Item 9 - WDC Rapid Re-Housing Transition Plan update
West Dunbartonshire Council · 21 August 2024
Back to Housing & Communities Committee — 21 August 2024 and its agenda
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WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL Report by the Chief Officer, Housing and Employability Housing and Communities Committee: 21 August 2024 ___________________________________________________________________ Subject: Home at the Heart - West Dunbartonshire’s Rapid Re-Housing Transition Plan update and new approaches to homelessness progress report. 1. Purpose 1.1 The purpose of this report is to provide members with an update on “Home at the Heart” our Rapid Re-housing Transition Plan (RRTP) for the period 2019-24 and new approaches to homelessness, including. - Progress update for Year 5 and Year 6 plans, - An update on Scottish Government funds to assist in the delivery of the RRTP, - Lettings requirements for Year 6 of the plan 2024/25, - Housing Emergency Declaration and Action Plan update. 2. Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that the Housing and Communities Committee: (i) Note the progress and challenges made in the five years of “Home at the Heart”, which will inform a report to the Scottish Government at the end of August 2024 and note the main objectives for Year 6 in sections 4.17 - 4.32 of this report; (ii) Note that the Council’s housing allocation letting target for homeless households remains at 64% for 2024/25 as set out in section 4.25 of this report and note the Chief Officer, Housing and Employability will keep this target under close review based on current modelling projections; (iii) Note the continued uncertainty around future funding and specifically the risk to the embedded Housing First approach; (iv) Note that Scottish Government funding of £261,000 has been awarded for 2024/25 for the specific delivery of the West Dunbartonshire Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan; (v) Note the Housing Emergency Declaration and Action Plan update provided in a separate committee paper. 3. Background 3.1 Our current approach to tackling homelessness is outlined in our RRTP “Home at the Heart” and reinforced within the new Local Housing Strategy approved by the Housing and Communities Committee in November 2021. This approach builds on the good progress made within West Dunbartonshire by previous strategies, most ITEM 9
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recently our “More than a Roof” approach which covered the period 2017/2020, whilst also acknowledging the challenges set by the renewed Scottish Government national commitments to tackle homelessness, to end rough sleeping and to transform temporary accommodation. 3.2 “Home at the Heart” was developed in response to a key recommendation from the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group (HARSAG) that was adopted by the Scottish Government, for Local Authorities to develop and submit a RRTP for the period 2019-2024. 3.3 It was developed in partnership with key stakeholders, including HSCP and the wider Housing Solutions Partnership, which includes local Registered Social Landlords. It was submitted to the Scottish Government on 31 December 2018 and retrospectively approved by the Housing and Communities Committee on 6 February 2019. 3.4 Regular reports have been provided to the Housing and Communities Committee, initially detailing, and seeking approval for our RRTP and subsequently providing updates in terms of progress being made and approving the use of Scottish Government funding to deliver our key objectives. 4. Main Issues 4.1 The aims of “Home at the Heart” in terms of tackling homelessness are influenced by the Scottish Social Housing Charter and consistent with the Scottish Government’s “Ending Homelessness Together” approach and are structured around the following four strategic objectives: Deliver a whole systems approach to the prevention of homelessness; Enable service users with low or no support needs to access settled housing quickly; Develop interim housing options which enable independent living and tenancy sustainment; and Implement a Housing First model which enables the most excluded service users to secure sustainable housing. “Home at the Heart” Year 5 Progress Objective 1: Deliver a whole systems approach to the prevention of homelessness. 4.2 The Prevention Officer has continued to engage with households at risk of homelessness. This has included managing the pilot prevention fund which in the 4 years has made payments directly to households totalling £27,600 and has helped ensure that 69 existing tenancies were sustained in both social and private rented sectors. 4.3 The overall number of approaches to our Housing Options service had increased significantly in 2021/22 linked to the Tenant Hardship Fund but we have continued to see high demand in 2022/23 and despite a 16% decrease in
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approaches during 2023/24, request for assistance remains high. We have prevented 67% of cases from becoming homeless. 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Prevent1 approaches 178 240 332 576 455 384 Prevent1 closures 177 221 249 378 654 385 % homelessness prevented 64% 57% 51% 52% 72% 67% % closed with presentation 24% 26% 27% 31% 18% 25% 4.4 Since the end of emergency legislation banning evictions taking place in both the social and private rented sector, there has been an increase in Section 11 notices, from 20 in 2020/21 to 155 in 2023/24. Of those where contact was made and there was engagement with the household, homelessness was prevented in 83% of cases, up from 80% last year. Objective 2: Enable service users with low or no support needs to access settled housing quickly. 4.5 One of the key objectives of our RRTP is to ensure that homeless households can access settled accommodation as quickly as possible. Our key target is reducing the length of time homeless households with no/low support needs spend in temporary accommodation. 4.6 We have developed a RRTP model which considers the level of new homeless decisions, the backlog of homeless households, projected future demand, the number of lets made to homeless households and projected letting activity. The RRTP model uses this data to determine the number of lets that will be required for homeless households on an annual basis and determines a projected lettings % target. Calculation of homeless lets required and % of expected letting activity required to meet need - split by LA & RSL Year 5 target Year 5 actual Lets required to meet demand 932 746 Split LA 621 543 Split RSL 311 203 % Allocation of lets required LA 69% 62% RSL 69% 52% 4.7 Despite an improvement from last year, the turnover of available properties was lower than projected, thus impacting available lets and affecting void times. 4.8 There are as of 31st July 2024 281 households in temporary accommodation, including 95 children in West Dunbartonshire. 73 households have been waiting longer than a year to be housed and 34 of these households are in temporary accommodation.
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4.9 As a result, our average times for 2023/24 increased and failed to meet the target of 15 weeks, we reported 19 weeks for this period. Objective 3: Develop interim housing options which enable independent living and tenancy sustainment. 4.10 We continue to provide a range of interim housing options for those homeless households with more complex support needs. This includes supported tenancies in the community, as well as residential supported accommodation where this need is identified. 4.11 Residential supported accommodation offers temporary accommodation and on- site support to alleviate homelessness and enable homeless households to make a planned transition to settled accommodation. We began to take forward the key recommendations of the review of Supported Accommodation at the end of Year 5. This involved consulting with current providers and reviewing current needs. Objective 4: Implement a Housing First model which enables the most excluded service users to achieve housing sustainment. 4.12 A key objective in Year 5 of our RRTP was to further extend our Housing First approach for those households with the most complex needs. The available funding allowed to fund the 8 housing first workers but did not allow to expand the service further. 4.13 By the end of 2023/24, we had created 2 new Housing First tenancies, a further 13 clients are awaiting an offer of settled accommodation being made. 4.14 We have 4 tenancies being sustained where the Housing First support has been “stepped down”, meaning a planned full exit from the Housing First Service. 4.15 We have created additional capacity by carrying out a tendering exercise in which Blue Triangle Housing Association were successful in a yearlong contract for 7 clients. However, long term future funding for the initiative is still to be clarified. 4.16 Whilst our Housing First approach continues to have a high tenancy overall sustainment rate at 78%. Sadly, five of these tenancies have ended due to the death of tenants, with a further seven ending due to other reasons notably households moving out with the West Dunbartonshire area. . Year 6 main objectives 4.17 Originally our Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan (RRTP) was to be delivered over a 5-year period but in December 2023 the Scottish Government confirmed a one-year extension to allow for its continued delivery for a 6th year due to challenges around implementation, with further funding being allocated in March 2024.
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Objective 1: Deliver a whole systems approach to the prevention of homelessness. 4.18 We will continue to use a variety of measures to prevent homelessness within WDC including the following: - Our Housing Options approach proactively identifies those at risk of homelessness, provides advice and assistance on preventing homelessness; Linking in with the money advice service where there are financial pressures and offering professional mediation services where there are relationship breakdowns; Our enhanced homelessness prevention service involves a dedicated officer responding proactively to Section 11 referrals by engaging with households at risk of homelessness and offering support through the pilot prevention fund; and Our revised allocations policy creates young people at risk of homelessness as an additional group given a reasonable preference within the policy. 4.19 To enable the prevention fund to be a tool to prevent homelessness we have allocated £15,000 from this years’ RRTP Scottish Government funds to top up the carry-over of £4,263 not spent last year. 4.20 The changes to the allocations policy with the creation of a youth priority has now been fully embedded and will begin to have a positive impact by reducing homeless presentation for those who now benefit from the youth priority list. 4.21 Following on from the pilot Section 11 programme, we will review if extending earlier Section 11 referrals fits with new proposed prevention duties being introduced within the current Housing Bill. 4.22 We will take appropriate actions, including assisting other services when new prevention duties are enacted. Objective 2: Enable service users with low or no support needs to access settled housing quickly. 4.23 Due to lower letting activity and an increase in the length of time spent in temporary accommodation we have reviewed and adjusted our target time to 16 weeks. 4.24 Currently modelling suggests that due to an increased backlog, increased demand and reduced available turnover that for 2024/25 for West Dunbartonshire, 127% of all available social tenancies, inclusive of conversions and housing first will require to be allocated to homeless households to ensure targeted reductions in temporary accommodation and faster access to settled accommodation is achieved. 4.25 While this cannot be achieved, and recognising other housing need factors it would not be practical to have 100% allocation of lets to homeless households. Therefore, we asked our partners to agree to 69% lettings target to homeless
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households. This objective was supported by the Housing Improvement Board in terms of lets made by WDC and a similar commitment was sought from our RSL partners via their annual RRTP Contribution Statements. Calculation of homeless lets required and % of expected letting activity required to meet need - split by LA & RSL Year 6 Lets required for to meet demand 760 Split LA 518 Split RSL 242 Projected turnover Year 6 Split LA 750 Split RSL 350 % Allocation of lets required Year 6 LA 69% RSL 69% 4.26 As 69% is not enough to fully meet demand and clear the increased backlog of households in temporary accommodation, this will result in a shortfall of around 688 lets and 110 additional units required for temporary accommodation. 4.27 If we require additional temporary accommodation units this reduces lets available for mainstream offers and would also require additional staff resources to manage the additional units. Objective 3: Develop interim housing options which enable independent living and tenancy sustainment. 4.28 It is expected that the keys findings of the review of Residential Supported Accommodation will continue to progress in Year 6, with the new project plan being approved, embedding the timescales for the recommendations and the project board being established. 4.29 To deliver the optimum service model for residential supported accommodation, it is anticipated that a three-year plan will be required. This will include the potential for decommissioning of some existing services, the commissioning of new provision to better meet identified need and a full financial impact assessment. To develop and lead on the development and implementation of this plan we are seeking to recruit an additional resource to lead on the delivery of new residential supported accommodation. Objective 4: Implement a Housing First model which enables the most excluded service users to achieve housing sustainment. 4.30 The available funding does not allow to expand the service further but ensure we operate with 8 housing first support workers enabling support to continue to be provided to the 42 active tenancies and the 15 waiting to be housed carried over into Year 6.
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4.31 We will assess the impact of the additional tendered Housing First service and considering whether to extend beyond 2024/25. 4.32 A full review of the Housing First service will also be carried out during Year 6, including stakeholder and service user consultation to help frame the future of the service. Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan funding update 4.33 In December 2023, the Scottish Government confirmed in its Programme for Government that a further £8 million would be provided to local authorities to support Rapid Rehousing Plans and scale up the Housing First approach nationally for 2024/25. 4.34 The formula still being used to allocate local authorities share of this funding is based on the number of homeless assessments made in a local authority area over a three-year period. There has been some criticism of this approach as it does not consider homelessness prevention work within the assessment. It can therefore act as a disincentive to make the wider system changes advocated within Ending Homelessness. 4.35 Additional funding was made available in 2023/24 targeted at those who have “sustained temporary accommodation pressures”. This is defined as the local authorities who consistently appear in the top five areas for the number of households in temporary accommodation in recent years according to Scottish Government official homelessness statistics. Therefore, the larger local authorities benefited from this and will continue to do so unless the way in which any additional funds are distributed is reviewed. If they were to take account of the number of households in temporary accommodation per 10,000 of households, then other local authorities including WDC would benefit from any additional funding. 4.36 The Scottish Government and COSLA had hoped to explore the possibility of joining up the funding stream for preventing and responding to homelessness with the rapid rehousing funding stream and to look at alternative distribution formulas. However, this work was delayed due to conflicting pressures and there is currently no indicated intention to change. 4.37 The same formula has therefore been used for the funding allocation for 2024/25. This formula has resulted in an allocation for West Dunbartonshire Council of £261,000 to deliver Year 6 of our RRTP which was announced on 5th March 2024. In addition, the Scottish Government have also confirmed the funding allocation of £644,579 to West Dunbartonshire Council for the provision of homelessness prevention and response services. RRTP Year 6 funding Year 5 underspend £4,263 SG funding for Year 6 £261,000 Housing and Homelessness contribution £290,000 Year 6 total funding £555,263
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4.38 The increased housing and homelessness contribution allows for a slight overspend in Year 6, which accounts for ongoing increased costs in areas such as the increased conversion programme. We have carried out a full review of Year 5 activities and refreshed our plan for Year 6 to take account of available funding. RRTP Year 6 costings Housing First West Dunbartonshire £368,880 Blue Triangle Housing First project £46,000 Pilot Prevention Fund £15,000 Conversion Programme £124,000 Year 6 total cost £553,880 Whilst the additional RRTP funding allows us to continue our Housing First service it does not allow for us to expand the service to meet the identified need within West Dunbartonshire. We also have no confirmed funding beyond Year 6 for Housing First. Housing Emergency 4.39 The Council declared a housing emergency on 1st May 2024 due to the extreme pressures facing housing and homelessness services within West Dunbartonshire. A national housing emergency was declared by the Scottish Government on 15th May 2024. We will await an update on the further actions the Scottish Government plan to take to address the national housing emergency. 4.40 A draft action plan to tackle the housing emergency in West Dunbartonshire has been developed and will be presented to the Housing and Communities Committee on the 21st August 2024. 5. People Implications 5.1 An additional post required to strengthen the team will be recruited in line with the Council’s existing recruitment policy and will be funded from the Scottish Government funding for the provision of homelessness prevention and response. 6. Financial and Procurement Implications 6.1 The Housing Minister wrote to West Dunbartonshire on 5th March 2024 advising of the Council’s Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan funding allocation for 2024/25 of £261,000. This funding will be included in the weekly payment of the 2024/25 General Revenue Grant. 6.2 In addition the Scottish Government also confirmed the funding allocation of £644,579 to West Dunbartonshire Council for the provision of homelessness prevention and response, this funding will be paid as part of the General Revenue Grant payment, with the first payment in 2024/25 made on 1 April 2024.
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6.3 The Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan has been continued for a 6th year. This is due to be the final year of the Plan and dedicated funding. Conversations have begun about the future, but no confirmed decisions have been made. Committee will be updated at a future meeting once we receive confirmed plans beyond Year 6. 6.4 We are aware of some national discussions looking at reviewing funding to deliver homelessness and housing option services, however, there remains some financial uncertainty in terms of how the Housing First approach can be funded in the longer term. 6.5 The delivery of the wider Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan will be within existing budgets noting the increases in such because of the Scottish Government funding for 2024/25. 6.6 There are no procurement implications in terms of this report. 7. Risk Analysis 7.1 There are financial and regulatory risks associated with not being able to fully deliver our Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan, including the Housing First element of the approach. 7.2 The decision to award funding in Year 6 was based again on a formula which focuses on homelessness assessments (and not the content of the RRTP’s), which benefits larger local authorities who receive a higher proportion of homeless assessments and could discourage local authorities from implementing initiatives aimed at preventing homelessness. 7.3 There is no confirmation of funding for RRTP past Year 6 (2024/25) therefore long-term funding is required to be sourced to continue our Housing First service. 8 Environmental Sustainability 8.1 The delivery of our housing investment programmes is consistent with the approved More Homes zero carbon approach. Our current and future approach to strategic housing asset management will continue to prioritise a ‘zero carbon’ approach to decision making and deliverability and this will be done the aims of the Housing Asset Management Strategy and the Council’s Climate Change Strategy. 9. Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) 9.1 There are no negative equalities impacts due to this update to our RRTP however preventing and responding to homelessness has a significant positive impact on individuals and communities. There are potential positive impacts for some groups as noted in the EIA conducted when our RRTP was updated in July 2024, EIA 1028. 10. Consultation
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10.1 The first draft of our RRTP was developed in collaboration with key partners, including the Health and Social Care Partnership, local Registered Social Landlords and third sector organisations, via a series of well attended stakeholder events held in November and December 2018. 10.2 Consultation and communication have continued since the submission of the first iteration of the RRTP through the Housing Solutions Partnership. Further engagement has also taken place with other local landlords via the Strategic Housing Providers Forum. Engagement has continued with the Health and Social Care Partnership and a dialogue with the WDTRO regarding the implementation of the RRTP and Housing First has also taken place. 11. Strategic Assessment 11.1 Having considered the Council's strategic priorities, this report contributes significantly to all strategic priorities. Peter Barry Chief Officer, Housing and Employability Date: 6 August 2024 ___________________________________________________________________ Person to Contact: John Kerr – Housing Development and Homelessness Manager, Housing Development and Homelessness Team, Housing and Employability, telephone: 07793717981, email: john.kerr@west-dunbarton.gov.uk Donna Kirkwood, Senior Housing Development Officer, Housing Development and Homelessness Team, Housing and Employability: email donna.kirkwood@west- dunbarton.gov.uk Appendices: None Background Papers: Ending Homelessness Together – High Level Action Plan; Scottish Government/COSLA https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/ publications/publication/2018/11/ending-homelessness- together-high-level-action-plan/documents/00543359- pdf/00543359-pdf/govscot%3Adocument HARSAG2 recommendations tracker, West Dunbartonshire Council Housing Development and Homelessness Team, June 2024; Housing and Communities Committee Report 24th August 2023 “Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan and new approaches to homeless update”.
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Letter from Paul McLennan, MSP, Minister for Housing on Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan funding and the Homelessness Prevention Fund for 2024/25; 22 December 2023; Letter from Paul McLennan, MSP, Minister for Housing on Distribution of Funding for Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans for 2024/25; 5 March 2024; “More than a Roof” West Dunbartonshire Council’s Homelessness Prevention and Temporary Accommodation Strategy 2017-2020. West Dunbartonshire Council’s Local Housing Strategy 2022-2027; West Dunbartonshire Council’s Revised Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan including Action Plan and Equalities Impact Assessment, Home at the Heart Wards Affected: All