More homeless families set to be housed outside city

Brighton and Hove councillors are being asked this afternoon to approve a policy of housing more homeless families outside the city to cope with a perfect storm of rising house prices, benefit caps and slashed council budgets.

The city council’s housing and new homes committee meets today to discuss a new proposed temporary accommodation allocation policy which would see families placed in other Sussex towns such as Eastbourne or Worthing, or further afield.

It quotes a Supreme Court case from April in which judges said local authorities should have a clearly set out policy on housing homeless households outside their boundaries which takes into account children’s safeguarding needs.

Therefore, the proposed policy also sets out guidelines which state that where possible, households with children in year 11, who have SEN or are under a child protection plan would be accommodated within Brighton and Hove.

Adults who care for another person in Brighton and Hove, receive frequent medical treatment here or who would risk losing their jobs if they moved too far would also be prioritised for city accommodation.

Those who have their own transport, have a child at secondary school, receive less frequent city-based medical care or any NHS treatment for mental health problems would be prioritised for accommodation within one hour’s travel.

All other homeless households would be offered temporary accommodation wherever the council can find it, but as close to the city as possible.

The report says: “The movement of families to other locations could have an impact on the social networks of those families.

“However by prioritising those most at need to stay in the city then those most needing to maintain links will be able to do so.

“For the families who do have to move some distance then they will have to establish new links in the new areas.

“On an individual basis we will develop a support and resettlement package will be put in place to enable them to settle as quickly as possible.”

It adds: “We need to avoid the allegation that BHCC are exporting our problem families into their areas.

“This allegation will be partly avoided by demonstrating that we have a robust assessment process that seeks to keep households with high needs within the city.

“We will also seek to agree placement protocols between BHCC and the host authority to ensure information is exchanged and services are not disrupted. There may be impacts on health; education and employment.”

It also warns that the policy may impact on children when families decide to “make do” and stay in overcrowded conditions with friends and family.

Last year, the homeless department overspent by £0.5million and is forecast to overspend by £0.4million this year.

The pressures have been exacerbated by landlords not renewing cheap leases to the council in order to sell their properties, plus an increase in the number of homeless families due to the benefit cap.

Homeless households now also have reduced priority on the council housing waiting list, to prevent families “using the homeless route as a way to leapfrog into social housing”.

Since 2010, the number of families in council temporary accommodation has increased more than fourfold from 333 to 1449 in April this year.

It also said that the discretionary housing payment fund, which was used to subsidise households whose housing benefit does not cover their private rents, has been slashed this year, with further cuts expected.

The report says alternative options include leasing more properties, but said this would require additional funding and high rents would mean the council could not rent enough. It warns the council is also effectively priced out of the private rental market.

It also suggests increasing lets to the social housing stock, and finally buying off plan, but the latter option, while being pursued, is likely to take two years before properties are built.