A place to call home : Housing and Homelessness Strategy 2014 2019 Action Plan for Objective 4 support independence and prevent homelessness A: Prepare people for independent living, and help them maintain their housing independence What we will do - key projects, programmes, activities Who will do it? Timescales and Pre-tenancy advice and support work Develop and deliver probationary tenancies in social housing Provide access to tenancy ready support for residents Provide support for purchasing furniture and other items which are essential to setting up a home Consider a rapid-response programme of tenancy support to help stabilise tenancies Registered providers, Bradford Council, other housing and support providers, other external partners, voluntary and organisations, Dept for Work and Pensions, Job Centre Plus, Provide short-term supported accommodation to prepare people for independent living Implement the West Yorkshire Big Lottery-funded programme supporting adults with multiple and complex problems including homelessness, mental health, substance and alcohol misuse and re-offending Deliver major adaptations for people with disabilities across all tenures Develop a business to offer disabled people a service they can use to install and fund their own adaptation work Older people to be provided with support to live independent lives, including the 1
provision of community alarms and tele-care services Offer home owners financial assistance to bring their homes to a decent condition through the Council s Loans (equity release) and assistance scheme Provide advice and assistance in developing IT skills to support access to housing and welfare benefit information Provide employment and skills development support, linking with Get Bradford Working Programme. What success would look like: fewer tenancy failures for clients receiving support, improved employment rates, improved skills levels, more homes adapted B: Help people find a suitable and sustainable home What we will do - key projects, programmes, activities Who will do it? Timescales and Implement new Allocations Policy and new social housing lettings system districtwide Review the district s Tenancy Strategy Consider extending the housing options promoted through the district s Allocations System, to potentially include private rented homes, shared ownership, sheltered housing, targeted client-specific housing etc Bradford Council, Registered Providers, other housing and support organisations Develop new nominations agreements between the Council and Registered Providers Support people to access appropriate housing and maintain tenancies 2
Support the Let s Help You scheme for helping people to access private rented properties Undertake feasibility study into establishing a Social Lettings Agency What success would look like: new allocations system up and running, RPs fulfilling nominations obligations, average waiting time for social housing reduced C: Prevent homelessness What we will do - key projects, programmes, activities Who will do it? Timescales and Provide comprehensive, co-ordinated housing advice and homelessness assessment services Increase awareness of homelessness issues at schools, including implementing the lesson planning on homelessness developed through Trailblazers programme Encourage and help vulnerable people to access skills training, volunteering and job opportunities Provide access to the Discretionary Housing Payments and Discretionary Support Payments schemes where relevant to prevent homelessness or support effective move-on Bradford Council, Registered Providers, other housing and support organisations, health and other public sector providers, private landlords Provide mediation services between tenants and landlords Expand the programme of Housing Options support for people accessing private rented properties Landlords to maintain appropriate support for tenants in financial difficulty, alongside 3
access to financial inclusion products and other external support Innovative use of the Homelessness Prevention Fund to reduce and prevent homelessness Work closely in partnership with Children s Services to minimise impact of homelessness on children, including making sure all 16 and 17 year olds have seamless support from both housing and social care services. Continue to develop a robust response to dealing with domestic abuse and helping victims (women or men) secure or maintain safe housing Support people with dual diagnoses (drug and/or alcohol misuse plus mental health issues) by working more effectively across different agencies with better communication What success would look like: more advice cases which successfully prevent people becoming homeless, more homeless people supported into skills programmes or employment, wider range of quality private rented options available for homeless people D: Deal with housing emergencies and help people experiencing acute housing crises What we will do key projects, programmes, activities Who will do it? Timescales and Provide temporary accommodation with out of hours access Provide basic support and shelter for destitute people Aim to eliminate use of bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless people Target entrenched rough sleepers effectively via Rough Sleeper Matrix Bradford Council, other housing and support organisations, charities, Registered Providers 4
Ensure street out-reach services for homeless people (based on a no second night out principle) are fully integrated with other relevant support services Cold weather provision of emergency services including shelter, accommodation and re-settlement where appropriate Day services for homeless and rough sleepers, integrated with other support and resettlement services, and move-on services for rough sleepers to help them into settled accommodation Develop and deliver a new temporary accommodation scheme with easy access to Bradford City Centre Review the homelessness contracts commissioned by Supporting People with a view to secure a fully integrated approach for statutory and non-statutory homelessness Support a range of different services which target a broad span of different client groups, thereby ensuring a varied approach to meeting acute needs What success would look like: fewer people placed in bed and breakfast, shorter stays in temporary accommodation E: Work smarter and more effectively, including targeting resources and focusing on those most in need What we will do key projects, programmes, activities Who will do it? Timescales and Develop a gateway or single access point to supported housing and housing related support, including refreshed eligibility criteria and common IT system to enable better tracking of outcomes Streamline holistic needs assessments for people, including housing needs, support needs, debt advice, health needs etc 5 Bradford Council, other housing and support organisations, Registered Providers, service users
Strategic alignment of adult services and housing access, with a common purpose to promote independent living and prevent homelessness Involve service users in the development of homelessness policy, actions and services and in maintaining the quality of housing support and homelessness services Continue to maintain the quality of homelessness and housing support services through the Bradford Quality Assessment Framework Ensure that housing support providers are aware of other issues often linked with homelessness (e.g. trafficking, prostitution, domestic abuse, addition, mental health etc), in order to better signpost to specialist support providers and protection agencies. Encourage and support housing and homelessness partners to access alternative funding opportunities Strive towards achieving the Gold Standard for homelessness, including implementing a Continuous Improvement Plan and identifying how to meet each of the ten challenges. What success would look like: more people given support for the same amount or less funding, achievement of the Gold Standard, successful bidding for future funding programmes, consistent quality maintained across commissioned services 6