Rough Sleeping Is At A 20-Year High

More people will spend Christmas sleeping rough on the streets of Nottinghamshire this year than at any time in the last two decades. Local homeless people say that the problem is increasing at such a rate that, for the first time in 20 years, they fear someone may be found dead in a shop doorway this winter. So, The Post has teamed up with homelessness charity Framework to try to raise £30,000 to help take people off the streets this Christmas. Last month the Nottinghamshire charity had to cancel its annual sponsored sleep-out, due to fears that the fundraiser would be sabotaged by self-styled activists. This robbed Framework of up to £30,000. Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

5,000 Empty Homes Across Nottinghamshire

More than 5,000 homes across Nottinghamshire have been left empty and unfurnished for more than six months, according to new figures. Government data shows that 5,226 houses across the county have been left empty and unfurnished for six months or longer. The problem is at its worst in Nottingham itself, which has 1,410 long-term vacant properties across the private and public sectors.  This is compared to a decade ago when there were 4,931 long-term vacant properties across the county. Andrew Redfern, chief executive of homelessness charity Framework, believes that bringing empty homes back into use could help tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

Care Act 2014: Implications for Councils with Housing

The Care Act 2014 provides a new statutory framework for adult care and support which, with limited exceptions, came into effect in April 2015. It applies primarily to unitary and county councils but has significant implications for all housing authorities. We summarise the implications of the Act for councils with housing:

Key points

·         Local authorities responsible for care and support are given an explicit duty to promote the well-being of every adult. The definition of well-being includes "suitability of living accommodation"

·         Local authorities responsible for care and support are expected to integrate their services with those provided by the NHS and other health-related services, including housing

·         Local authorities are required to provide an information and advice service on care and support, and related matters, including housing and finance

·         All local authorities, including housing authorities, are required to cooperate with each other in relation to the provision of care and support. This includes a duty on each local authority to secure cooperation between adult social care, housing, public health and children's services.

Read more on the ARCH website.

Begging and Rough Sleeping Are Not the Same Thing

“Fines for beggars.” This was the headline in a Nottingham Post article as it reported on efforts to reduce the number of people begging in the city. It’s certainly an emotive headline, and one that has understandably stirred passions on social media. After-all what possible good can come of fining somebody who has nothing? Surely this is a case of the authorities kicking people while they’re down? As is so often the case, context here is key. I’ve been asked over the last 24 hours whether I support the fining of those people that beg. The straight forward answer to this straight forward question is no. However, begging is not a straight forward issue, it is complex. I have always stated that the response to those that beg needs to be rooted in the best interests of that particular individual. Why are they begging? What support are they entitled to? How can we help? Read more on the Framework website.

Most Claiming To Be Homeless in Nottingham Have Own Property or Live With Family and Friends

A survey of beggars in one city has found that just one in ten of those seeking money from the public were actually homeless. Of 52 people asking for cash in Nottingham, only five were sleeping rough. The majority of the rest either had their own home or were living with friends or relatives. The survey by homeless charity Framework comes two years after police found that 65 per cent of people arrested in Birmingham for begging had a roof over their heads. Those who are caught persistently begging are set to be fined up to £200 in a crackdown by the authorities, while anti-social behaviour orders are being used to ban beggars from certain parts of the city. Read more on the Daily Mail website.

Government Revives Local Funding Plans

Inside Housing understands that civil servants at the DWP plan to commission research to kickstart proposals that have made little progress since 2011. Plans to localise cash for supported housing raised significant concern among providers in a consultation exercise carried out three years ago. In the 2011 consultation the DWP suggested that supported housing could be paid for through the local housing allowance with a fixed ‘top-up’ to recognise the higher costs of services such as 24-hour sleep-in support. At the time, housing organisations including Framework, a specialist homelessness charity, warned that such a change would ‘pose a serious threat to the stability and well-being of thousands of vulnerable people’.  Read more on Inside Housing.

Homelessness and Health

The health of people who are homeless is among the poorest in the country.  The average life expectancy of male rough sleepers is just 47 years. Life expectancy of female rough sleepers is even lower at just 43 years (Crisis UK. Homelessness, A Silent Killer, 2011). Despite this well-known increased morbidity, homeless people consistently miss out on the healthcare they need. As a result, health problems are left untreated and overall health and wellbeing deteriorates.  Framework studied 349 homeless people from across Nottinghamshire. The findings give commissioners and providers the opportunity to better understand the prevalence of the poor health conditions our homeless community experience and provides recommendations for how better to address these in the future. Read more on the Framework website.

Affordable Housing Fund Open for Bids

Affordable housing providers in England will be able to bid for a share of up to £225 million to deliver additional new homes.  The HCA has now published details of how Registered Providers can bid for a share of the £225m and how this might work, whether grant funding and/or agreement to convert existing stock to deliver additional affordable homes is sought.  Download the framework from the HCA website.

Charity Dealing With 27% Increase In Rough Sleepers

A Notts homeless charity has seen a near 30 per cent rise in the number of rough sleepers and potential homeless people it works with in the city in just two years.  The charity, Framework, says, in the first six months of the year, it worked with 167 rough sleepers and people who are at immediate risk of becoming homeless in Nottingham.  This figure is seven per cent higher than the same period of time the year before, and 27 per cent higher than it was in 2010-11.  The charity says this is partly down to an increase in homelessness as the financial crisis continues, but also because they have expanded in spite of funding cuts.  Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

HCA Invites Bids for £5bn Worth Of Work

The Homes and Communities Agency has opened bidding for a £5bn series of housing frameworks in advance of a new strategy for the sale of public sector land.  The HCA has decided to re-tender rather than extend its Delivery Partner Panel (DPP), which was set up in January 2010 and due to run out at the start of 2013, through which plans for around 24,000 homes have been procured.  Richard Hill, director of investment at the HCA, said the decision had been taken to re-procure the framework because of the government’s focus on using surplus public sector land to help boost housebuilding.  The Pre-qualification Questionnaire comes in advance of the HCA’s publication of a revised land disposal strategy, expected in April, which is set to identify the public sector sites due to be sold to developers in the next 12 months.  It will also highlight sites earmarked for sale to developers in 2013/14 and 2014/15. The government has pledged to see 100,000 homes built on public sector land over the next four years, with the HCA given a role specifically to sell former regional development agency sites.  Read more on the Building website.

Housing Bodies Critical Of TSA's New Framework

New value for money rules are too prescriptive and could lead to social landlords struggling to meet them, housing bodies have warned. In response to a consultation on the Tenant Services Authority’s revised regulatory framework for England, several organisations, including the National Housing Federation and Chartered Institute of Housing, have submitted responses critical of aspects of the new rules. Under the framework, landlords must publish annual assessments of how they are delivering value for money and demonstrate a range of things including an understanding of cost of services, efficiency gains and the return on assets. The CIH’s response said the standard will push providers towards a ‘centralist and possibly prescriptive’ method of assessing value for money. It said: ‘While this is desirable good business practice, providing evidence may prove stretching for many providers.’ Read more on Inside Housing.

Shapps Warned Of Charity's 'Sixfold Increase in Rough Sleeping'

Housing minister Grant Shapps has come under fire from a Labour MP who has claimed that a homelessness charity in her constituency recently reported a "sixfold increase in rough sleeping" and feared Government cuts would worsen the situation. During Communities and Local Government (CLG) question time in the House of Commons, Labour MP for Nottingham South Lilian Greenwood, said homelessness charity Framework reported the increase over the last year. She said: "Framework, recently reported a sixfold increase in rough sleeping in Nottingham over the past year. How does he respond to chief executive Andrew Redfern’s warning that the Government’s deep cuts and welfare changes risk undermining Framework’s 10 years of success in tackling homelessness?" Mr Shapps said the statistics the Government had for her local authority showed the levels of homelessness have fallen over the past two years. Read more on 24dash.

Hotline Launch Will Help Charity to Find Homeless

A homelessness charity is encouraging members of the public to call with information on rough sleepers after identifying a surge in the number of people on the streets. Nottingham-based Framework has set up the ‘hotline’, which it also hopes rough sleepers will use to call for help, after its monthly headcount found the number of rough sleepers on its patch had risen from 3 to 19 over the past year. If the charity receives a call identifying a potential rough sleeper it will assign a member of its street outreach team to find the person and offer them support and advice. Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

Shock as Homeless Man Dies On City Streets

A homelessness charity hit by crippling cuts has taken its plight to the House of Commons. It comes as details have emerged of the first death of a rough sleeper on Nottingham's streets for many years. Homelessness charity Framework – which has seen cuts of up to 44 per cent in some areas – had previously warned there could be deaths as a result. Yesterday they joined forces with MPs from all parties to lobby the Government at a reception held to celebrate the charity's 10th anniversary. Andrew Redfern, the charity's chief executive, said the funding cuts would "turn back the clock" for homeless support and added that there were already six times more people sleeping on the streets of Nottingham than there were this time last year. He said: "The results of such short-sightedness, combined with the prevailing economic climate have created a perfect storm. More people are becoming homeless at a time when our ability to help them is under increasing strain." Read more on the Evening Post website.

Charity Claims Number of Rough Sleepers Is Up By 80%

A Notts homelessness charity claims it has seen an 80 per cent increase in the number of rough sleepers in the last year. Between July and September this year, Framework's Rough Sleeper Outreach Team worked with 103 rough sleepers, compared to just 57 in the same period last year. In a bid to help raise cash and awareness of the problem, the charity is urging residents to sleep rough for one night this Thursday (10 November). Hundreds of people are expected to set up temporary homes of cardboard boxes outside the Capital FM Arena as part of the Framework Big Sleep Out. Peter Radage, the charity's service director for homelessness, said: "Reductions to our funding, combined with rising private sector rents, service closures, benefit cuts and the continued economic gloom have dented our ability to help the most vulnerable, so we need help more than ever before. We hope the public will respond by sleeping out, so others don't have to." Read more on the Evening Post website.

Ex-Offenders Handed Tents to Live In

Homeless ex-offenders in Nottinghamshire are being issued with tents by the region’s probation service. The service confirmed it gave tents to five people last year when hostel accommodation could not be found. Peter Anthony, accommodation, benefits and advice officer with Nottinghamshire Probation Service, said it would prefer stable accommodation for ex-offenders. But he added: ‘When there simply is no other option we will, if it is appropriate, provide a tent and sleeping bag.’ Andrew Redfern, chief executive of Nottinghamshire-based Framework Housing Association, said it had closed two hostels, losing 32 bed spaces, since Christmas as a result of Supporting People cuts. Read more on Inside Housing.

HCA Publishes Requirements for Affordable Rent Bids

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has published a full framework document that will form the basis for bids from housing associations to offer the Government's Affordable Rent product. Affordable Rent homes will be made available to tenants up to a maximum of 80% of market rent and allocated in the same way as social housing is at present. Ministers have dedicated around £2.2bn to the scheme over the next four years from April. Providers will be able to offer Affordable Rent homes on flexible tenancies. Where tenants are eligible for Housing Benefit it will continue to be paid in full in the same way as for social rented properties at present. Download the framework document from the HCA website.

Legal Challenge to Service Frontline Cuts

Letter from Andrew Redfern, Chief Executive of Framework a homelessness charity based in Nottinghamshire;
Presenting the draft local government finance settlement in December, DCLG claimed Nottingham city council would have its spending power cut by 8.4% in 2011-12 (the council puts this at 16.5%) – but apparently including a staggering 45% cut in the city's Supporting People allocation. Contesting this, DCLG describes a complex system of banding to limit the maximum cut in SP. We have written to DCLG under the pre-action protocol for judicial review. We are challenging the lack of transparency in the draft settlement, the sudden redistribution of SP funding away from the most deprived areas, and central government's failure to consult or assess the impact of the changes. These include the imminent withdrawal of support from around 7,000 vulnerable people in Nottingham, nearly 3,000 of whom receive housing support. But we are told secretary of state Eric Pickles is aware of his equality duties and will discharge them before the settlement is finalised. So the government does have the power to distribute SP in 2011-12 on the same basis as in 2010-11. This will allow time for proper consultation on a long-term solution that is fair, transparent and predictable.

Jobs Threat for Homelessness Charity

A Nottingham charity for homeless people has started legal action against the Government and the city council over proposed funding cuts. Framework is seeking a judicial review over proposed cuts to the Supporting People budget, which provides funding for projects to help vulnerable people. In the Comprehensive Spending Review the Government announced that funding for Supporting People would be reduced by 12% over four years. Nottingham City Council has announced proposals to reduce its own budget by £9.4m or 45%. The charity believes the Government has been unfair in its allocation of Supporting People funding to local authorities and that the city council is making unreasonable cuts to its own budget. In view of this the charity have had no choice but to give notice to over 200 staff working directly with vulnerable people in the city. Read more on the Nottingham Evening Post website.

Cash-Strapped Councils Slash SP Budgets

Supported housing budgets could be devastated in parts of England following savage cuts planned by local authorities. Nottinghamshire Council is consulting on axing 67 per cent from its Supporting People budget, from £22.5 million in 2010/11 to £7.5 million next year. Rochdale and Cornwall councils are planning cuts of 30 and 40 per cent respectively. Michael Leng, operation’s director at Nottinghamshire-based homelessness charity Framework, said the council’s proposed budget cut represented a ‘near total disinvestment’ from services, which were not a statutory requirement. Jenny Edwards, chief executive of umbrella group Homeless Link, said its members were being asked to re-negotiate contracts before they had fully run. Wendy Young, head of Nottinghamshire Council’s voluntary sector liaison service, said ‘tough decisions’ had to be made. ‘The county council needs to make £150 million of savings over the next three years.’ Read more on Inside Housing.