Agenda item

To receive a report seeking approval for the Authority’s Building a Better North Tyneside: Housing Strategy 2023-2028; and Homelessness Prevention and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2023-2028.

Cabinet received a report seeking approval for the Authority’s refreshed North Tyneside Housing Strategy 2023-2028, and North Tyneside Homelessness Prevention and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2023-2028.

The Housing Strategy builds on the success of the Authority’s previous Housing Strategy for 2017-2021 ‘A Great Place to Live’.  It was informed by current and emerging national and local policies; it considers the Authority’s Equally Well Strategy, and the emerging policy aims from the most recent Housing White Paper. It also references evidence of housing need and demand from the 2021 Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA).

The Authority’s vision to ‘Build a Better North Tyneside’ and the 5 delivery themes were developed following extensive consultation with a wide range of stakeholders, partners, and residents.  Within each theme, a set of actions were identified, and a detailed action plan would be developed and reviewed by Cabinet and the Housing Sub-Committee on an annual basis. Details of the five delivery themes were set out in the report:

·       Deliver more Affordable Homes and Support Regeneration Plans

·       Prevent Homelessness and Improve our Specialist Housing Offer

·       Improve the Private Rented Sector and Tackle Derelict Properties

·       Lead the Way – Greener Homes to Support Carbon Zero by 2030

·       Support our Tenants and Residents and Improve Our Communities

The North Tyneside Homelessness Act 2002 placed a statutory duty on all local housing authorities to carry out a homelessness review for their area. This should be done in consultation with local partners and stakeholders, with the published homelessness strategy based on the results of that review and carried out at least every five years. The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 introduced new legal duties for housing authorities focusing on the prevention and relief of homelessness, regardless of priority status. 

The Authority recognised that it had a moral duty to tackle homelessness as it can have a detrimental effect on health, well-being, and community cohesion, as well as potentially increasing service costs for the Authority. Evidence demonstrates that investment in local homeless prevention services reduces the cost of mainstream homelessness services, which can cut across housing, health, criminal justice, and community safety.

The Authority’s new strategic priorities had been identified following engagement and consultation with its Homelessness Forum and a wide range of stakeholders, Elected Members, officers, and third sector organisations who supported people when they experienced a ‘housing crisis’. Following a review of its achievements, outcomes and future challenges that had been identified throughout the lifespan of the previous strategy, the refreshed strategy had been produced to align with recent legislative changes. 

The Homelessness Prevention and Rough sleeping Strategy 2023-28 continued the vision to support the ambition to ‘Build a Better North Tyneside’ through three key themes:?

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End Rough Sleeping: This priority focused on rough sleeping in North Tyneside, with the aim being no-one was bedded down outdoors.  The Authority would continue to improve its interventions to prevent rough sleeping in the first instance wherever possible.? The last rough sleeper count in November 2022 identified one rough sleeper in the Borough. The Authority’s offer included specialist support, which was available to the most vulnerable via a support officer. There were 173 referrals resulting in seven rough sleepers recorded in 2021/22. The Authority would continue to identify where rough sleeping is occurring, and review and revise its response accordingly. The accommodation offer for rough sleepers had been enhanced with the introduction of five properties through the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme (RSAP). The Authority would consider any interim accommodation offers to achieve its aim of no rough sleeping in the Borough. 

Our Accommodation Offer: ?This priority focused on temporary, supported, and permanent housing solutions to continue to prevent rough sleeping and support people facing homelessness. There had been an increase in the number of people accessing temporary accommodation since 2020. The Authority was committed to continuing to improve its offer and had expanded its current accommodation pathways to include a ‘Somewhere Safe to Stay’ service, the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme and the ‘Sit-Up Service’ to provide support to people who are rough sleeping.

Collaborative Partnerships: The Authority would continue to tackle homelessness within the Borough by strengthening its existing relationships with partner agencies and all organisations that contribute to early intervention to prevent homelessness within the Borough. This would include working regionally with other local authorities and exploring joint funding initiatives to further prevent homelessness. The Authority would also continue to work in collaboration with a wide range of partners to effectively communicate information to aid those in need and provide signposting to other organisations who can provide help.

The Authority would continue to work closely with its partners to develop an annual delivery plan that would be formed from the key actions within this Strategy.  The plan would be reviewed and revised each year to ensure any legislative changes were included. The North Tyneside Homelessness Prevention and Rough Sleeping Partnership would be responsible for monitoring delivery with annual updates on the Authority’s performance that would be shared with the Housing Sub-Committee and Cabinet.

A Health Impact Assessment (HIA) was a structured, solution-focused and action orientated approach to maximising the positive and minimising the negative health impacts of new initiatives. It aimed to identify and where feasible strengthen, the ways in which the proposal can promote and enhance health.

The Housing and Homelessness Prevention and Rough Sleeping strategies provide high level strategic frameworks to ‘Build a Better North Tyneside’. The impact of housing and homelessness on health were well established and the strategic actions would undoubtedly provide the opportunities for better health outcomes across the borough.

A HIA was undertaken in consultation with Public Health colleagues, and this identified two actions that would be taken forward onto the scoping phase. The two key areas for further assessment were - Building 5,000 affordable homes and Improving the private rented sector and tackling derelict properties.

Further work would be undertaken to assess these areas in detail, specify the health impact to be assessed and the causal associations and develop a workplan to ensure delivery and identify the possible evidence required to help inform the recommendations and future action plans for these North Tyneside strategies.

Cabinet considered the following decision options: to approve the recommendations set out in paragraph 1.2 of the report; or alternatively, to not accept the recommendations.

Resolved that (1)the North Tyneside Housing Strategy 2023-2028 at Appendix 1 to the report, be approved; and

(2) the North Tyneside Homelessness Prevention and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2023-2028 at Appendix 2 to the report, be approved.

(Reason for decision: This option will directly support the delivery of the Our North Tyneside Council Plan by providing a clear, strategic direction for housing and homelessness prevention activity within the borough for the next 5 years along with fulfilling our statutory duties around homelessness).