Agenda item

Cabinet Member: Cabinet Member for Homes, Councillor Patricia Hay-Justice

Officer: Interim Executive Director Housing, Alison Knight

Key decision: no

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To note the contents of the report.

The Cabinet Member for Homes (Councillor Patricia Hay-Justice) introduced the Rough Sleeping Initiative, which noted that the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) had provided Croydon Council with £1.7m in Rough Sleeping Initiative Grant funding in 2021-22. The Cabinet Member advised that the paper provided an overview of rough sleeping in Croydon, the objectives, the allocation and expected outcomes of the grant funding. The Cabinet Member noted that Croydon and Redbridge had the highest numbers of new rough sleepers.

The Leader of the Council (Councillor Hamida Ali) noted that Croydon had a strong record in securing funding to support rough sleepers, and welcomed the news that it had received the largest proportion of funding.

The Cabinet Member for Families, Health & Social Care (Councillor Janet Campbell) highlighted paragraph 6.5.2 within the paper in which it stated, “An outcome of the short term nature of funding cycles is that services delivered are primarily short term”. The Councillor noted that consistent funding was required in order to have a long term impact. The Cabinet Member queried, in relation to paragraph 6.53, when the Cabinet could expect to see a clear strategic direction incorporating the council’s priorities and clarity regarding Croydon’s minimum service offer for rough sleepers. The Cabinet Member for Homes agreed with the statement and noted that the council would continue to work with rough sleepers.

The Interim Executive Director of Housing (Alison Knight) noted that the drafting of a Housing Strategy would include a wider needs assessment across the borough was underway as well as an Emergency Accommodation and Temporary Accommodation Strategy which would look at all issues across the borough. Furthermore, the Lead Coordinator of Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Services (Rebecca Clews) noted that the short term funding prevented issues and enhanced the services provided by the council.

The Shadow Cabinet Member for Communities, Safety & Business Recovery (Councillor Andy Stranack) began by offering his thoughts and prayers to the family of Shane Jerome, a young person from Croydon, who was murdered during the previous week. Following on, the Councillor noted that a majority of the funding was being used for officer wages and questioned whether this was the most appropriate use of funding or whether private sector experts or links to the voluntary and business sector could be utilised. The Leader of the Council noted that the Cabinet Member for Communities, Safety & Business Recovery (Councillor Manju Shahul-Hameed) had recently met with police and others on the very important issue of violence, in all its forms, and stated that the council extended its condolences to all families affected by violence.

The Cabinet Member for Homes, the Interim Executive Director and the Lead Coordinator confirmed that the council continued to work closely with partners from the voluntary and charitable sector on this agenda, including collaborating on proposals submitted to MHCLG. Additionally, Members were advised that some of the funding went towards prevention as well as intervention. The Cabinet Member for Croydon Renewal (Councillor Stuart King) suggested that the output, rather than the input, was important and noted the government’s confidence in the council to deliver outcomes, as evidenced by receiving the largest allocation of the grant.

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To note the contents of the report.