once that announcement has been made it were clear that the council would be unable to continue funding the service the Housing Related Support would likely have to decant the building and stop delivering the service from Osborne Grove. This would leave the borough with no off-the-street accommodation for people sleeping rough in Haringey. As stated elsewhere in this report this would force the Council to revert to using private B&B placements that offer less value for money. This would be very likely to result in an increase in the number of people rough sleeping in Haringey.

3.6. If the building were to be emptied and remain empty until the next use was determined there would also be a cost associated with building security as well as the continued cost of building compliance works. This cost is hard to specify and would depend on the level of security needed. A conservative estimate for this would involve once daily visits by a mobile security operative and Sitex on the ground floor doors and windows which would cost approximately £33,560 per annum. This would increase significantly if the first-floor windows were covered too. These figures are based on publicly available information and information provided by the Council’s preferred security firm.

3.7. The shortage of affordable nightly paid accommodation in the Borough has resulted in additional financial pressures for the Council. As of December 2024, this was projected to be an £12,000,000 overspend in providing temporary accommodation in 2024/25. Delivery of a night shelter at Osborne Grove does not contribute to that overspend and in fact reduces the need for nightly paid accommodation.

3.8. The London Borough of Haringey is committed to utilising assets in a way that dynamically and flexibly responds to need. The use of Osborne Grove as supported housing commenced in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Government’s Everyone In directive to accommodate everyone at risk of rough sleeping. This was a valuable, positive and cost-effective use of the building, and the service was mobilised at pace to minimise any risk of transmission in this vulnerable cohort.

3.9. Performance of the service has remained strong over the reporting period, with sustained reductions in rough sleeping rates across the borough. The service has effectively met key outcomes around rapid assessment, personalised support, and accommodation pathways, contributing to a measurable decrease in street homelessness. This success has been recognised by MHCLG, who formally commended the service for its impact, innovation, and collaborative approach.

Alternative Options Considered

4.1. Do nothing: Cabinet member could choose to not agree an extension of the meanwhile use of Osborne Grove. This would likely result in the building needing to be decanted, which would leave the Council without appropriate offstreet accommodation for people rough sleeping in the borough and would also potentially lead to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) asking for the awarded grant money to be returned. This could also cause some reputational damage with MHCLG as Haringey has previously been flagged as a borough of concern due to the number of people rough sleeping and there would be challenging questions as to why the council chose not to continue the use of the existing building and service that has already reduced the number of people rough sleeping in the borough by nearly 40%. This would also require the Council to revert to using private hotels to place single homeless people into accommodation or for those that would be owed a full duty nightly paid temporary accommodation through housing needs. This would increase the pressure on an already overspent temporary accommodation budget in the case of the latter and provide less suitable accommodation for fewer people in the case of the former.