Councillor Mrs Pengelly (Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities) and Matt Garrett (Service Director for Community Connections) were present for this item.  It was highlighted that homelessness was on the rise across the country:

·        The number of people approaching the council as homeless or threatened with homelessness over the last three years had increased;

·        Numbers of households in Bed and Breakfast currently 75 compared to 43 households in March 2020;

·        Rough Sleeping Numbers had decreased from 19 in 2019 to 16 in 2020, and they have received national recognition for their response during the pandemic.

·        The Plymouth Alliance consists of seven members Bournemouth Churches Housing Association (BCHA), Harbour Centre, Hamoaze House, Shekinah, The Zone, Livewell Southwest and Plymouth Access to Housing (PATH).

·        Over a four year period Plymouth City Council, in conjunction with partners and people who use services, co-designed the new complex needs system as one which would enable people to be supported flexibly, receiving the right care, at the right time, in the right place.

·        This holistic approach was seen as a way of supporting people with multiple needs to finally get the support that stops them falling out of services and prevents the revolving door syndrome that plagues many systems.

·        In response to the COVID crisis, 26 bed spaces across two properties were leased with staff from across the Alliance providing 24 hour support. This approach worked well and in the first 6 months supported 70 people in total with 13 people supported to move on to their own private rented accommodation/social housing tenancy, 2 reconnected with family and 22 moving into supported accommodation.

·        An additional 54 bed places were also brought by the Plymouth Alliance to meet the demand and by August 2020, 213 individuals had accessed this accommodation under COVID.

·        In addition they have been awarded funding from Changing Futures (£2.4 million).  The Changing Futures Programme seeks to deliver whole system transformation for people experiencing multiple disadvantage including homelessness, substance use, domestic abuse and sexual violence and perpetrator work.

Questions from Members related to:

·        Those housed with social landlords how do we ensure that the placement was successful?

·        Do you capture stats to track where a person was being disruptive?  How do we engage our communities to support our homeless to help with the integration?

·        A breakdown of age groups of homelessness people within the city to be provided;

·        How we they planning for the future and what was the direction of travel for hostels?

·        Whether funding was still available or had this been reduced?

·        Safe spaces and the implementation of the Covid safe winter provision.  Was this programme ongoing for the city’s rough sleepers?

·        Programme for the exchange of needles and how was this working?

The Committee noted the progress to date on the implementation of the Plymouth Alliance and required the following information:

·        Statistics on the number of people that have been disruptive with a social housing setting.

·        How were communities engaging with this cohort to help with integration back into the community?

·        An age breakdown on the people currently homeless within the city.