Supplementary note from the National Audit
Office
QUESTIONS 97-98:
THE ROLE
OF THE
HOMELESSNESS COMMISSION
IN WALES
1. The Commission was established in January
2001, and comprised three Assembly Members, representatives of
the Welsh Local Government Association and senior staff from voluntary
sector groups working with the homeless.
2. It was established as a "task and
finish" group (ie it would perform a discrete task and then
disband), whose findings were to be reported to the Minister for
Finance, Local Government and Communities.
3. Its terms of reference were to advise
the National Assembly on:
— Delivering the existing objectives
to reduce the number of families in temporary accommodation, eliminate
rough sleeping and improve access to health services for homeless
people.
— Taking forward the recommendations
on homelessness put forward by the National Assembly report "Rough
Sleeping in Wales" and by Housing Strategy Task Groups.
— Delivering local homelessness strategies
in all Welsh local authorities.
— Measuring homelessness and rough
sleeping.
— The options for long-term funding
of homelessness services.
4. The Commission produced its report in
January 2002, making 91 recommendations across a range of topics.
The Assembly welcomed (rather than "endorsed") the report,
and produced a response in April 2002.
5. Ongoing responsibility for tackling homelessness
lies with the Housing Directorate, which is part of the Social
Justice and Regeneration Department. Its role with regard to homelessness
is directly comparable with that of the Homelessness and Housing
Support Directorate of ODPM—it issues guidance, provides
good practice advice and distributes funding (although most of
this funding has historically been to voluntary sector bodies
rather than local authorities—see the response to questions
105-106 below).
6. One of the key recommendations arising
from the Commission's report was that a whole-of-Wales homelessness
strategy should be drawn up. A strategy was formally adopted in
March 2003, and was the first of its kind in Britain. It covered
such issues as: strategic objectives; relationships with local
strategies; preventive measures; access to housing; resettlement,
support and access to services; and helping disadvantaged groups.
7. However, homelessness continued to rise
after the Strategy was adopted. The Minister for Social Justice
and Regeneration therefore requested a review of the Strategy
in Autumn 2004, and a Homelessness Strategy Working Group was
set up in November 2004 to monitor trends in homelessness and
the Welsh housing market.
8. Officials in the Housing Directorate
expect a revised strategy to be presented to the Assembly in July
2005. Legislation to restrict the use of Bed & Breakfast accommodation
for homeless people is likely to follow later in the year (see
the response to questions 102/103 below).
QUESTIONS 99-101:
THE RISE
IN NUMBERS
ACCEPTED AS
BEING HOMELESS
AND IN
PRIORITY NEED
9. The Housing Directorate believes that
the rise is due to a combination of:
— Housing market factors—perhaps
responsible for two-thirds of the increase; and
— Additional categories included in
the Homeless Persons (Priority Need) (Wales) Order 2001 ("the
Priority Need Order")—responsible for the remaining
third.
10. It is generally believed that housing
market trends in Wales follow those in England, but with a time
lag of around two years. Therefore, to the extent that homelessness
is driven by housing economics, the continuation of a price boom
in Wales after the market had peaked in England will have been
a contributory factor. Another potential factor is that the provision
of new social housing stock has declined from around 3,000 units
in 1997-98 to just over 1,000 in 2003-04, and that the Right to
Buy scheme reduces the number of social rented properties by 3,000
to 4,000 properties each year.
11. In the Priority Need Order, the Assembly
included extra categories of "priority need" compared
to the definitions being used in England. Again, this will have
contributed to the steep rise in homeless cases, since it additionally
placed in priority need all those who were:
— A care leaver, or person at particular
risk of sexual or financial exploitation, aged 18-21;
— fleeing actual or threatened domestic
violence;
— homeless after leaving the armed
forces;
— homeless after being released from
prison.
QUESTIONS 102-103:
THE USE
OF BED
& BREAKFAST ACCOMMODATION
12. The NAO Report states that 691 households
were in Bed & Breakfast accommodation at 31 March 2004. However,
more recent analysis shows that this figure had risen to 807 households
by June 2004 (a rise of 17%). Of these, some 196 were families
with children, compared to 167 in March (again, a rise of 17%).
13. The Assembly recognises that it has
been slower than England in dealing with the growing numbers of
households in Bed & Breakfast accommodation. The national
Homelessness Strategy aims to minimise the use of such accommodation,
and to eliminate it for families with children. But while local
authorities have a Code of Guidance which encourages the use of
alternative types of accommodation, there is little direct leverage
currently available to make this happen.
14. In response, the Assembly plans to introduce
new legislation to support the reduction in use of Bed & Breakfast
accommodation. This is likely to be introduced in two stages:
— The use of Bed & Breakfast accommodation
to be restricted for families with children, pregnant women and
16-17 year olds. Restrictions will depend on the "standard"
of the property. Where the property is only of basic standard,
residence will be limited to a maximum of two weeks. Residence
in higher standard properties will be allowed for up to six weeks.
However, tenants will be allowed to remain in the accommodation
if they feel it is more appropriate due to location, family ties,
etc. The effective date of this legislation is expected to be
April 2007, and the Assembly projects a two-thirds reduction in
the use of Bed & Breakfast accommodation as a result.
— The restriction to be applied to
all priority need groups by April 2008, and the time limit for
residence in higher standard properties to be reduced to two weeks.
QUESTIONS 105-106:
THE GRANT
REGIME TO
TACKLE HOMELESSNESS
15. In 2004-05, the Homelessness and Housing
Support Directorate in England allocated just under £45 million
to local authorities to promote improved practices in the prevention
and reduction of homelessness. While the amount allocated to each
authority varied considerably, based mainly on historic levels
of homelessness, this represents an average of £127,000 per
authority. It also provided £13.6 million to a range of voluntary
sector bodies.
16. By contrast, the Assembly's homelessness
grant programme, based upon Section 180 of the Housing Act 1996,
is used to fund voluntary organisations. The programme allocated
£5 million of funding in 2003-04. While the statistic should
clearly be treated with some caution, this would equate to £227,000
for each of Wales' twenty-two unitary authorities. The Assembly
based its funding decisions on projects identified by local authorities
to be of strategic value. The programme provided over £1.2
million on new projects, covering such activities as housing advice,
bond schemes for private sector landlords, night shelters, housing
for ex-prisoners and school outreach.
17. Local authorities often need a financial
boost to kick-start their efforts to find alternatives to Bed
& Breakfast accommodation. The Assembly has recently earmarked
£500,000 for each of the next two years for this purpose,
equating to around £25,000 per authority per annum. Authorities
have been invited to bid for this funding, based on the merits
of their local homelessness strategy and action plan to tackle
Bed & Breakfast use. In 2003-04, Welsh authorities themselves
spent £8.6 million on homelessness, compared to only £4
million in 2000-01.
National Audit Office
Regions, Regeneration & Renewal VFM Area
31 March 2005
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