Issue - meetings

To consider any questions submitted by Members of the Council, in accordance with Standing Order 4.8.11 (b).

In accordance with Standing Order 4.8.11 two questions had been submitted by the deadline date for questions set out in the Constitution.

(A)        NHDC providing Homelessness Prevention Grant Funding to Keystage     Housing

Councillor Claire Strong to Councillor Sean Prendergast (Executive Member for Housing and Environmental Health)

(B)        Local Plan Reviews

Councillor Ian Moody to Councillor Ruth Brown (Executive Member for Planning and Transport)

In the absence of Councillor Moody, Councillor David Levett asked the question.

Audio recording – 5 minutes 27 seconds

(A)  NHDC Providing Homeless Prevention Grant Funding to Keystage Housing

Councillor Claire Strong to Councillor Sean Prendergast (Executive Member for Housing and Environmental Health):

“I attended the last Cabinet meeting on Tuesday 13th December where Cabinet approved to award £150k of the Councils Homeless Prevention Grant to Keystone Housing (sic) to offset the department of work and pensions housing benefit subsidy loss as the council cannot recoup the full cost of the housing benefit. At the meeting Cllr Prendergast said that he would look at options to mitigate / reduce the loss. What ideas / options has Cllr Prendergast found and how much will this reduce the loss?”

Councillor Sean Prendergast gave a response as follows:

“One of the Council’s responsibilities is the management of Housing Benefit and subsidy loss. For costs that remain within the Local Authority this is a technical and financial challenge, for all Local Authorities and is widely recognised that the system is in need of government reform. Even though staff seek to maximise the amount of claim from the DWP, it is worth explaining that we as a Council already incur a subsidy loss where we have to place people in hotels. It appears this has cost the Council over £500k in the last two years, however after consultation with subsidy auditors we are able to use a higher rate, which will increase the amount reclaimable from the DWP and this is currently being reassessed. Thankfully, the overall cost has also been reduced slightly by the use of some government Homelessness Grants, but in terms of reducing this in general terms, and as you would expect from a Council that puts homeless prevention at the forefront of its housing objectives, the Housing Team will only ever turn to hotel use as a last resort and where possible, we aim to place people in supported and stable accommodation that provides a platform for eventual resettlement into independent accommodation.

With this in mind, the subsidy loss amount for Keystage to the end of December 2022 was around £40k. Hence the proposal to cover this DWP shortfall via the use of Homeless Prevention Grant. This will increase further to the end of March 2023, however the amount is influenced by the number of residents. You will note that subsidy loss from housing benefit claims for Keystage residents is less than those placed in hotels, and of course this has the additional benefit that residents are provided with the support service they need to help get their life back on track.

We are in regular dialogue with Keystage and I can confirm that they are looking at their corporate structure, with a view to examining the possibility of obtaining the status of a private registered social housing provider and they will be reviewing this with the regulator of social housing, which may eliminate subsidy loss going forward.”

N.B. At 19.40 Councillor Morgan Derbyshire entered the Council Chamber.

Councillor Strong asked a supplementary  ...  view the full minutes text for item 168