Issue - meetings

To receive the report of the Strategic Director People and Communities.

The Strategic Director People and Communities presented the report making the following points:  

• the government had published its long-awaited Plan to End Homelessness in December 2025 and its goals aligned with those established locally following the Council’s own review work;  

• a strategic data review was undertaken early in 2025 which identified systemic issues set out in the presentations but also offered potential solutions;  

• historically homelessness funding streams from the government had been   sporadic and short-term, which had hindered long-term strategic planning;  

• issues seen in Exeter were reflected nationally, although the city had a notable population of younger, single people who were in a cycle of repeat homeless  found Exeter a relatively safe place to be street-attached;  

• the Council was not the only commissioner of supported housing in the city, the NHS, Social Services and criminal justice agencies also commissioned accommodation-based services;

• when the Council had greater control of funding in previous years, homelessness prevention outcomes were stronger; 

• there was a lack of relationship with the private rental sector;  

• phase one of the team restructure had been completed, and the remainder would be completed by the end of April;  

• staff feedback suggested that a single casework service was desired;  

• the ring-fenced homeless prevention grant was £750,000 less than modelled, however, the overall funding formula was generous;  

• the budget proposal would show a wish to allocate an appropriate amount of funding to homelessness prevention;  

• staff head count would be increased, with fewer senior managers and more frontline housing officers; and  

• new burdens funding must be spent on staffing.

The Strategic Director People and Communities responded to Members’ questions in the following terms:  

• our transformation plans were evidenced based and it was envisaged that any future authority would want to continue this work;  

• new legislation would enable more engagement with private sector landlords and tenants, with the council now mandated to undertake a mediation role to sustain and prevent breakdown of relationships and tenancies between private sector landlords and their tenants;

• there were new national outcome frameworks coming forward with specific metrics that reflected the stated outcomes our local plans were aiming to achieve such as the national target to reduce rough sleeping, by eradicating one-night rough sleeping and focus on long term rough sleepers who were usually individuals with complex needs; 
• the new service would reduce fragmentation and stabilise staffing as it would have all case management workers together in one team on substantive contracts as opposed to the short and fixed term contracts the historic short-term funding had necessitated;
• service providers would be invited to provide feedback on the new service specifications and framework agreements prior to the commencement of the formal procurement process;

• providers could bid to join the framework which set quality standards and pricing providing a more cost effective and flexible approach for the council as commissioner as money would not get tied into block contracts and a provider not meeting the quality standards would not get any replacement frameworks. This had not been used in this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 104