To accept a grant from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) via the Rough Sleepers Accommodation Programme and the associated grant terms and conditions.

To approve the acquisition of up to six properties from the open market. This will enable the council, as part of the Covid-19 emergency response, to accommodate six people who have a long and/or repeated history of rough sleeping. The six properties would be self-contained accommodation suitable for those with disabilities and /or accessibility issues, subject to the market value

That:

a)     Cabinet accepts the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities capital grant of £423,360 for the purposes of purchasing up to six properties and a revenue grant of £65,194 for a dedicated support worker for 23 months; and

b)     Authority to purchase the properties be delegated to the Director for Economy and Place, following consultation with relevant cabinet members and Chief Finance Officer.

1. Do nothing. This is not recommended as the council has a statutory duty to house those who are homeless and capital grant funding has been awarded from the DLUHC to purchase six properties to help it meet this duty. The council is currently accommodating circa 49 people in emergency accommodation as a result of the Government’s ‘everyone in’ initiative during the covid 19 pandemic. The council is also accommodating an increasing number of people (circa 71) in temporary accommodation. There is significant pressure on our temporary accommodation provision and an ongoing shortage of transitional accommodation available in the county which this grant seeks to start to mitigate. If the grant is not accepted we will not be able to draw the funding down and the project could not proceed as planned.

2. The council could purchase/create fewer than six units, however, this is not recommended as funding has been secured from the DLUHC to assist in the purchasing of these properties. There is some flexibility with this model e.g. we might purchase fewer properties, but create six units from them. This depends entirely upon the housing market and what properties are available at the time of purchase and would be done in consultation with DLUHC