Agenda item - Evictions From Temporary Accommodation Update

Report of Executive Director for Neighbourhoods, Communities & Housing (copy attached).

(1)          That Housing and New Homes Committee note the findings of the report.

(2)          That Housing & New Homes Committee:

-        Welcomes progress made in reducing evictions in temporary accommodation.

-        Seeks to make further reductions over the current year:

-        And that the committee will continue to receive updates on evictions in temporary accommodation, with a report on progress provided in a year’s time.

13.1   The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director, Neighbourhoods, Communities & Housing which explained that the March 2017, Committee had requested a report looking into evictions from Temporary Accommodation and whether there is evidence to support the assertion that residents in temporary accommodation that lodge complaints about disrepair or staff conduct at their temporary accommodation are vulnerable to eviction. The report was presented to the Housing & New Homes Committee in June 2017, when it was agreed that this would be reviewed after a year. The current report was the outcome to the review. The report was presented by the Head of Housing Needs, accompanied by the Housing Options Manager and Simon Gale, Operations and Hub Manager of Justlife. Justlife had been commissioned by Brighton & Hove Clinical Commissioning Group to provide support to people in emergency accommodation. Section 3.3 of the report provided an analysis of evictions. 

13.2   Councillor Gibson proposed the following amendment:

“Add recommendation 2.2 as printed in bold italics below:

          2.2 That Housing and New Homes Committee:

-      Welcomes progress made in reducing evictions in temporary

Accommodation

-      Seeks to make further reductions over the current year

-      and that the Committee will continue to receive updates on evictions in temporary accommodation, with a report on progress provided in a year’s time.

13.3   Councillor Gibson welcomed the progress outlined in the report and paid tribute to the residents in temporary accommodation who had started the process.  He thanked the residents, the officers and Justlife for taking this forward. Councillor Gibson stated that his research on eviction rates showed that the eviction rate for council tenants over a year was about 0.1%. Temporary tenants in Seaside Homes had an eviction rate of 0.6% over a year. In the case of private providers, if the evictions were calculated in a comparable way, in terms of the number of properties there were over a year, the figure was approximately 7.7%. The figures in the report were less as it looked at the number of placements.  That was much lower than it was a year ago but there was still scope for improvement. The Temporary Accommodation Action Group had proved effective and had provided useful networking opportunities.            

13.4   The Head of Housing Needs referred to Councillor Gibson’s figures regarding council tenants and Seaside tenants compared to emergency accommodation residents.  It was stressed that it was different because a significant number of people in emergency accommodation were waiting for supported accommodation and their ability to manage in emergency accommodation was different to those in council tenancies and in Seaside tenancies which was long term accommodation for people who were accessed to be able to manage in general needs accommodation. People in emergency accommodation generally had much higher complex needs, and evictions would be expected to be higher as a result. The reason officers looked at the number of placements rather than the number of properties was because the council had several placements. Several households would be placed within the space of a year, in the number of properties in emergency accommodation.   

13.5   Councillor Gibson agreed that it was an important point that some people were going on to supported accommodation and were likely to have higher needs. The reason he researched the figures was to make it comparable to the rates. Many people did go from emergency or temporary accommodation in Seaside Homes which was also classified as temporary accommodation and there was relevance in that comparison. He did however accept that the rate was likely to be higher than the rate for Seaside Homes. The other factor he was trying to highlight was the management of the accommodation.

13.6   Councillor Moonan thanked and acknowledged the tenants who had brought this issue to the Committee’s attention and thanked the officers for the report.  She was pleased to see a representative of Justlife at the meeting, and acknowledged the contribution they had brought to supporting tenants in emergency accommodation. The report pointed out that welfare officers were going into emergency accommodation and were starting to have a real impact. Councillor Moonan reported that the council had been successful in receiving funding of £34,000 from the government focusing on rough sleeping. This would add to the body of support for vulnerable people. With regard to the amendment she agreed that the Committee should seek further reductions in the number of evictions. However, she stressed that sometimes an eviction or moving people to another emergency accommodation was necessary in cases where people were being very violent and police were being called. The council had a duty to all the other residents. A future report would be welcome and the labour group would support the amendment.

13.7   Councillor Druitt seconded the amendment. He stated that it was a good report and noted that i) 18 months was the average stay in emergency accommodation. He asked how that compared with previous years ii) With reference to paragraph 3.3.5, which stated that “We could find no record that any of the households evicted had reported that repairs were needed to their property or had made any complaints.”  Councillor Druitt pointed out that there had been people at the Committee alleging that they had been evicted following a complaint. 

13.8   The Head of Housing Needs stated that the average time for a person to remain in emergency accommodation was around 18 months.  Emergency accommodation was never designed for people to be there for that length of time. Until approximately two years ago people were in emergency accommodation for about 6 months.  The reason for the increase was due to more and more people requiring accommodation during a difficult housing market. However, numbers had been stable over the last year due to early intervention and people having a personal housing plan. Meanwhile, the allocations policy was being changed to give priority to those in emergency accommodation. There had also been success in getting people housed in the private rented sector. There had been considerable activity in attempting to bring down the numbers in emergency and temporary accommodation.

13.9   The Housing Options Manager referred to the issue of people alleging that they were evicted following a complaint. This was an issue addressed in a report a year ago. Officers had not been made aware of any allegations. 

13.10  Simon Gale, Justlife thanked the residents groups involved in bringing the Temporary Accommodation Action Group to the forefront. That had been very powerful and it was something Justlife were proud and privileged to be involved with.  There had been success in bringing all the stakeholders into the same room whether that was residents, support services, the local authority, and the accommodation providers. Mr Gale agreed that there had been many improvements in the way that the accommodation providers worked with Justlife as a service provider and the way Justlife worked with the local authority. A working group was looking at the number of evictions and was trying to agree together what common reasons there would be for evictions. Justlife were happy to continue developing the Temporary Accommodation Action Group. 

13.11  The Committee voted on the amendment as set out in paragraph 13.2 above. This was agreed unanimously. The Committee than voted on the recommendations as amended. These were unanimously agreed.

13.12  RESOLVED:-

(1)          That Housing and New Homes Committee note the findings of the report.

(2)          That Housing & New Homes Committee:

-        Welcomes progress made in reducing evictions in temporary accommodation.

-        Seeks to make further reductions over the current year:

-        and that the committee will continue to receive updates on evictions in temporary accommodation, with a report on progress provided in a year’s time.