Draft Countywide Homelessness Strategy

Closed 1 Nov 2020

Opened 5 Oct 2020

Contact

01926 418027

phadmin@warwickshire.gov.uk

Feedback updated 11 May 2021

We asked

The Warwickshire Homeless Strategic Group has been working collaboratively across a wide range of partners to develeop a countywide strategy on preventing homelessness. 

Following this collaborative approach to develop the strategy, a countywide online engagement was launched in October, to give partners and members of the public the opportunity to comment on the high-level strategic vision and recommendations. This engagement included a survey hosted on Ask Warwickshire and webinars held with members of the community and the voluntary sector to obtain their views and shape the strategic vison and recommendations.  

You said

Overall, respondents either agreed or agreed to some extent that the recommendations proposed for each strategic priority are the correct ones to focus on for 2021/22:  

  • Priority 1 – Health: 62% agreed, 31% agreed to some extent  
  • Priority 2 – Young People: 60% agreed, 24% agreed to some extent  
  • Priority 3 – Domestic Abuse: 73% agreed, 15.6% agreed to some extent 
  • Priority 4 – Offending: 57.8% agreed, 24.4% agreed to some extent  
  •  Priority 5 - Financial inclusion: 64.4% agreed, 22.2% agreed to some extent. 

Many of the qualitative comments fed back featured in the existing draft of the strategy, however there were some additional changes made as a result of the engagement. (See below) 

We did

The recommendations and content were refined following engagement, to ensure relevant comments were reflected within the strategy.  

  • Education – more focus was given to education in the context of offending and preparing people for release, one of the existing recommendations was updated to specifically include education to help people reacclimatise, integrate into society and find suitable employment.  
  • Veterans – whilst veterans were mentioned in the strategy, following engagement feedback, services to support veterans with their mental health was included within the health chapter. The matter of the military covenant requiring housing authorities to prioritise veterans was also raised. After discussions with Heads of Housing, it was determined that this was a housing allocations and policy matter and that there was work happening elsewhere to progress this and therefore considered linked, but out of scope for this strategy.  
  • Digital inclusion – little focus was given to this within the draft strategy, however following helpful feedback on this within the engagement, this has been strengthened within the financial inclusion chapter, specifically around financial support for customers in digital formats.  
  • Service user involvement – COVID restrictions have prevented meaningful service user involvement. This was raised both in the engagement feedback and webinar with the community and voluntary sector. To keep within COVID secure guidelines and avoid tokenistic engagement, a commitment has since been made to involve service users in parts of the action planning, where appropriate and to establish a service user involvement feedback mechanism, to gain their unique and integral perspective into the delivery of the strategy recommendations 

Since the strategy is countywide, District and Borough Councils took the completed strategy through their own governance processes in January/February 2021, with the final version going to the Health and Wellbeing Board in March 2021. 

The homelessness strategic group will reconvene in 2021 and continue to work collaboratively with partners, developing the action plan that will underpin the strategic recommendations. This will result in the development of different workstreams around homelessness to achieve the strategic vision.

The reports presented to the Warwickshire Wellbeing Board, including the revised strategy and reports on feedback are available by clicking on this link. 

Results updated 10 Mar 2021

The Homelessness Strategy was considered by the Health and Wellbeing Board on March 3rd. If you woluld like to read the papers considered at the meeting including a report on the feedback received please click on this link. There is also a link from this webpage to a webcast of the meeting. 

Links:

Overview

Warwickshire County Council, North Warwickshire Borough Council, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, Rugby Borough Council, Warwick District Council and Stratford on Avon District Council recognise the importance of tackling and preventing homelessness in Warwickshire. 

The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 came in to force on 3 April 2018. It introduced fundamental changes to how Local Authorities assess and assist homeless applicants. The intention of the Act is to give a greater focus on prevention. The aim of the changes is to reduce homelessness by introducing systems to ensure early intervention and prevention. In October 2018 the Duty to Refer brought a wide range of other statutory organisations into firm collaboration with Local Authorities to implement the legislation. 

The legislation requires statutory agencies to act to promote positive outcomes for applicants. The inclusion of the Duty to Refer in the Act indicates Government awareness that better partnership working is needed to resolve homelessness when it occurs. In addition, a recent consultation paper – ‘Tackling Homelessness Together’ set out Government concerns that partners are not engaging positively to resolve homelessness and not co-operating. As a result, Government is now proposing statutory requirements to provide for specific structures which could include a duty to co-operate and the establishment of Homelessness Reduction Boards 

The development of the Strategic Homelessness Board in Warwickshire supports the legislative changes and anticipates the Government’s further proposals.  

The Board is developing a Warwickshire wide Homeless Strategy and is proposing recommendations for consideration by partners which are concerned with how statutory agencies in Warwickshire will work together to promote and deliver the changes expected by Government and which will benefit our residents. These objectives are intended to define a new culture of collaboration and effective joint working arrangements. They include: 

  • Supporting and fully utilising the Homelessness Strategic Board to promote collaboration, challenge systems of work, develop new initiatives and deliver joint training. 
  • Evolving the strong partnership working built during the COVID-19 pandemic to anticipate challenges to residents from a recession – particularly in connection with their financial circumstances, unemployment and the actions of private landlords to evict tenants.  
  • Enabling front line teams to act in partnership to intervene early where there is a housing issue – to encourage a culture of professional curiosity and ensure teams know that homeless is everybody’s business  
  • Developing agreed pathways for referrals which underpin a culture of collaboration 
  • Agreeing formal monitoring systems to provide information to the Board about the effectiveness of joint working. 
  • Setting out specific actions to include joint working with regard to tackling domestic abuse, working with young people and offenders, health and financial inclusion.  
  • Using Local Plans, Lettings Schemes and intervention in the private sector housing market to deliver a sufficient range of affordable housing options to meet housing needs in Warwickshire. 

We welcome all feedback to ensure we get this strategy right for those who are at risk of homelessness, currently homeless or sleeping rough on our Warwickshire streets. 

Why are we seeking your views? 

In developing the draft countywide strategy on homelessness, joint working and collaboration has taken place with a wide range of stakeholders, including; Health, Police, Probation, County and District and Borough Councils, the voluntary and community sector. 

We are asking for feedback on the priorities and recommendations in the draft strategy to inform a final version of the strategy being presented to the Health and Wellbeing Board in March 2021. 

How to take part  

Please complete the anonymous survey below.

If you require a paper copy of the survey or would like it in an an alternative format please contact us by phone on (01926 418027) or Email us using the contact details below.  

You can also respond by email (phadmin@warwickshire.gov.uk) or by writing to us at Public Health Warwickshire, Warwickshire County Council, PO Box 43, Shire Hall, Warwick, CV34 4SX 

What will happen after the engagement? 

Following the engagement all feedback will be analysed and will inform the final version of the strategy will be published in Spring 2021. This will be considered by Warwickshire's Health and Wellbeing Board. If approved the new strategy will be implemented from Spring 2021. 

What happens next

This survey has now closed. Many thanks to everyone who took the time to share their views with us. All feedback is now being considered and will inform the final version of the strategy which will be published in Spring 2021. This will be considered by Warwickshire County Council Health and Wellbeing Board. If approved the new strategy will be implemented from Spring 2021. 

Areas

  • All Areas

Audiences

  • Anyone from any background
  • All ages
  • All Warwickshire residents
  • Community Groups
  • Voluntary and third sector organisations
  • Partners
  • Providers
  • Specialist staff
  • Professionals and professional bodies
  • Housing associations
  • Elected members

Interests

  • Social care
  • Health and wellbeing
  • Mental health
  • Policies, plans and strategies
  • Community safety and crime
  • Communities
  • Housing
  • Young people
  • Public health
  • Engagement and surveys