Reducing the number of families in B&B accommodation

Transcription

1 Reducing the number of families in B&B accommodation A response to the Local Government Ombudsman report EALING COUNCIL

2 Reducing the number of families in B&B A response to the Local Government Ombudsman Report Introduction In November 2013 the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) published a report following an investigation into following two complaints against The London Borough of Ealing. Ms P and Ms Q complained the Council housed them and their children in bed and breakfast accommodation (B&B) for longer than six weeks. The law says when families apply as homeless councils should avoid using B&Bs. As a last resort, councils should use B&Bs for families and households where a member of the household is prognant for no longer than six weeks. To remedy the injustice identified the LGO recommended that the Council: Ensures it has in place a strategy for complying with the Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order This document sets out the strategies in place to achieve this compliance. Background The Council has, for some time been pursuing a range of measures aimed at increasing the supply of emergency self-contained temporary and decreasing the numbers of families in B&B. Caps in housing benefit introduced in 2011/2012 restricting the amount of housing benefit payable based on the bedroom size of properties as well as more recent welfare benefit reform, based on restricting benefit income to 500 a week and the anticipation of these changes have had a profound impact on homelessness in Ealing. These impacts have been unprecedented and our strategies, focusing initially on delivering a significant increase in the supply of alternative emergency accommodation have taken some time to take effect. Ealing Council has in the past, adopted a very successful approach to tackling homelessness for many years which has significantly reduced the number of households that have required temporary accommodation. This has primarily been achieved by staff successfully negotiating to enable households to remain in their homes or finding alternative homes in the private rented sector for displaced households to move to. We have reduced the number of homeless acceptances from a peak of 796 in 2005 to 262 in 2011 but we have seen homeless acceptances rise in the last two years to 420 in 2012/13. The Council also reduced the number of households in Bed and Breakfast from 150 in 2009 to 18 by March 2011 and had no families with children in bed and breakfast for more than six weeks. In the last 2 years the Council has seen increased numbers of households in crisis and placements in emergency accommodation have increased as a result. On 31/3/2011 there were 18 cases in emergency accommodation (B&B) On 31/3/2012 there were 192 cases On 31/3/2013 there were 287 cases

3 Increased demand and lack of affordable housing alternatives has led to increased use of bed and breakfast accommodation and difficulties in moving households on from B&B exposing the council to legal challenge where households with children have to remain in B&B for longer than 6 weeks. We have not been able to make large numbers of placements in the private sector. 2 years ago we housed 500 households in the Private Rented Sector in Ealing. Since then, upward pressure on London rents, increased demand within the private rented sector, landlord reluctance to accept benefit dependent households and competition from other London authorities (since January 2011 over 1000 families have been placed in Ealing by other London boroughs) have dramatically reduced the numbers of available vacancies for placements. In 2012/2013 the cost to the Council for B&B use was 4million, officers estimate that B&B costs will increase to 5 million in 2013/14 as a result of Welfare Reform changes and could increase even more without mitigation. Strategy to reduce the number of families in B&B for more than 6 weeks. A plan has been in place for some time to tackle this issue and there has already been a reduction in the number of placements in B&B as a direct result of the strategies adopted. Month Placements in B&B Households pregnant or with children in B&B for more than 6 weeks Total households in B&B May June July August September October November December The strategy includes the following initiatives to boost supply: We are continuing to extend our hostel portfolio and are acquiring suitable buildings to achieve this. We are also reviewing existing hostel buildings to increase capacity. We are converting disused commercial units on housing estates to residential use and these units were let on Monday 16 th December We continue to work with Corporate Assets to identify residential and commercial units for potential use as temporary accommodation. We gained Cabinet approval in October to erect 20 modular homes on a

4 vacant site in the borough and are currently identifying a suitable site. We are purchasing 83 properties which will be used as an alternative to B&B and anticipate the first completions taking place in January We are continuing to place households currently resident in B&B in selfcontained annexes but the second stage of our strategy will be to move households from annexes into more cost effective alternatives. We are continuing to identify and place households in self-contained B&B which is exempt from the 6 week rule. We are in discussions with Accommodation Providers to undertake conversion works to convert shared facilities into self-contained. We are currently working with one provider to reconfigure 2 small B&B hostels into 4 self-contained flats for temporary accommodation. We are continuing to use empty properties on regeneration estates on a temporary basis. We are continuing to procure affordable accommodation outside London We have for several months been in discussions with Network Housing Association. The scheme involves boosting affordable supply through the purchase of private sector accommodation by Network Housing Association. A portfolio has now been purchased and will provide move-on from existing temporary accommodation which will in turn provide move-on for families in B&B. 16 properties will be ready from January 2014 onwards. The Supply and demand model below sets out anticipated flows of families with children in and out of B&B over the next few months and indicates that numbers of families with children will be reduced to zero by April 2014.

5 Supply and Demand model - Households exceeding 6 weeks in B&B Dec-13 Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Households remaining in B&B for more than 6 weeks - Flows in Numbers already in B&B New intake (Numbers maintained at low level by placing households in annex accommodation and self-contained B&B.) Households remaining in B&B for more than 6 weeks - Flows out Into Private Sector Leased Into annex accommodation Into self-contained B&B Negative decisions Into hostel Converted commercial units into modular homes Into purchased stock Evicted for rent arrears Into direct lets/prso Left B&B for other reasons Out of London leased placements Total in Total out Balance Maintaining zero households with children in B&B for longer than 6 weeks beyond April The first stage in the strategy is to reduce the number of households in B&B to zero. Having achieved this it will be essential to prevent a similar situation arising in future. The second stage in the strategy will be to reduce the placement of households in B&B to zero in the first instance by placing households in alternatives to non-selfcontained B&B. The table below indicates how supply will continue to be generated in 2014/2015. The anticipated supply is roughly equal to the number of households with children that will need to be placed each month and is based on the following assumptions: That the temporary accommodation portfolio will continue to grow as numbers of leased units procured inside and outside the borough increase to meet the demand. That B&B proprietors will increasingly convert non-self-contained units to self -

6 contained units and these will be available for future placements. That the numbers of placements in the private rented sector to discharge a duty prior to placement in temporary accommodation will increase in future. Alternative supply to reduce placement in B&B to nil April May June July August Into Private Sector Leased Into annex accommodation Into self-contained B&B Negative decisions on the day Into hostel into modular homes Converted commercial units Into purchased stock Into direct lets/prso Out of London leased placements Total regeneration units in temporary use will have to be decanted by June and although there may be some flexibility to extend tenancies acquisition of additional move-on units will have to be factored into the plan to prevent numbers in B&B increasing as a result. Additional social housing lettings could be made available but this will have to be balanced by the demand for regeneration units prior to June Monitoring The reduction of households in B&B for more than 6 weeks will be kept under review by the Corporate Board and the portfolio holder for Housing. Initiatives that are currently generating supply will no longer do so in future e.g. the purchase scheme will add to the overall pool of properties available but will generate less supply in There may therefore be a need to identify additional schemes in future. There may also be reduced demand as households that currently impacted by the caps find employment or more affordable accommodation outside the borough. The supply and demand model will therefore be kept under review to assess the impact of these changes over time and identify additional schemes if required.

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