Agenda item

The Council welcomes engagement from members of the public. To speak at this meeting please register no later than 24 hours prior to the date of the meeting via democracy@southkesteven.gov.uk

The Chairman informed the Committee that there were three public speakers for the meeting.  Each public speaker was advised that they could ask one question plus one supplementary question.

Karen Oliver, Helping Hands was the first to speak and was reminded that although a number of questions had been submitted, only one question plus a supplementary question could be asked.

Karen Oliver stated that at the last meeting the Cabinet Member for Housing had stated that homeless people could charge their phones at MacDonalds or Wetherspoons, she had approached these businesses and was told this was not correct, she also stated that the number of rough sleepers came from the Passage and Beehive, again this was not correct as this information was not asked for. Also, GDPR statements were not taken from Members of the public so this information could be given out.  Karen Oliver asked where was the Council getting its data from and referred to the table at 3.7 of the report which gave figures on rough sleepers from 2017 to 2023 and did not include 2024, where were the figures from 2024 as her figures were treble of those from last year, where is the data coming from?

The Cabinet Member for Housing clarified which question she should answer and it was confirmed the one about where the data was coming from.  The Cabinet Member asked the Head of Housing to respond.  The data that was presented in the report is the Annual Rough Sleeper count which was a national account that all local authorities had to abide by. It was conducted in the winter of every year, the date set for this year was 21 November 2024 which had not taken place yet so the figure for 2024 was not yet available.

Karen Oliver stated that the Officer had still not stated where the data actually came from.  On that particular day did people from the Council carry out the count or people from another agency, where was the Council getting the data from.

As part of the Annual Rough Sleeper Count, the Council were given guidance on how the data was gathered, and partner agencies were used.  There are different approaches that each Council can take, there was a count based approach or an estimate based approach plus a rough sleeper count.  The Council did an estimate based approach, so that people were not out counting on the street on 21 November, the reason the Council did this was because we have outreach services that were out all throughout the year, so the Council was confident in the fact that information could be gathered to enable the Council to predict who will be out on that particular evening.  More information could be found on the website Homeless Link which provided guidance that the Council had to follow as a district authority.

The next public speaker was Jackie McCullion who asked:

‘How do the Council support those who are street homeless but DO NOT meet priority needs.  I’m thinking about those individuals who experience a significant and immediate decline in their personal well-being, for example there is a safeguarding concern or possible suicide situation and they find themselves on the street.

The Cabinet Member for Housing responded.  If a client presented as street homeless, a homelessness application was completed which allows the Council to determine the duties it owes to that person.  If someone was deemed to not fulfil the criteria of priority need, as defined in the homelessness legislation, this just means that we do not have a duty to provide short term accommodation, but we still work with that person to help them with their housing situation and to hopefully source longer-term accommodation. 

The Council provide advice and support and create a bespoke personal housing plan with the aim of supporting them to source accommodation or to explore short-term options such as lodging with family until a longer term option is available.  The Council signpost clients to our support agencies such as the Change4Lincs team because they can provide intensive support such as benefit maximization and landlord incentive schemes to help people into private rental accommodation.  The Council don’t have any hostel accommodation available in South Kesteven unfortunately, but we do have an organisation called NACRO.  NACRO provides supported accommodation, they have 25 units in Grantham and the Council holds full nomination rights into that scheme.  The Council also explores partnership working arrangements with local organisations who provide shared accommodation for single people.  The Council works closely with our partner Living Concepts who can often offer their vacancies to the Council before they go on the open market. 

Homelessness is an incredibly complex issue and the fact that there is not enough social housing to meet the ever growing demand, is a national picture and is not unique to South Kesteven, which is why the Council must follow legislation to ensure that social housing is only allocated to those in most need and the Council simply cannot provide accommodation placements to everybody who comes to us regardless of where they come from. 

The Council continues to explore new ways to increase our housing provision in South Kesteven in order to better meet the demand.  Most recently a bid was put in on a property with the intention of converting it to four bedsits and a shared kitchen to use as emergency accommodation for homeless people but unfortunately the Council were not successful in their bid.  The Cabinet Member for Housing indicated that if anyone became aware of large properties to send the information in.

There was no supplementary question.

The Chairman asked the third public speaker, Nicole Bavister for her question but it was stated that the Chairman had used his discretion and the question should be generic rather than personal as it was a public meeting.  The original plan was to discuss mine and my father’s current situation with being homeless, but now we have been housed with Concepts but the main aim of my question was to ask about what is being done about the mistreatment and misconduct regarding people with mental health issues trying to get housed. I personally suffer with schizophrenia, sorry if that’s too much, but I don’t mind talking about it, I am very open about it.  I really feel like I was alienated by the Council going through the system and we weren’t seen as high priority, so I was just wondering why that might be.

The Chairman stated that he was trying to balance letting Ms Bavister have a fair say with the fact that the question should not be personalized.  On Ms Bavisters behalf the Chairman asked “What is done by the Council to help vulnerable people who are homeless?”

The Cabinet Member for Housing thanked Nicole for attending the meeting. In order to not make the situation or anybody in a similar situation more public, because its personal information and this is a public meeting. The Cabinet Member for Housing asked if Ms Bavister could wait until the end of the meeting to talk about her particular situation.  The Chairman asked if an appointment could be made with Councillor Moran and a senior officer at a time convenient to Nicole Bavister.  However, it was noted that a Senior Homelessness Officer was in the chamber and it was indicated that a meeting could take place immediately outside the meeting.

The Head of Housing gave a response to the question “What does the Council do to support vulnerable people who were homeless”.  As was alluded to in Councillor Moran’s answer to the previous question.  When we have approaches from homeless people, we do have to abide by what is set in legislation in regards to assessing what we deem as someone being classed as priority need under that legislation.  It is a strict legislation and the demand for social housing and the demand for the Council’s services was high so we have to apply that legislation.   When we have a homelessness application, we make decisions during the process based on the evidence that’s provided. You are able when a decision has been made to request a review of any decision, if you feel that that decision is not correct. It was indicated that this would be discussed in more detail when Ms Bavister’s specific case was discussed outside the meeting.

Ms Bavister appreciated the facts that had been set out and thanked the Chairman for his summarising of the question. 

A meeting with a Senior Homelessness Officer, Nicole Bavister and the Head of Housing then took place outside the meeting.

One Member raised a question in respect of Karen Oliver who had attended the last meeting of the Committee. He stated that he thought there seemed to be a problem with meeting with Helping Hands and he wanted assurance that meetings were taking place.  The Cabinet Member for Housing stated that they had tried to interact with them but it was difficult, they had tried, emails were received regularly from them. 

The Member wanted to continue but the Chairman stated that this was the Public Speaking element of the agenda and there would be an opportunity later in the meeting for the Member to make comment.  The Director of Housing and Projects referred the Member to an email that Members had been sent on the issue.