Minutes:
Update on The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 5th December, it had considered a Notice of Motion in relation to the growing homelessness problem in the City and it had agreed that the Committee would receive an update presentation on how the NIHE addressed homelessness in Belfast at its next quarterly meeting.
Mr. O’Kane commenced by advising that the Housing Executive as an organisation took homelessness very seriously. He then drew the Members’ attention to the Belfast Region Homelessness Statistics for 2016/17. He stated that, whilst the problem was still very serious and figures overall remained high, there had been a very slight reduction in the number of people who presented to the Housing Executive as homeless, most recent figures had been 4500 people (up to the end of December 2017).
The representative then proceeded to outline to the Members the range of options available for temporary accommodation to try and meet the demand:
· twelve family hostels across the City (self-contained units/on-site support);
· fifteen homelessness projects for single people (self-contained units/ on-site support);
· supply of single lets within the private rental sector (furnished accommodation which is demand led – currently just over five hundred properties).
In terms of people sleeping rough in the City, the representative referred to the important role of the Housing Executive and its various Partners, including the Council, in progressing the inter-agency response that had been implemented. He detailed that the following resources were now available in the City:
· thirty ‘crash beds’ (emergency placements open throughout the night to receive people);
· the Welcome Organisation provided five beds for vulnerable women; and
· Morning Star House provided an additional four units.
He advised that when the provision of this support was under pressure the Salvation Army had undertaken to open up an additional six units. He stated that the organisations were endeavouring to work together to try and ensure that the necessary arrangements were in place to prevent any individual having to sleep rough, however, due to the high level of demand this sometimes proved to be challenging.
The representative highlighted the vulnerability of people who found themselves in a housing crisis situation and advised that dedicated housing officers were automatically appointed to work with people who had spent the night in temporary accommodation to try and assist them with a long term housing solution.
The representatives then provided clarification in respect of a number of issues, some of which are set out hereunder:
· the quality of single lets;
· sofa surfing; and
· mitigating against the impact of universal credit.
A Member reiterated the need for greater clarity in terms of points of contact within the organisation.
The Belfast Regional Manager accepted that this appeared to be a recurrent theme and undertook to update the relevant points of contact and to forward to information to the Democratic Services Officer as soon as it was available.
A further Member requested a breakdown of the most recent homelessness statistics and the percentages of people currently living in the various temporary accommodation options and it was agreed that these would be forwarded to the Democratic Services Officer and uploaded to the Members’ Portal.
The Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, praised the work and efforts of the staff within the NIHE in trying to tackle homelessness in the City and also in assisting with the progression of the longer term/multi-agency approach that had been adopted in an attempt to try and tackle this ongoing problem.
Noted.