Issue - meetings

This report looks at the activity governed by the Housing Act 1996, the Homelessness Act 2002 and the City of York Council’s Homelessness Strategy 2013-2018 in respect of the financial year 2016/17. 

Resolved:                     a) That the progress made by the service be noted;

b) That the priorities and targets for 2017/18 as set out in paragraph 17 of the report be agreed.

Reason:                        To ensure the council continues to meet its current and new statutory responsibilities (under the Homeless Reduction Act 2017) and supports the most vulnerable in society.

The Executive Member considered a report summarising the activity governed by the Housing Act 1996, the Homelessness Act 2002 and the City of York Council’s Homelessness Strategy 2013-18 in respect of the financial year 2016/17. The Service Manager (Housing Options and Homelessness) and the Assistant Director (Housing and Community Safety) attended the meeting to answer potential questions.

The Executive Member received a list of amendments to the report that had been introduced after 07 July 2017 due to typographical errors:

·        Point 5b: “Agree the priorities and targets for 2017/18 as set out in paragraph 17”;

·        Point 14, bullet point 2: “Statutory homelessness has increased but service achieved target in 2016/17. The figure was 91 in 2015/16. This is a 6.6% increase, national trend is 2.35%.”;

·        Point 53 in Annex 1: “The number of homeless acceptances has increased by 6.6% which is still below CYC target (100), national trends are 2.35%.”

Following on the Executive Member’s questions, it was explained that the Homeless Reduction Act (2017) extended the homelessness statutory duty to those at risk of homelessness from 28 to 56 days. However, City of York Council currently worked with residents at risk as early as 90 days beforehand. It was also confirmed that, if CYC was to be re-assessed for the Gold Standard Challenge in December 2017, it was likely that the award would be upheld.

The Executive Leader commended the Officers for delivering their work and it was

Resolved:                     a) That the progress made by the service be noted;

b) That the priorities and targets for 2017/18 as set out in paragraph 17 of the report be agreed.

Reason:                        To ensure the council continues to meet its current and new statutory responsibilities (under the Homeless Reduction Act 2017) and supports the most vulnerable in society.