A presentation of the draft version of the Project Brave Strategic approach.

Ewen Archibald provided an overview of the strategic approach to Project Brave. Project Brave emerged during the Covid pandemic emergency in March 2020 through cooperation between the local authority and key partners to protect vulnerable people including those who are homeless and have wider multiple complex vulnerabilities, seeking to improve outcomes for people at risk in communities. The principal points included:

1. The strategic approach proposal has gone to Cabinet and was approved in February 2023 along with the council’s Homelessness prevention and rough sleeping strategy which is the wider strategic context of this work.
2. The core principles of Project Brave are aligned with the objectives of MEAM (Making Every Adult Matter), a national programme led by Homeless Link and sponsored by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), which significantly focuses on homelessness and encompasses multiple complex vulnerabilities.
3. The key element of Project Brave is ‘Homes for Homeless People’ which focuses on long-term and transitional homes and accommodation that vulnerable people can live in.
4. There has also been an increasing focus on what can be done long term to prevent vulnerability including the use of Talk Community and wider partnerships to emphasise upstream prevention. Across the whole Project Brave cohort, the prevention of substance use is a key long term consideration and work is being done, across partners, to identify the most effective interventions and approaches to prevention.
5. Through Project Brave there has been engagement with a wide range of stakeholders and partners, in addition to people with lived experience.
6. Overall, since the inception of Project Brave, a number of achievements have been reached, including the council having accommodated 252 households at risk of homelessness or rough sleeping – and successfully moved 157 households into transitional or long-term accommodation.

The Chair thanked Ewen Archibald for the report and stressed the importance of noting the many personal experiences at Herefordshire Council who are of most need.

The Managing Director of Wye Valley NHS Trust also thanked Ewen Archibald for the report and asked firstly, whether the name ‘Project Brave’ should be changed in order to emphasise the long-term nature of the initiative, and secondly, where the long-term funding exists with regard to the initiative.

Ewen Archibald acknowledged the term ‘project’ does imply the initiative is temporary and that there should be some reflection on all aspects of its identity and how it is understood by stakeholders and individuals who are part of it. With regard to the funding of Project Brave, the core funding that supports the current work that focuses on homelessness, is secure until April 2025. There are now opportunities to apply for funding, some of which overlaps with the period and some that goes beyond April 2025. DLUHC, however, is focusing on other areas it regards as priority areas of need, and that there should be consideration about dependency can be reduced on some of the existing streams of funding while making best use of further funding opportunities.

The Chair of Herefordshire SAB noted the difficulty that Herefordshire has regarding the sourcing of finance and that strategically, the system needs to reflect on how to address this.

The Chair asked the board whether it wanted to take forward the suggested recommendation of changing the name ‘Project Brave’.

Ewen Archibald argued that in the most recent engagement, as part of the Cabinet process, saw less enthusiasm for changing the name ‘Project Brave’ and was happy to leave the suggested recommendation off the approved recommendations.

The board agreed and did not proceed with the suggested recommendation.

The report recommendations were proposed, seconded, and approved unanimously.

Resolved:

a)    That the Board considers and comments on the Project Brave Strategy.