To confirm future delivery arrangements for the young persons’ housing related support services contract (SHYPP).

The cabinet member health and wellbeing presented the report on Housing related support service - Supported Housing for Young person's project (SHYPP) contract.  She thanked the SHYPP supporters for the petition that had been submitted, and said that, whilst it was gratifying to see the concern for the homeless in the county, the work undertaken by the council had seen significant changes to the decision before cabinet.  The service would target assessed needs more effectively, whilst there would be a cut in low level general support.

The director for adults and wellbeing said that there was a close working relationship with the team at SHYPP and that there had been an active engagement process as part of the development of the options for the report.  SHYPP had accepted the direction of travel and the recommendations in the report were realisable and balanced.  A transition fund had been built in to ensure that the change in funding sources outlined in the report would be as smooth as possible. 

The contracts, quality and & review lead said that this was a non-statutory service and that SHYPP delivered both a floating support service where vulnerable young people received housing related support services, and accommodation based support, comprising three ‘foyers’ with a total of 31 service users, which provided integrated learning through safe and secure accommodation with housing related support and training.  The floating support currently delivered to 83 service users, of whom 7 service are 16 or 17 years old. Of the 83 individuals, 42 currently receive additional support from other agencies or council service areas, and 35 have been in receipt of the service for one month or less. 12 service users lived in housing association properties.

In response to questions from Cabinet Members, the following points were made:

·         That the current income from the council for SHYPP was £392,400 and the switch of income source would mean that in the next financial year equivalent income for SHYPP would be £310,000, including the proposed transition fund. There would be limited change in the quality of support offered to most service users as the majority of those currently using the floating support services would be transitioned into other existing commissioned services.

·         That there was no evidence of an increase numbers using the service, but that there was a regular turnover of service users, which was reflected in the numbers presented in the report.

·         That the vast majority of those using the service were young adults and were not care leavers.

·         That the homelessness team was addressing wider homelessness issues, should current providers like the West Mercia Housing decide to withdraw from the market.  The majority of service users did not currently live in housing stock provided by West Mercia Housing.  There was a lack of clarity as to how some users come into the service, and a review would look at how people were accessing SHYPP services and their level of need.  The council would then ensure that it would address the needs of those that fell within its area of responsibility.

Resolved:

That:

(a)        the accommodation based support element of the contract be remodelled with a proportion of the service financed through exempt rents to maintain the existing service level from 1 April 2016;

(b)       a three month transitional period be allowed from 1 April to 30 June 2016 to support the financial change to the accommodation based support element;

(c)       a 12 month transitional period be allowed from 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017 to support the de-commissioning of the floating support element; and;

(d)       funding of £78,331 be made available to support the transition periods in recommendations b) and c) above.