Agenda item
Find your home Programme
This report provides an update on the general performance of the Find Your Home scheme, the extent to which it is meeting its objectives and the impact the scheme is having on residents in general.
Minutes:
Laurence Coaker, Head of Housing Needs, Brent Council introduced the report and outlined the main points. He explained that following the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act in April 2017 it had become a statutory duty for all local authorities to provide suitable accommodation to all eligible residents. As part of this duty, the Council had initiated the Find Your Home (FYH) scheme, as a vehicle for involvement with and providing tailored approach to homeless families before they get evicted by empowering them in finding alternative accommodation. Members heard that since its launch in 2015, the scheme had helped over 3000 families who have met the statutory eligibility test.
Highlighting upon the financial implications of the Find Your Home scheme, Mr Coaker explained that the Council worked with families and conducted a series of checks to ensure the safety and affordability of the chosen accommodation. In cases where private property tenancies would need to be signed, the Council would also pay an advance incentive to landlords of up to the value of £3300 to secure the tenancy. Responding to members’ questions, Mr Coaker explained that incentive payments were required due to the highly competitive nature of the private rental market. The incentives were primarily applied to short term tenancies (up to 12 months) and paid after a tenancy had been signed in order to secure it, with the full property portfolio being regularly monitored by the Council to ensure legality and landlords’ compliance with the scheme.
Whilst acknowledging the positive trend in overall reduction in temporary accommodation in Brent compared to other boroughs, members felt that overall focus should nevertheless be on prevention of homelessness and finding suitable offers to applicants. Mr Coaker stated that residents choices were being taken into account when considering location of offered properties, provided they met the eligibility criteria. Alternative options were available for those who didn’t meet the criteria but either way all residents were treated equally. The same criteria was applied to ensure no one is disadvantaged, irrespective of their social/economic background. Members were assured of the Council’s commitment to maintain a close relationship with families whilst ensuring that the system is tailored to the applicants needs and provides them with adequate and practical support
In welcoming the scheme, members noted that private rented sector accommodation was not a long-term solution and was only effective as a short-term intervention. It was noted that further consideration should be taken not just on the state of properties alone but also on the landlords who manage them. In response, officers explained that the Find Your Home scheme was part of an overall housing strategy and other approaches were also ongoing. Private landlords were welcoming reliable tenants so in this sense private sector was seen as fairly secure. Addressing members concerns about rogue landlords, officers assured that whilst some did still exist, the Council was making sure that they were avoided and checked before any residents could enter into a tenancy with them.
Finally, members were updated that it had been confirmed that temporary accommodation was out of the scope of UC and therefore would not be affected by any changes.
RESOLVED that:
i. Figures on number of families taken part in the FYH scheme and how many have approached the Council be shared with the committee
ii. Figures on number of properties which have tenancy agreements extended beyond 12 month period to be shared with the committee.
iii. Information on outcomes for those ineligible for the FYH scheme be shared with the committee
iv. Information on Universal Credit be updated on the Find Your Home pages on the Council’s website
Supporting documents: