Council expecting a surge in homelessness in Peterborough

The council has begun the process of creating a new homelessness and rough sleeping strategy.

The strategy will set out the actions that the council and its partners will undertake to both prevent and relieve homelessness and rough sleeping in the city.

Progress has been made in recent years to ease the level of homelessness and key to this has been the council working with its partners in a ‘one city’ approach.

Sarah Hebblethwaite, Housing Manager, told members of the Adults and Communities Scrutiny Committee at their online meeting this week: “The key underlying challenge is to ensure that there is sufficient accommodation and support to create these opportunities.

“The strategy recognises the importance of meeting the holistic needs of people who are homeless and those at risk of homelessness and these are best met through shared outcomes and commitments with our partners.

“Peterborough has seen consistently high numbers of Homelessness presentations to the City Council: 2018/2019 – 2355; 2019/2020 – 2231; and 2020/2021 – 1680.

“In 2019 the main reason for presenting as homeless was ‘asked to leave by family’ (21.7%), followed by ‘Section 21 notice’ (15.2%), ‘friends no longer willing to accommodate’ (8.4%) and ‘relationship breakdown’ (8.6%).

“In 2020 the main reasons were: ‘asked to leave by family’ (32%), followed by ‘Section 21 notice’ (17%), ‘abuse/harassment’ (7%), ‘relationship breakdown’ (7%), and ‘friends no longer willing to accommodate’ (6%).”

James Hayes, Homelessness Support Worker, added: “Since 2018, Peterborough City Council’s homelessness service has worked hard to address the backlog of casework and provide permanent accommodation for those who they have a duty to rehouse.

“This has been achieved through Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 training, case management sessions, and a focus on decision making.

“Furthermore, this has been complemented by the rapid development of the Private Rented Sector team and their dedication to procure accommodation for those who are excluded from the Peterborough Homes Housing Register. This has built resilience across the team and enabled the service to further reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation.”

Cllr John Fox asked: “Do you still keep a register of the veterans that are homeless?”

Mr Hayes replied: “Yes we do, when entries to the services we offer are recorded we always identify veterans at the top of that list.

“We have ongoing discussions with the Royal British Legion and other veteran-associated support partners and service charities.”

Cllr John Howard asked: “Of the 123 rough sleepers identified in the report, we’ve managed to get 75 moved into longer-term accommodation which is absolutely brilliant work by the team.

“Of those 75, are they still in accommodation, because I know the transition from rough-sleeping to permanent housing can be a difficult one?”

Ms Hebblethwaite responded: “One of the results of the Covid-19 crisis has been the opportunity to get those who had previously refused to come into accommodation off the streets.

“The pandemic has had a huge impact on homelessness presentations with the number of clients contacting Housing Needs for assistance remaining at a steady level during this time, but those becoming homeless as a result has reduced.

“This is because measures put in place by the government to suspend eviction action has meant households in rented accommodation have been able to remain and continue to.

“Additionally, the number of households becoming homeless after being asked to leave by friends and family reduced during lockdown, as family units were required to remain isolated together.

“This has started to re-emerge as measures have been eased.

“Furthermore, the restrictions placed on landlords have resulted in evictions ceasing. There is likely to be a surge in evictions once the restrictions are eased or lifted.

“This may result in households approaching the Housing Needs service with higher levels of rent arrears making the challenge of finding alternative accommodation difficult.

“Many households have remained together during the pandemic, which may result in an increased strain on relationships and trigger an increase in households presenting once the restrictions are lifted.

“Housing Needs are therefore expecting a surge in demand over the coming months.”

Cllr Ikra Yasin asked: “What plans do we have for the remaining 48 rough sleepers identified in the report, what is the progress on accommodating them?”

Ms Hebblethwaite replied: “We’re working with our partners and the Outreach teams three times a week to try and support those people to leave the streets.

“There is always an ebb and flow of numbers on the streets and just last week we worked with the GardenHouse who managed to get nine people in on just one afternoon.

“When we talk in terms of 48 rough sleepers, that only represents the contacts that we have – we don’t actually necessarily have 48 people on the streets.

“Maintaining contact with these people is the best solution for all concerned, and that is what we’re doing.”

Members of the committee applauded the team for their work and looked forward to the new strategy being implemented further and bringing even more rough sleepers and homeless persons into long-term accommodation and housing.