Council succeeds in bid for more police, nurses and outreach officers in Southwark

2 July 2018

Southwark Council has again successfully bid for homelessness reduction funding which will see extra bed and breakfast places, police officers, nurses and outreach workers to tackle rough sleeping, but will the funding go far enough?

On 25 January this year, Councillor Stephanie Cryan, Cabinet Member for Housing at Southwark Council, wrote to Heather Wheeler MP, Minister for Housing and Homelessness, to invite her to visit Southwark Council’s homelessness prevention service so see the front-line issues. 

Southwark Council is the only Trailblazer local authority in England to fully pilot the Homelessness Reduction Act before its implementation in April 2018.

On 22 March this year, Heather Wheeler MP visited the service, at the same time announcing the launch the London Training Academy, which will provide a programme of free training to over 1,000 staff from all 33 London Councils, meaning around 25 Southwark staff will receive extra training. Southwark Council has been awarded £690,000 to launch and manage the London Training Academy.

Furthermore, in the past month, Southwark Council was informed of its successful bid for a £615,000 share of the government’s £30m Rough Sleeping Initiative Grant for authorities with the highest numbers of rough sleepers -which is an issue that particularly affects central London boroughs. The grant will see a greater number of fully trained police officers, nurses, outreach officers and domestic abuse support workers in Southwark. The council will pay the Met police and the NHS for these officers to exclusively work in Southwark. It will also fund extra bed and breakfast places and support for rehousing to maintain tenancies and access to the private rented sector.

In addition, the council has also gained £100,000 in grant funding to train staff nationally on rough sleeping best practice, such as multiple support channels to prevent someone from becoming vulnerable to losing their home – the council will deliver the training programme in Liverpool, Birmingham and London.

Southwark Council has been trailblazing the Homelessness Reduction Act since October 2016, which will come into effect nationally on 3 April this year. The extensive preparation is not new to an innovative borough which sees the best way to prepare for changes to a service is to pilot how it will work in practice.

The Act emerged from a Private Members’ Bill and has Government and cross-party support on the best ways to deal with preventing homelessness, including addressing complex issues such as supply and demand, temporary accommodation, rough sleeping, family breakdown, unemployment, and the effects of domestic abuse. However, Southwark Council recognises there is more to think about when it comes to homelessness.

Cllr Stephanie Cryan, Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “We will not rest on our laurels in our ambition to prevent homelessness, and our innovation is what has made Southwark stand out. We have been submitting bids of the highest quality in order to ask for more funding for this vital service.
However, while we are at the forefront of homelessness prevention, the key word is indeed ‘prevention’ – the Government needs to dig deeper into the causes of homelessness – particularly welfare reform and the lack of affordable housing.  An exemplary service like ours requires secure, long-term funding to cope with the level of demand and, crucially, those underlying issues that cause homelessness to be addressed. With the use of foodbanks increasing exponentially as people move on to Universal Credit and renting becoming too expensive for many, it’s easy to see how people falling on hard times can become vulnerable to losing their homes too.”

As part of its drive towards excellence in homelessness prevention, Southwark Council successfully bid for grant funding, gaining £393,000 in rough sleeping grant funding and a £1m share of £20m the government pledged for its Trailblazer project. Southwark Council has been awarded £690,000 to launch and manage the London Training Academy.

Southwark works with a wide range of partners and the two leading specialists – Shelter as a critical friend, integral to its service, and with St Mungo’s, working on the front line of outreach work to support those in the most desperate situations.

Southwark Council has eliminated the use of bed and breakfast for families by preventing homelessness in the first place, using more appropriate accommodation further afield, but without dispensing the authority’s responsibilities to the families, and by working with Solace and Women’s Aid to directly support those affected by domestic abuse. The council is currently working on a specific domestic abuse policy to lead on the issue. 

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