PAPER D
SOCIAL SERVICES, HOUSING AND BENEFITS SELECT
COMMITTEE – 19 FEBRUARY 2004
REPORT
OF THE PORTFOLIO HOLDER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES AND
HOUSING
This report gives
members the opportunity to receive Homeless Monitoring and Nomination
Statistics from October 2003 (month 7) to December 2003 (month 9), for scrutiny
purposes.
|
ACTION REQUIRED
BY SELECT COMMITTEE To make recommendations |
BACKGROUND
Attached at Appendix
1, are the monthly Homeless statistics from October to December 2003, and at
Appendix 2 the monthly Homeless Nomination statistics are for October 2003 only
as all Associations are now using the Isle of Wight Housing Register. We will present revised tables for the next
monitoring report. In addition at
Appendix 3 are the B&B statistics, showing the figures being monitored by
the Government B&B Unit
Members will note
that the number of applications has reduced slightly during the three months
leading up to the end of the year. This
is broadly in line with past trends, with a tendency towards an upturn early in
the New Year. However, this has not
been particularly marked so far.
The number of
households placed in temporary accommodation continues to rise, which is a
corollary of the reduced usage of bed and breakfast. This is in line with expectations and presents a much better
short term solution than the use of hotels.
Once we have removed all households with children from bed and
breakfast, we will concentrate on those who have occupied other non Single
Family Dwelling-type temporary accommodation.
The use of bed and
breakfast for families with children is reducing in line with expectations and
remains on track to meet the Government target of April.
Members will note that the average time taken to make homeless
decisions has risen marginally to 26 days.
However, there is no reason to believe that this indicates a worsening
of performance. Such fluctuations are
caused by complexities relating to single individual cases.
APPENDICES
ATTACHED
Appendix 1
Homeless Monitoring Statistics (including charts 1 – 5)
Appendix 2 Homeless Nominations – October 2003
Appendix 3 B&B Statistics
GORDON
KENDALL
Portfolio Holder for Social Services and Housing