Agenda item

The Shared Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2026-2031 report was presented for Members’ consideration. It was explained that the Homelessness Act 2002 required all housing authorities to have a homelessness strategy in place based on a review of all forms of homelessness in their local authority area.

It was noted that the Government published ‘The National Plan to End Homelessness’ in October 2025 which provided a vision that homelessness should be rare, brief and non-recurring and that people who become homeless should receive support quickly and effectively. Local authorities were expected to move from crisis to prevention. A key requirement of the Plan was for greater collaboration across government departments. There were 5 pillars to the Plan as stated in the report.

In developing the local Strategy, as submitted in the report, a comprehensive assessment was undertaken across the authorities in Worcestershire that would be sharing this Strategy. It was explained that this new Shared Homelessness Strategy had been developed by the five district authorities in Worcestershire: Bromsgrove, Malvern Hills, Wychavon, Wyre Forest, and Redditch. The sixth district authority in the county, Worcester City Council, would be developing its own strategy separately.

The Shared Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2026-2031 set out how the Council would invest in early intervention and support systems to stop homelessness before it happens. The Strategy also covered how the authority would work to eliminate use of bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation beyond statutory short stays (above 6 weeks) and improve the quality of temporary accommodation (TA). Further strands to the Strategy included focus on eliminating negative impact of staying in TA on children and how the structural causes of homelessness would be tackled through building more affordable and social homes and through reform to the private rented sector.

It was stated that in terms of Government grant funding to local authorities, from April 2026 a Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) would replace the previous emergency welfare schemes including Household Support Fund (HSF) and Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP). The CRF allocation would be used to provide welfare support to those who had experienced short-term emergency problems, such as an income shock or unexpected bill. Local authorities were required to look at person’s circumstances holistically when making decisions on allocating funding.

Furthermore, the Government funding streams had been amalgamated into a new Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant. It was explained that this consolidation of funding into a single grant over a three-year period (April 2026-March 2029) provided greater stability for local authority’s partners to prioritise local needs. Officers noted that the grant award to the Council was circa £30,000 higher than anticipated. It was clarified that this consolidated grant would bring together the previous separate grants of: Prevention, Relief and Staffing element of the Homelessness Prevention Grant (HPG), Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant (RSPARG), Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme (RSAP), and Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Grant.

In response to a question, it was clarified that the Council was required to adhere to statutory duties when an eligible homeless applicant presented to the Council. The Prevention Duty provided that when a person was eligible and at risk of homelessness the Council was required to provide advice and assistance to prevent such a person from becoming homeless within 56 days’ period. The Relief Duty applied when a person was eligible and homeless in which case the Council was required to assist the person to take ‘reasonable steps’ to secure accommodation to end their homelessness. This could include assisting the person to find their own accommodation, or in some cases, the local authority providing the person with accommodation.

The Council had no statutory duty to provide support beyond the two 56-day periods above in line with the legislation. Officers would, however, continue working where necessary to assist in finding housing solutions for people beyond this statutory period, albeit there was no duty on the Council to do so.

There was a further question about supported housing and the use of Government grants to undertake retrofits in those properties. It was explained that the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 introduced a new statutory duty for local authorities to formulate and publish a Local Supported Housing Strategy. It was noted that for Redditch this would necessitate the Council undertaking a supported housing needs survey, with the Government providing funds to undertake this over 12 months. This was before this grant could be accessed. It was noted that Redditch Borough Council would be a licensing authority for supported housing purposes.

Clarification was sought about access to Council’s homelessness support. It was clarified that only individuals with ‘recourse to public funds’ had access to homelessness support from local authorities. People who did not meet national immigration conditions had ‘no recourse to public funds’ and could not access homelessness support from local authorities other than general advice. It was noted that applicants for homeless support were required to have a local connection to Redditch in order to access the Council’s help, although there would be circumstances where people from outside the area were also eligible.

A Member requested that paragraph 3.3.8 of the draft Shared Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy be corrected with regard to the number of days’ notice to quit Home Office accommodation after asylum is granted. The Officers undertook to correct this within the final version of the Strategy to be submitted following the public consultation.

Members sought assurance that the ‘duty to collaborate’ for key public services, (planned for future legislation) would be followed through at the local level in Redditch. It was responded that this was recognised by all partners at the local level and efforts were being made to tackle the structural causes of collaboration issues. Officers commented that where the issues occurred was usually in relation to supply issues, such as accommodation. It was added that in Redditch the Council had been able to avoid supply issues through the use of its own temporary accommodation (TA) and through investing in the council housing stock.

It was commented that much of the funding for the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy came from Government grants and it was questioned whether there was a possible risk of services and initiatives not being delivered if the grants became unavailable. Officers responded that a number of grants stated within the Strategy were recurring grants, however, the Council also needed to be creative in terms of how the homelessness and rough sleeping services operated in order to respond to any possible uncertainties in funding provision. It was further stated that the grants in place provided initiatives to strengthen the resilience and sustainability of these services.

It was clarified by Officers that only recommendation 1 of the report would be considered as part of this reporting (with the report being further submitted to Executive Committee only) and that another report would be produced following the period of public consultation on the Strategy.

The recommendation 1 as set out in the report was endorsed by the Committee.

RECOMMENDED that

1)    The draft Shared Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2026-2031 and action plan be approved for public consultation for six weeks starting 13^th April 2026.