Purpose

Homelessness legislation in England aims to
prevent and relieve homelessness for people who are eligible for
assistance.  The legislation requires
local authorities to act at earlier stages, and to provide services
to all eligible applicants.
 
The recommendations included the urgent need
to refresh and then consult on a suite of Policy documents,
strategies and action plans before their formal adoption by the
Council.  These documents would provide
the cornerstone of the council’s improvement drive in this
critical area of housing and social policy.
 
To support this work, in December the Government
confirmed a ring-fenced grant of £2.277m, of which
£1.971m will come directly to the Council, that would be
allocated and utilised to resource the new homelessness prevention
initiatives that would need to be delivered to respond to the
Governments stated ambition to reduce all forms of
homelessness.
 
It should also be noted that work on the
delivery of a high quality and effective advice service had been
taking place over the last nine months to ensure the service met
the needs of the communities it services and seeks opportunities
for improvement.

Content

RESOLVED
That Executive
Cabinet:

(i)         Agree to
the Director of Place to establish a Homelessness Reduction Board,
that will oversee the adopted recommendations of the independent
review, including the adoption of the preparation of the new 5 Year
Homelessness Strategy, and tenancy Strategy subject to wide ranging
stakeholder and public consultation.

(ii)        Endorse the
principles of entering into a common housing allocation scheme with
Registered Provider Partners and adopting the Choice Based Letting
model for social housing in Tameside.

(iii)      
Note that acceptance of the MHCLG Grant funding of £1.971m is
to be approved by Executive Cabinet. 
This funding will be to deliver the homelessness prevention
initiatives set out in section 4.8.  and
to be overseen and monitored by the Homelessness Reduction
Board.

(iv)       The
Director of Place, in consultation with the relevant Executive
Members and the Director of Resources, be allowed to balance
priorities and adjust spending between the different programmes of
work, within the overall budget, to ensure effective spending of
the grant and efficient delivery of the programme