Purpose

Action Homeless has developed a scheme
proposal to meet specific homeless needs identified in Leicester
City Council’s (LCC’s) Strategic Gap Analysis for the
Department of Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC), Single
Homelessness Accommodation Programme’s (SHAP) fund.
 
Leicester City Council submitted a bid to
DLUHC on behalf of Action Homeless in November 2023 for
£1,525k. As Action Homeless is not classed as a Registered
Provider (RP), DLUHC has confirmed that that the grant must be paid
through a local authority acting as an Accountable Body; this
report seeks approval to act as accountable body.

Decision

To approve: 
a) That the Council will
act as the Accountable Body for £665k of Department of
Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) capital grant funding
and £860k of DLUHC revenue grant funding, to enable Action
Homeless to deliver its proposed scheme.
b) That £665k is
added as an immediate start to the 2024/25 capital programme.
c) That authorisation is
delegated to officers to accept and enter a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) and adhere to the grant determination letter
(when received with the first payment) with DLUHC.
d) Authorisation is
delegated to officers to enter a funding contract with Action
Homeless, to, but not limited to, mirror the requirements of the
MOU.
e) To acknowledge
DLUHC’s MOU conditions and the associated risks.

Reasons for the decision

As Action Homeless is not classed as a
Registered Provider, DLUHC has confirmed that the grant must be
paid through a local authority acting as an Accountable Body. By
LCC acting as the Accountable Body this will enable Action Homeless
to refurbish 14 en-suite rooms, with
shared facilities within 3 clusters. The rooms will be let to
tenants who meet specific homeless needs as identified in
LCC’s Strategic Gap Analysis and LCC will have 100% referral
rights to all 14 rooms.