Agenda item

Report of the Corporate Director of Adults, Housing and Health. To be presented by the Cabinet Member for Housing & Planning (Deputy Leader)

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST RELATING TO THIS ITEM:

None

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

1.    Noted the Homelessness Review attached at Appendix?2.

2.    Noted the outcome of the formal consultation on the Draft Homelessness Strategy, as set out in paragraphs?6.20–6.30 of the report.

3.    Approved the Homelessness Strategy 2026–2027 attached at Appendix?1.

4.    Delegated authority to the Corporate Director of Adults and Housing, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing and the Director of Finance, to approve an action plan for publication setting out how the Council and its partners would deliver the Homelessness Strategy.

Reasons for decision

Under the Homelessness Act?2002, local authorities were required to carry out a homelessness review and to formulate and publish a homelessness strategy informed by that review at least once every five years. The Strategy proposed for adoption had been developed over more than a year, in response to a homelessness review and with extensive engagement from a wide range of stakeholders, including people with lived experience of homelessness, organisations working to support them, and respondents to the formal consultation process.

Alternative options considered

Cabinet could have chosen not to adopt the proposed Homelessness Strategy. This option was not recommended because the Strategy had been developed following a thorough review of evidence and extensive engagement with stakeholders. Furthermore, the Council was required to take its Homelessness Strategy into account when exercising its functions as a local housing authority, and the Strategy required updating for this purpose.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning, and Deputy Leader of the Council introduced the report.

It was explained that the Council’s mission was to support the development of a fairer and greener borough. The housing crisis in London had resulted in increasing numbers of local residents being unable to afford private rents or access home ownership. This created a continued need for additional affordable housing. The council delivered large?scale council housebuilding, with homes let at council rents. Around 1,300 homes had been completed, with a further 2,000 under construction and on track for completion by 2031. Haringey was among the largest local authority housebuilders nationally and extended delivery to include affordable housing for key workers and other residents on lower incomes. Despite this activity, significant housing pressures remained, and some residents continued to experience homelessness due to rising rents, landlord decisions and other factors. During this period, the Council developed a comprehensive street homelessness service. Rough sleeping in the borough reduced by 46% from 2022, contrasting with wider national and London trends. Tackling homelessness was established as a core council priority.

It was stressed that the Council had set an objective to end the routine use of hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation for temporary housing and achieved this, with such accommodation used only in exceptional circumstances.

Following consultation with residents and engagement through the Homelessness Reduction Board, which brought together key local partners, the homelessness strategy set out the council’s strategic objectives and next steps. These objectives were to:

• Prevent homelessness in Haringey through more effective partnership working
• Protect residents from the risk of homelessness by addressing underlying causes
• Provide targeted support for groups at higher risk of homelessness
• Improve homelessness prevention services to reduce crisis and support residents to remain in their homes
• Improve the quality of temporary accommodation and residents’ experiences where homelessness occurred
• Reduce the number of people experiencing long?term rough sleeping and prevent repeat homelessness

Following questions from Councillors Cawley-Harrison, the following information was shared:

• It was explained that there were specific services which were designed to support homeless people in the borough. It was also explained that the Council would undertake consultation work with those utilising the service to understand what service was required. It was noted that 50 people, across a range of services, had been consulted in addition to the Commonplace survey, which had been implemented in the plan.
  
  
• It was noted that the proposed Homelessness Strategy should be read in conjunction with the Rough Sleeping Strategy, to give a wider view of how the Council would support the homeless and those rough sleeping, and that the Council sought to integrate these two strategies in future.
  
  

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

1.    Noted the Homelessness Review attached at Appendix?2.

2.    Noted the outcome of the formal consultation on the Draft Homelessness Strategy, as set out in paragraphs?6.20–6.30 of the report.

3.    Approved the Homelessness Strategy 2026–2027 attached at Appendix?1.

4.    Delegated authority to the Corporate Director of Adults and Housing, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing and the Director of Finance, to approve an action plan for publication setting out how the Council and its partners would deliver the Homelessness Strategy.

Reasons for decision

Under the Homelessness Act?2002, local authorities were required to carry out a homelessness review and to formulate and publish a homelessness strategy informed by that review at least once every five years. The Strategy proposed for adoption had been developed over more than a year, in response to a homelessness review and with extensive engagement from a wide range of stakeholders, including people with lived experience of homelessness, organisations working to support them, and respondents to the formal consultation process.

Alternative options considered

Cabinet could have chosen not to adopt the proposed Homelessness Strategy. This option was not recommended because the Strategy had been developed following a thorough review of evidence and extensive engagement with stakeholders. Furthermore, the Council was required to take its Homelessness Strategy into account when exercising its functions as a local housing authority, and the Strategy required updating for this purpose.