Agenda item

The Transitional Arrangements No.2 Regulations 2008 required a new Buckinghamshire Council Homelessness Strategy to be in place by 1 April 2022.  Following delays arising from the pandemic and service restructure, work had been undertaken to develop a new draft strategy for consideration and adoption.  The Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities had been updated and notified of the timetable for adopting the Strategy by the end of April 2022.

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Homelessness and Regulatory Services reported that the Strategy would replace the existing legacy Councils Strategies.  A series of stakeholder events had been held during November and December.  A draft of the Strategy had been considered by Cabinet in February 2022 and had then been subject to a public consultation process from 21 February to 21 March.  The consultation had generated a total of 28 responses, which had shown a very high and consistent level of support for the draft strategy.

Following the completion of the public consultation exercise, the Council had reviewed the draft Strategy document and made a small number of amendments and additions to it.  No changes had been made to the key themes and priorities. A small number of areas had been expanded to provide clarification in response to feedback and a small number of additional actions had been included in the Action Plan to provide more details and reflect comments received during the consultation.

A copy of the Buckinghamshire Council Homelessness Strategy 2022-2025 was included with the agenda, and comprised of the following sections:

Appendix 1 – A strategy document setting out key findings and the high level priorities and action plan going forward.

Appendix 2 – An evidence base showing the current position including key information on housing and homelessness in Buckinghamshire and emerging themes and challenges. This document also includes a summary of the stakeholder consultation exercise that took place to support preparation of the strategy

The Strategy had been assembled to provide an overview of the current and future homelessness situation in Buckinghamshire and high level priorities and actions for the next three years 2022 – 2025.  It would be reviewed annually to ensure that it was fit for purpose.  Once adopted, the Council would move forward in updating and revising its existing Homelessness Service Operational Action Plans which sat beneath the Strategy and set out the detail of how the Council and its partners would operationally deliver the priorities in the strategy.

During the debate, points highlighted included:

• that partners had been widely consulted on the strategy.  Thanks were expressed to those Members who had attended the Members forum on housing and homelessness and who had made comments which had helped inform the strategy. The figures in the report highlighted the issues Buckinghamshire faced and all those involved with the rough sleepers initiative were applauded for the significant work undertaken since Buckinghamshire became a unitary authority. During 2019/20, an 86% decrease in rough sleepers in Buckinghamshire was seen, which was the second highest in the country. The importance of addressing housing and homelessness was emphasised and it was recognised that there remained work to do.
• the importance of early intervention in preventing homelessness was stressed. Thanks were paid to the housing officer team for their ongoing work in supporting residents. Some disappointment was expressed that only 28 responses had been received to the consultation.  It was suggested that a wider campaign to encourage responses would be useful in future on significant strategies such as this.
• Members placed on record their thanks to the housing officer team who had provided exemplary support to residents.
• Members were advised that in adopting the strategy, priorities could regularly be revisited and adjusted as necessary to inform the actions taken on the ground.

Councillor Naylor moved the recommendation to adopt the Buckinghamshire Council Homelessness Strategy for the period 2022-25. This was seconded by Councillor M Winn.

RESOLVED –

That the Buckinghamshire Council Homelessness Strategy 2022-2025 be ADOPTED.