Annexe A

Homelessness Performance 2022/23, legal background, general information and statistical context.

1.        To continue to develop the service and statistical recording to comply with the Local Authority’s duties under The Homeless Reduction Act 2017 (HRA17), which came into force on 03 April 2018.

 

2.        In addition to the legal duties under HRA17, there is a national target to eliminate rough sleeping by 2027.

 

3.        CYC Housing Options and Support Team include Housing Options Team (Housing Options Workers, Housing Options Support Workers, Youth Homeless Workers), Housing Registrations Team including Specialist Housing Adviser (frail elderly and disabled), Temporary Accommodation Team (including accommodation based at James House Dispersed Temp Accom, B&B placements, Refugee Support and YorHome (PRS Lettings), Resettlement Services, including Peasholme Centre, Howe Hill for Young People, Rough Sleeping Housing Navigators, Specialist Mental Health Practitioners, Private Sector Workers, AFEO worker (PRS offenders) Housing first and RSAP and Single Access Point Officer. This report does not cover CYC Gypsy and Traveller Service.

 

4.        Main achievements of 2022/23 were

 

a.   To work with partner agencies and Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities, (DHLUC) to tackle rough sleeping in York. In 2019/20 CYC secured £215,234 Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI) and £139,131 Rapid Response Pathway (RRP) these funding streams were combined in 2022/23 into one stream RSI funding in 2022 and York was allocated a 3 round of £1,349,100  funding for posts pertinent to prevention and recovery of rough sleeping. The Rough Sleeper Housing Navigator Team and other RSI funded staff work in conjunction existing services, TEWV, ASC,  Carecent, Changing Lives Drug and Alcohol Services, Community Safety, North Yorkshire Police and York BID to tackle rough sleeping, street drinking and begging. The team has had a significant success with a complex client group.

 

 

b.   Change to service delivery was required to ensure any gaps left in rough sleeper triage support due to the ending of the Salvation Army contract were filled, this included priority coordination of emergency beds and a service to work with newly homeless people and people who are ready to come in off the streets also referral into accomodation services.  

 

 

c.   Continued work with the Business Change Team and the Open Housing integrated housing wide IT system is now well embedded and many early teething issues resolved or work arounds are in place and resolutions to these work arounds being planned with CAPITA the software provider, the system is becoming more efficient.

 

d.   Ordnance Lane re-provision: is no longer being used and the redevelopment of this site is now progressing.

 

e.   Joint working relationships with Tees, Esk, Wear Valley NHS Trust (TEWV)  for specialist mental health practitioner posts which is jointly funded through RSI monies and TEWV, providing 2 Mental health clinicians to work with the Navigators giving more specialised access to MH support for rough sleepers and access to relevant IT systems, meetings and providing appropriate clinical supervision.

 

f.     Ongoing work (Adult Social Care Commissioning Team lead) on a possible future commission for a Mental Health Resettlement Pathway with housing first with 2 year pilot being proposed using Holgate Road Hostel as the accomodation. The housing first part of this model has been up and running for over 2 years and is now at its capacity with 3 housing first workers, offering up to 21 housing first accomodation to people who could be described as being high cost , high risk individuals with Severe and enduring mental health issues.   

 

g.   CYC working in partnership with Changing Lives and St Annes opened up a 3 bedded shared accomodation for 3 MEAM and Navigator customers using the principles of Housing first, the 3 customers expressed a desire not to live alone, this is a joint permanent tenancy for the 3 customers and has daily 5 hours of support from St Annes and regular support from MEAM and navigators, Housing management, local area coordinators, north Yorks Police.

 

h.   Rapid Rehousing cases since the launching of the Open Housing York Allocations flexibility with the York policy is offering multi-agency approaches for vulnerable applicants with rapid pathways to rehousing, many of these referrals come from Social care and are usually customers placed in very expensive supported living schemes some out of area, and they no longer require the levels of support, swift housing packages are put together combining this with support/care packages and general needs accomodation, and as a result saving the authority budgets. A large number also come from probation and are exceptionally vulnerable offenders who for a variety of reason are single homeless/rough sleepers but do not really require the levels of support offered in the resettlement process.

 

i.     Crombie House a previous dispersed temporary accomodation for homeless after being decommissioned due to the opening of James House and the land proposed to be redeveloped in the future, has temporarily being brought back into use to act as a overspill accomodation for single homeless people due to increased pressure on the resettlement services, this is being managed by the team at Howe Hill who are located nearby.

 

 

 

Legal Changes in 2022/23.

National grant framework.

 

 

5.        Homelessness Prevention Grant 23/24 onwards. The government amended the funding arrangements for the Homelessness Prevention Grant for 2023/24 onwards to make sure the distribution of funding is reflective of current pressures and demand in areas across England, improve understanding of how the grant is used in practice, and enhance the quality of homelessness data, York benefited positively from this with an increase in this funding increases and decreases in this funding pot were at 5% in 23/24 and 10% 24/25.

 

6.        Single Homelessness accomodation Programme, this was a 2nd round of funding to increase accomodation for rough sleepers nationally by 3200 properties, York had been successful and were selected to be able to bid in the first round of this funding formerly known as the rough sleepers accomodation programme (RSAP) unfortunately we were not selected in the second round to be able to bid for this money as our rough sleeper figures were too low. 

 

Homelessness.

 

2022/23 the Government made a number of changes to the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities namely:

 

7.        Eligibility Changes to the Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility)(England) and Persons Subject to Immigration Control (Housing Authority Accommodation and Homelessness)(Amendment) Regulations on numerous occasions including:

 

8.        10.6.22 – Provision of housing accommodation and assistance to a person in the UK who has limited leave to remain granted in accordance with Appendix Ukraine Scheme of Immigration Rules pursuant to an application made by that person within the UK.

 

 

9.        30.1.23 – Ensuring continued eligibility for confirmed victims of human trafficking or slavery for an allocation of accommodation and/or homelessness assistance following a change to their classification under the Immigration Rules.

 

10.        15.5.23 – To include people who were residing in Sudan before 15.4.23 and left Sudan in connection with the violence are eligible.

 

 

11.        Section 8 of the Armed Forces Act 2021 came into force on 22nd November, 2022 which basically requires local authorities to revise their homelessness strategies and housing allocation schemes to address the housing needs of current and former military personnel.

 

12.        On 29th August, 2023 the Definition of Intentional Homelessness was changed (s191 Housing Act 1996) to include being unintentional from Supported Exempt Accommodation in certain circumstances.

 

 

Private Rented.

 

 

 

13.        In terms of the private sector, the Rent Reform Bill that sets to abolish s21 no fault evictions has being delayed as the Government didn’t undertake an the equality impact assessment before listing the bill. 

 

The second reading before the Housing of Commons should take place within the next month.  However, it then has to be approved by the House of Lords before it can get Royal Assent so it’s unlikely that any of the major changes will be coming into force any time soon.  One of the main points will be for Housing Associations and Starter Tenancies as they use Assured shorthold tenancies and if they don’t exist then that causes problems for them. 

Agreement also needs to be sought for all the new Grounds for Possession.

 

Local Authority Housing.

 

 

The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 got its Royal Assent.

14.        It is intended to ‘facilitate a new, proactive approach to the regulation of social housing landlords on consumer issues such as safety, transparency, and tenant engagement, with new enforcement powers to tackle failing landlords’ and ‘will support a strong consumer regulatory regime which will drive a significant change in landlord behaviour, and ensure landlords focus on the needs of their tenants and are held to account for their performance’.

 

The new statute’s provisions include:

 

·        Strengthening the Regulator of Social Housing’s powers to carry out regular inspections of the largest social housing providers;

·        Give the Regulator of Social Housing power to issue unlimited fines to rogue social landlords.

·        Additional Housing Ombudsman (HO) powers to publish best practice guidance to landlords following investigations into tenant complaints.

·        Powers to set strict time limits for social landlords to address hazards such as damp and mould.

·        New qualification requirements for social housing managers.

 

On the same day as the Act received Royal Assent the Government responded to the DLUHC Select Committee Report on the regulation of social housing by saying that the Secretary of State would set out requirements for landlords to address hazards such as damp and mould in social homes within a fixed period.  The details of the requirements themselves including time limits for action, will be settled through consultation, which will take place during the six months from Royal Assent, with the aim of brining the requirements into force by Summer 2024.

 

This comes after the tragic death of Awaab Ishak and the findings of the Coroner into systemic failings.   The Housing Ombudsman did a report gives a flavour of how the Government regulation is likely to impact.

 

https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/P49-RBH-FINAL-200323.pdf


 

Rough Sleeping and Resettlement Services.

15.        The official street count (number of rough sleepers as defined by and reported to DHLUC has reduced from a recent high of 29 (in 2017) However we have seen in increase during this year up to 9.

 

Region

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

 2022

Change

 

 

 

 

 

Number

%

York

29

9

7

3

4

9

+5

+55.5

Yorkshire and the Humber

207

246

242

181

166

170

    +4

+2.3%

England

4751

4677

4266

2688

2440

3069

+629

+19.3%

 
16.        The increase York is due to the aftermath of the pandemic and opening back up and issues associated to the cost of living crisis we have seen a change in the demographic of rough sleepers to the majority of people coming into York from areas and rough sleeping here and a number of people with complex needs who have accommodation they can access. The national picture of rough sleeping is on the increase, our percentage level in York is unduly affected due to having low numbers.

 

Services for rough sleepers.

In 2022/2023 Rough Sleeper Housing Navigators worked with 209 customers, with a caseload of between 30-33 rough sleepers at any one time. Of these, 149 have been supported into accommodation including 14 highly complex entrenched rough sleepers and have assisted in the sustainment of this accommodation.  customers have been referred to non-accommodation support services by Rough Sleeper Housing Navigators, such as Drug/Alcohol services etc.

 

Rough Sleepers Engaged – 209 named and 22 unknowns.

 

Advice, Info and Signposting – 231

Resettlement support– 21

NSNO/HOPs Referral – 88

Referred to non-housing services – 60

Reconnect with Local area or relocate – 25

Benefits support – 33

Prevention work – 27

Multi-Agency working – 92

RSAP – 6

Housing First (rough sleepers) – 8

Rough Sleepers on Caseload – 22

Average Caseload – 30-33

 

 

 

No Second Night Out figures

 

 

17.        Emergency Bed nights (excluding Nightstop) 2022-23 (statistics provided by individual hostels).

 

Howe Hill

Peasholme

Union Terrace

Robinson Court

YB0 and flat 2

Total

Crash pad / NSNO

700

962

 

1046 

243

537

 

3,488

Winter weather

792

1254

 

778 

 

122

581

3527

Total

1492

2216

1824

365

1118

7,015

 

18.        Individuals (some will be multiple stays over a period)

 

Howe Hill

Peasholme

Union Terrace

Robinson Court

YB0 and flat 2

Total

Crash pad / NSNO

86

62

 42

12 

47

 

 

249

Winter  weather

115

61

43 

 

62

 

287

Total

201

123

85

15

109

536

 

19.        During 2022/23 most of the referrals for the NSNO beds were completed by the Salvation Army Early Intervention and Prevention Team, however some referrals were also completed by the Emergency Duty Team, Housing Options, Youth Homeless Workers, Rough Sleeper Housing Navigators, and the Pathways Team. Please note the number of individuals is the number of customers accessing emergency accommodation per month; it is not an accurate reflection of the number of customers who have accessed accommodation for the entire year as some people will have been in emergency accommodation more than once, or across multiple months.

 

 

20.        During 2022/23 there were around 287 individuals placed in emergency accommodation during the winter weather provision Nov-Feb, providing 3527 bed nights.  and indicates a continued high demand.

 

21.        A small number of rough sleepers are also placed in B&B or hotels for short periods of time using personalisation money, this offers time and additional resources to plan innovative approaches to housing complex people.

 

 

22.        Changing Lives also operates ‘A Bed Ahead’ (ABA) to facilitate timely discharge from hospital for people that are homeless and improve access to health provision for individuals accessing the resettlement system.

 

 

 

23.        During 2022/23, there were 102 referrals for resettlement category in the York common allocations policy of these 98 were approved for gold band, and 93 people commenced tenancies with Local Authority / Registered Social Landlord (RSL). This provides a planned route into permanent housing.

 

 

TOTAL housed in year

Resettlement

Young People

Mental Health

2018/19

58

40

15

3

2019/20

69

47

17

5

2020/21

97

66

25

6

2021/22

85

56

23

6

2022/23

93

46

40

7

 

24.        The Housing First Scheme is in addition to the resettlement category and in 2022/23 there were 15 people accommodated via this route. Housing First places the emphasis on providing self-contained accommodation for chaotic and often multiply excluded rough sleepers with an intensive long term support package. There have now been a total of 56 (37 still active) Housing First tenancies since the scheme began in 2015.

 

 

 

Young People.

 

25.        Nightstop (part of Supported Lodgings contract) provided emergency bed spaces for 1 young person during 2022/23 , totalling 10 bed nights. Nightstop remains a vital service for very vulnerable young people with the majority of referrals coming from Emergency Duty Team and social care  The Nightstop Service is looking into helping referral agencies by placing the young person for a few days at a time rather than having to see them every day and offers up to 14 nights per placement which can be extend if needed. While this is not an overly used part of the homelessness route it is there for some cases and works to prevent young people coming through homelessness.

 

 

Young People accommodated

(total including charitable places as no recourse to public money / Children’s Social Care placements)

Bed nights

2018/19

16

65

2019/20

9

43

2020/21

1

6

2021/22

1

24

2022/23  

1

10

 

Housing Options.

26.        It is a legal requirement that a Local Authority provides housing advice. Formal assessment under Homeless Reduction Act 2017 (HRA17) is provided by the Housing Options Team, Youth Homeless Workers and Specialist Housing Adviser (frail elderly and disabled), provide specialist advice to single homeless.

 

27.        The Housing Options Team continues to provide a valuable service to customers offering comprehensive, individual interviews to discuss their housing issues.

 

 

 

 

Homeless Reduction Act statistics

 

 

Total initial assessments does not include advice only contacts

 

     2019/20

898

2020/21

814

2021/22

814

2022/23

1,171

 

28.        HRA17 duty

 

 

Owed prevention or relief duty

Prevention ended accommodation secured

Relief duty owed*

Relief ended accommodation secured

Main duty assessment

Full duty accepted Homeless, priority need and unintentional

2019/20

881

276

235

192

139

99

2020/21

566

228

383

189

116

77

2021/22

557

239

247

174

115

88

2022/23

778

229

257

144

106

80

*Those found to be homeless at the end of a prevention duty are consequently owed a relief duty. Those who refused suitable accommodation or refused to cooperate may also go on to relief. All other outcomes mean the case is closed.

 

NB. Prevention and relief duty is also ended due to customer loss of contact, refused accommodation, withdrew application, 56 days elapsed.

 

 

29.        The number of homeless acceptances (main duty decision) increased as the HRA17 embedded itself. A concerted effort was needed to prevent / relieve homelessness at an early stage of the process in accordance with HRA17 by using and improving the variety of measures available including mediation, negotiation, support, help in accessing benefits and some financial incentives including bonds and deposits to access to private rented sector.

 

30.        CYC housing options team operate a scheme to assist people to access the private rented sector depending on an individual’s circumstances and funding criteria.

 

31.        The Homeless Fund for people accessing Housing Options team provided assistance to people / households through.

 

£12,611.52 customers with rent in advance to help customers access the private rented sector. These are grants, not loans and so are not refundable.

 

£ 2,492  claims were made against the scheme by landlords at a value o

 

 

32.        The Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI) scheme also assisted people into the private rented sector detailed in larger scrutiny report.


 

 

 

33.        Household accepted as priority need.

Priority Need acceptances

2021/22

2022/23

Alcohol dependency

1

0

Customer is / Household includes pregnant woman

5

1

Fled home because of violence /threat of violence Domestic abuse

7

6

Fled home because of violence /threat of violence not Domestic abuse

2

2

Households includes dependent children

49

54

Vulnerable as a care leaver 21+

1

1

Vulnerable as a result of Learning Difficulty

1

2

Vulnerable as a result of Mental Health problems

13

7

Vulnerable as a result of physical disability / ill health

8

16

Vulnerable due to old age

0

1

TOTAL

87

90

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2020/21

2021/22

2022/23

York increase in

Homelessness

comparative years

Qtr 4 HH in temp

77

53

80

England HRA17

Accepted main duty

39,580

42,460

52,800

England HRA17

assessed and

owed a

prevention or relief

duty

150,670

145,180

157,640

 

 

34.        Ethnic monitoring of customers occurs when they approach the council and an initial assessment is completed. Ethnic monitoring information is available for 84% of approaches (Hclic). The majority of these described themselves as white (81%). The 2021 census for York indicated a slightly more diverse population on the 2011 census.

 

Census figures

White British

White Irish

White Other

Black/ Black British

Asian/ Asian British

Chinese

Mixed

2011

88.6

0.7

3.5

1.2

3.4

1.4

1.3

2021

81.7

0.9

6.2

4.0

9.3

0.7

2.9

 

 

 

 

35.        All approaches Data from approaches

 

 

White British

White Other

Black/Afro-Caribbean

Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi

Mixed

Other

Not Known/declined to answer

2022/23

1052

69

15

12

16

16

225

 

Reason for loss of last settled home

2021/22

2022/23

Departure from institution (Custody)

40

25

Departure from institution (hospital general)

8

0

Departure from institution (hospital psychiatric)

9

2

Domestic abuse

60

0

Domestic abuse (victim)

16

74

Domestic abuse alleged perpetrator excluded from property

8

19

End of private rented tenancy - assured shorthold

228

313

End of private rented tenancy - not assured shorthold

34

62

End of social rented tenancy

17

29

Eviction from supported housing

26

60

Family no longer willing or able to accommodate

313

319

Fire or flood / other emergency

6

7

Friends no longer willing to accommodate

90

72

Home no longer suitable due to disability / ill health

7

7

Left HM forces

2

6

Left institution with no accomodation available

24

0

Non racially motivated/other motivated violence or harassment

29

39

Property Disrepair

4

1

Racially motivated violence or harassment

1

5

Relationship breakdown with partner (Non-violent)

115

125

Mortgage repossession / sale of owner occupier property

0

2

Not known as last settled accomm Not known

0

29

RTD Other

0

2

Required to leave accommodation provided by Home Office as asylum support

1

3

TOTAL

1038

1201

*A small number of households may be double counted across quarters where an initial decision was subject to review or where a household has made a new application.

 

36.        Youth Homeless Workers provided advice and support to 88 young people, of these 22 were referred to, and accepted into long term supported accommodation. 4 young people became Looked After (Children Act 1989). The rest had support to return home, declined support or accessed advice only. Many of the young people using this service have highly complex needs; offending, substance abuse, self-harm, mental health problems, behavioural problems and require intensive work from the youth homeless workers and accommodation providers.  The numbers being Looked After is noted as historically Young People preferred not to access this service.

 

Year

Contacts

Supported Housing

Looked After

2019/20

104

26

3

2020/21

96

28

0

2021/22

101

24

0

      2022/23

88

22

4

 

 

 

Housing Options support workers breakdown of the support provided:

 

PRS

11

Application Forms

14

Appointments

2

Benefits

87

Budgets

73

Documentation

27

Education

15

Financial

37

ID Requests

8

NYHC

49

OH Applications

12

OH Bidding

16

Other

44

Proofs

38

 

 

 

 

Use of temporary accommodation.

The main temporary accommodation in York continues to be James House this accommodation is provided to those households to whom the Local Authority has a statutory duty under HRA17. The council reports on numbers of households in temporary accommodation (TA), including household make up, each quarter through the statutory data return for Homeless Case Level Information Collection (H-CLIC). The figures are a snapshot at the end of the quarter rather than a cumulative total of all placements across a quarter. Following the national H-CLIC collection and validation process the government releases detailed local authority level data tables. These are generally published around 4 months after the reporting period end and used by CYC to update KPIs. Temporary accommodation is mainly used where CYC has a duty to find a home for a household under the ‘main duty’ responsibilities as defined in the Homeless Reduction Act. Temporary accommodation is most often used while a more permanent home is sought or where further enquiries are needed.

 

Latest Data

 

 

The latest available data relates to year end 2022-23 and Q1 2023-24 is due in the coming weeks.

During 2022-23 the number of households in temporary accommodation rose from 51 in Q1 to 69 at year end. Subsequently those with dependent children also increased from 22 at Q1 to 35 at year end, which is 51% of total households in temporary accommodation.

 

 

 

 

Previous Years

2022/2023

 

 

 

Collection Frequency

2020/2021

2021/2022

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Polarity

DOT

Number of homeless households in temporary accommodation - (Snapshot)

Quarterly

23

49

51

65

66

69

Up is Bad


Red

Number of homeless households with dependent children in temporary accommodation - (Snapshot)

Quarterly

10

28

22

33

32

35

Up is Bad


Red

Number of children in temporary accommodation - (Snapshot)

Quarterly

15

51

47

67

59

63

Up is Bad


Red

% of total households in temporary accommodation where household has dependent children

Quarterly

43.00%

57.00%

43.00%

51.00%

48.00%

51.00%

Up is Bad

◄►
Neutral

 

 

 

Type of temporary accommodation provided:

Total households

With children

Private sector accommodation leased by authority or by a registered provider

0

0

Nightly paid, privately managed accommodation, self-contained

0

0

Local authority or Housing association (LA/HA) stock

3

2

Bed and breakfast hotels (including shared annexes)

0

-

Hostels (including reception centres, emergency units and refuges)

58

32

Any other type of temporary accommodation (including private landlord and not known)

8

1

Total

69

35

 

 

Duty under which temporary accommodation provided

Total households

Section 193 duty: priority need and unintentionally homeless

14

Interim: pending enquiries, intentionally homeless, review appeal, awaiting referral

46

Section 189B power: emergency accommodation

3

Duty ended, remains accommodated at end of quarter

6

Duty not classifiable

0

Total

69

 

Long-term trend

 

·        Numbers reduced during the height of the pandemic, possibly due to temporary restrictions on evictions and financial support available at the time, but have since been increasing and are now just above levels seen in the years before the pandemic.

 

·        The rising cost of living is likely to be a further factor in the increase. Results from the national ONS opinions and lifestyle survey (Sep-Oct 2023) reflect that:

o   40% of respondents are finding it very or somewhat difficult to afford mortgage or rent payments; this is up from 30% during a similar period one year ago.

o   47% reported that their rent or mortgage payments had gone up in the past 6 months; this has increased from 33% during a similar period one year ago

 

·        The overall increase in numbers of households in temporary accommodation can also been seen nationally for 2022-23 and when looking at the total number of households per households in area (000s), York performs positively compared to benchmarks.

 

A graph of a number of individuals  Description automatically generated

 

Length of stay in temporary accommodation

 

When looking at data from 2018/19 onwards the average length of stay in temporary accommodation is 19 weeks. There are some households where, due to individual circumstances, stays in TA can be for longer periods although this is rare. The following table shows temporary accommodation stays per banding:


 

 

 

Period

Instances

0-2 weeks

123

2-4 weeks

97

3-6 months

392

6-12 months

131

1-2 years

32

2 years +

12

 

 

Bed and Breakfasts

 

37.        Positively, the councils use of Bed and Breakfasts as temporary accommodation is very low with none used for households with children in recent years or where a young person aged 16/17 is the main applicant.

 

 

 

Previous Years

2022/2023

 

 

 

Collection Frequency

2020/2021

2021/2022

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Polarity

DOT

Of households in TA - number of which in Bed and Breakfast - (Snapshot)

Quarterly

0

3

3

0

1

0

Up is Bad


Green

Of households in TA - % of which in Bed and Breakfast - (Snapshot)

Quarterly

0.00%

6.10%

5.90%

0.00%

0.00%

0.00%

Up is Bad


Green

Benchmark - National Data

Quarterly

12.00%

10.60%

10.50%

12.00%

12.00%

13.00%

 

Benchmark - Regional Data

Quarterly

30.00%

28.60%

29.00%

28.00%

28.00%

27.00%

 

Households in B&B - Total with children - (Snapshot)

Quarterly

0

0

0

0

0

0

Up is Bad


Green

Households in B&B - Total with children and resident more than 6 weeks - (Snapshot)

Quarterly

0

0

0

0

0

0

Up is Bad


Green

Households in B&B - Total with children and resident more than 6 weeks and pending review / appeal - (Snapshot)

Quarterly

0

0

0

0

0

0

Up is Bad


Green

Households in B&B - Total with 16/17-year-old main applicant - (Snapshot)

Quarterly

0

0

0

0

0

0

Up is Bad


Green

 

 

38.        Since Covid B&Bs are used more to begin bespoke packages of housing and support for some rough sleepersdue to personal circumstances where NSNO. These figures are not included in the reported B&B figures above (point 101) or in the B&B costs as they are not accommodated under the Homeless Reduction Act 2017 and is being funded through Housing Benefit claimed by the customers and the 10% subsidy funded through the rough sleepers themselves as a top up contribution.

 

 

Review of Homeless decisions.

39.        The number of reviews reduced following the introduction of the HRA17 however it is fair to say that they have become more complex. The Homeless Reduction Act 2017 allowed more situations where decisions could be reviewed, but the majority of reviews continue to relate to final decisions around intentionality, none priority or suitability of main duty accommodation.

 

 

 

No of review decisions

Upheld

Dismissed

Withdrawn/ out of time/ not homeless/ lost contact

Ongoing

Court cases

20/21

22

7

12

3

0

0

21/22

13

5

7

1

0

0

22/23

13

9

4

0

0

0

 

 

Permanent Rehousing.

40.        Single Access Point remains the main point of entry into supported housing and to access floating support services.

 

The level of referrals via SAP remains static although there are specific changes to the overall picture.

 

Year

SAP Referrals (accommodation and floating support)

2021/22

652

2022/23

632

SAP Referrals (accommodation only)

2021/22

507

2022/23

469

 

 

 

 

41.        Referrals to tier 1 hostels 2022/23

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

42.        Referrals to tier 2 supported housing 2022/23

 

 

 

 

 

 

43.        There have been a reduce number of placements at SASH due to the loss of a some hosts and a small number of long term residents, and difficulties recruting new hosts

 

 

44.        Referrals to floating support (tier 3) this is the end of resettlement support offered to people to manage the transition into independent living, and to people in accomodation who may be struggling for various reasons.

 

 


 

 

45.        Yorks Housing register and Open Housing allocations policy and housing register is administered in York by the Housing Registrations Team. The Open Housing register and allocations policy is the access route to social housing. As of 26/10/23 there were 1462 applicants on Yorks register.

 

46.        Numbers on households registered on Open Housing (York) as of 26/10/23.

 

Emergency

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Total

York

13

285

826

338

1462

 

 

 

47.        The housing register remains stubbornly static at approx1400HH while it doesn’t drop below this figure it due to the pro-active, comprehensive assessment of all customers wishing to register it also tends to not go above it too much. The Housing Registrations Team offer customers phone or office interviews to register and give all other applicants personalised / realistic housing advice. Housing registrations also jointly provide a drop in service every Thursday 10-12 with local councillors, housing management officers and local area coordinators at Chappelfields community centre (The Place).

On average there are around 350-400 void properties come in a year so demand significantly exceeds supply of social housing in the city.

 


 

Housing Development.

48.        There were 115 additional affordable homes completed in 2022/23, an decrease from previous years.

 

 

 

Year

Affordable completions

2015/16

109

2016/17

90

2017/18

74

2018/19

60

2019/20

124

2020/21

130

2021/22

219

2022/23

115

 

49.         The tenure breakdown for 2022/23 is shown below:

Scheme

LCHO*

Social Rent

Affordable / intermediate rent

Total

Lowfields Former School site

13

12

0

25

Germany Beck

0

19

0

19

CYC Shared Ownership

9

0

0

9

Former Civil Service Sports Club

0

4

0

4

Rough Sleepers Accommodation Programme

0

2

0

2

Wilberforce Trust supported accommodation

0

30

0

30

York St John former playing fields, Hull Road

17

0

9

26

Total 2022/23

39

67

9

115

 

50.        Affordable housing need in York and its subregion is high. In York, the Local Housing Needs Assessment outlines a need for 592 new affordable homes per annum, taking account of current and future projected need. Evidence suggests this should be delivered at both social and affordable rent levels. There is an additional need for affordable home ownership tenures (such as shared ownership). For context, the accumulated number of affordable housing completions in York over the last 5-years is 648 – or 130 per annum, below 25% of identified need.

 

51.        There is a recognised need to accelerate affordable housing delivery in the city however within local resource constraints even the ambitions of the council’s own delivery programmes, Registered Provider partners and maximised Section 106 affordable housing delivery opportunities through the planning process are unlikely to meet the level of need for the foreseeable futures. The position is further exacerbated by the national policy regarding tenants’ Right to Buy. The council’s housing stock tends to deplete over time as properties are purchased at substantially below market value.

 

52.        There is a significant and growing shortfall between private rents at the cheapest Lower Quartile end of the market, and Local Housing Allowance, with private rents increasingly unaffordable in the City for low income residents.

 

Monthly amounts

LHA York Level

York: ONS

Lower quartile

20/21

2020 LHA

shortfall

York: ONS

Lower quartile

22/22

22/23 LHA

shortfall

1 bedroom

£544.98

£600

-£55

£675

-£130

2 bedroom

£650

£695

-£45

£775

-£125

3 bedroom

£725

£800

-£75

£875

-£150

4 bedroom

£1,049.98

£1,100

-£50

£1250

-£200

 

 

Local Housing Allowance (LHA):

https://lhadirect.voa.gov.uk/SearchResults.aspx?LocalAuthorityId=83&LHACategory=999&Month=8&Year=2023&SearchPageParameters=true

 

Office of National Statistics (ONS) rents data:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/datasets/privaterentalmarketsummarystatisticsinengland

 

This affordable housing shortage impacts must acutely on households at risk of homelessness who are most in need of secure accommodation that is accessible to residents with low incomes, and results in a growing pressure on homelessness services over time.

 

Private rents have seen significant increases in the City of York in recent years, with Local Housing Allowance levels (benefit ceiling amount) falling further behind.

 

York average (mean) private sector rents in 2023:

·        Across all properties: £937/month

·        1-bed property: £746/month

·        3-bed family home: £1,035/month

 

Example comparison to Local Housing Allowance https://www.york.gov.uk/LHARates:

 

·        1-bed property:

o   Rent £746/month

o   LHA: £544.98/month

 

·        3-bed family home:

o   Rent: £1,035/month

o   LHA: £725/month

 

 

 

 

 

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Decline of social Housing

 

 

 

 

Missing Affordable Housing