Agenda item

Roxanne McAllister, Looked After Children and Leaving Care Service, LCC

To receive an update on the Housing Policy.

Roxanne McAllister, Looked After Children and Leaving Care Service, Lancashire County Council outlined the Council's Joint Housing Protocol for Care Leavers which would ensure that all Lancashire Care Leavers felt at home.  The Protocol had been developed over the last 12 months working jointly with the 12 local District Councils and housing providers.  Provided within the presentation which had been circulated to members prior to the meeting were further details on:

·  What the aims of the protocol were

·  The progress so far

·  What the protocol entails:

Ø  Preparation for independence

Ø  Pathway to homes

Ø  Local connection

Ø  Priority

Ø  Second chances

Ø  In the event of homelessness

·  Challenges and what can be done to resolve them

Ø  Inconsistencies within the various Lancashire Districts' allocation policies and possible solutions

Ø  Housing shortage and possible solutions

·  Corporate Parenting Cultures

A request was made to the Elected Member who became the Placement and Provision Champion to liaise with those District Councils who have inconsistencies within the various Lancashire allocation policies to encourage them to afford the highest priority for social housing for Care Leavers in Lancashire.  This included most East Districts, West Lancashire Borough Council and Lancaster City Council.  Districts have commented that the issues are around demand and stock of housing and also how many care leavers were in that particular District and what it looked like for demand.  At the time of the meeting, there were five young people in Bed and Breakfast accommodation, some of which, it was their second time in this sort of accommodation, and over the last six months, it was being used at an increased rate, again, due to a housing shortage.  This was a position, that as a Council, was felt not to be acceptable for Care Leavers to be in this type of accommodation, however, due to the situation and shortage of acceptable provision it was either that or nothing.  There was also an increased usage of commissioned placements for 18+ young people with 32 in commissioned placements over the last three months, at a cost of £78,991.67 and this figure was relevant as the Council did not have a duty under the Leaving Care Act to house young people, this should be done within the community and not part of the budget from Central Government.  However, as an organisation, Lancashire County Council provides commissioned placements for its' young people and which indicated a huge housing deficit in the community for Lancashire's young people.  The Board were informed of a number of possible solutions for the housing shortage which were:

·  Involve the housing associations directly to create pathways for young people

·  The implementation of this protocol to aid smoother transitions and support access to social housing

·  Senior executive/cross county discussion about affordable housing stock and availability with help from the Corporate Parenting Board

·  Consulting on a guarantor scheme for Care Leavers

·  National House Project

There was also another issue with regards to Corporate Parenting cultures where it was not a consistent application and a lack of understanding of Corporate Parenting principles within the Districts.  The solution for this would be to outline the Corporate Parenting responsibilities to the Districts and for it to be imbedded from a Senior level within each District.

Following the presentation, the following points were raised:

Block Contracted Services were the supported accommodation and youth accommodation housing offer that used to be funded through the "Supporting People" budget.  Lancashire County Council took this over as part of the Block Contracted services as this was also a good pathway for 16+ years looked after children into social housing.  In respect of the supported lodgings offer of the Block Contract, the take up in Lancashire is low compared to other Local Authorities, partly due to where the host families live and the need for improved transition planning in social work.  The current contract for supported lodgings is with Barnardo's and M3 and it was noted that further work needed doing in terms of promoting this service.

Further issues that were raised for discussion at future meetings were:

·  Who assesses the Bed and Breakfast accommodation when care leavers are placed in them?

·  Who were children in care and care leavers competing against for housing?

·  In terms of new builds, it was suggested that the Council should be requesting at least one house per 100/200 built and propose this to housing and planning with young people present in the form of a meeting/conference.

Resolved:  that the Board noted the update.