Agenda item

This report provides an update on current activity by Housing Services and related partners around preventing homelessness, including the key priorities of the Homelessness prevention and rough sleepers strategy and relevant parts of the Housing strategy to 2030. 

The rationale for this report coming to the Health and Wellbeing Board is due to the subject area being a sub priority within Theme 2, Reduce Poverty and Inequality: people living in affordable homes and the links between where someone lives and the levels of health inequality they experience.

Discussion:

The Board considered the update report on the activities by housing services and partners on homelessness prevention.

The Board learnt that the Housing Team and the Public Health Team worked closely together, and it was noted that physical and mental health needs of people were severely affected by their housing status. With their housing needs not being met in a suitable manner significantly resulting in a decline in overall health. There was a Medway Multiple Disadvantaged Network in place who focused on a small group of people in need in the most affected categories. There was also a range of supported housing options in place in Medway to support people with a range of needs including homelessness, ex-offenders, those with substance use issues, vulnerable young people and domestic abuse. There was however more to be done to target those with high dependency needs.

It was commented that there were people with multiple needs that were disadvantaged and did not meet thresholds and that this needed to be addressed. The Board was informed that the Integrated Care Board did commission and jointly support a small task and finish group on homelessness, mental health and people ending up in hospital as a result and it was concluded that collective joint effort was needed to support better outcomes for people at risk of homelessness in hospital.

The Medway lettings initiative was commended by the Board and that the progress of the initiative would be closely monitored.

It was commented that Medway has a long standing issue with supporting veterans, and it was asked how many veterans made up the homeless population, and what was being done to support this cohort who did not necessarily always reach out for help. Additionally, it was commented that the report lacked data that highlighted what was different from the previous strategy. It was acknowledged that support for veterans was an area that required more focused work and prioritisation for Medway, however, the numbers of veterans presenting as homeless had always remained low. The officer agreed to share the data from the return that was sent to Central Government with the Board. There had been an increased emphasis on partnership working, prevention and training offered to all partners on early identification of possible or potential homelessness. The team had been commended by the Ministry for Housing for the housing support provided, in particular, with the work done with rough sleepers in developing the Homelessness Strategy.

In response to a comment that relationships with private landlords needed to be strengthened, the officer agreed that the regulations may have an impact which was why they continued to reach out to build relationships and provide reassurance through the landlord forum.

There was concern regarding a lack of housing supply for Medway residents due to external agencies coming into Medway to buy up properties as well as people moving into Medway from surrounding areas due to low rent rates.

There were a significant number of multidisciplinary teams in place to support people including the Multiple Disadvantaged Network Team, Making Every Adult Matter Team, Rough Sleepers initiative, and it was vital to ensure that the teams maximised their functions to work on broader health needs of the people they support.

Consideration needed to be given to how homeless people could access healthcare, and it was suggested that there may be an opportunity for this through the new reconfiguration of community services project.

It was vital that there be good communication and engagement between the various services to identify links between health and homelessness.

Partners across the Board agreed to take away actions for their relevant organisations on access.

Decision:

The Board noted the report.