Decision details

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director – People, which described the various grants that had been issued by Central Government to support rough sleepers and people who were, or were likely to become, homeless.  It also made proposal for the allocation of these grants.

Government confirmed the allocation of a key element of the overall investment of £315.8m in funding through the Homelessness Prevention Grant, which was available to local authorities in 2022-23 to support and deliver services to prevent and tackle homelessness.  Members were advised that from this funding Halton had been allocated £344,829 for 2022-23, with an additional £11,338 for domestic abuse burdens.  It was noted that the funding grant allocation would be ring fenced to ensure the Local Authority had the resources to take action to prevent homelessness and utilise the funding to continue to implement the Homelessness Reduction Act.

The report discussed the proposed funding allocations, rough sleepers initiative funding and winter funding enhancement for 2021-22.  The proposals for the allocation of the Homelessness Prevention Grant were presented in Appendix 1 and the proposals for the allocation of the Rough Sleepers Initiative Grant were presented in Appendix 2.  The Board was advised of an error in Appendix 1 – Support Officer ‘Columba’, should read Support Officer ‘Next Steps Accommodation Project (NSAP)’.

RESOLVED:  That Executive Board

1)    note and consider the contents of this report; and

2)    approve the recommendations for expenditure against the grants, as described in Appendices 1 and 2.