Purpose

To enter into a nominations agreement with Developing Health and Independence (DHI) to secure private rented sector discharges for homeless households into private rented accommodation.

Decision

To enter into a nominations agreement with Developing Health and Independence (DHI) to secure private rented sector discharges for homeless households into private rented accommodation.

Reasons for the decision

Resonance are a social impact investor, and their Housing Pathways Fund uses institutional investment (including significant investment by Gloucestershire Pension Fund) to deliver good quality affordable housing specifically to help households out of homelessness in Gloucestershire – primarily in Cheltenham, Tewkesbury, and Gloucester with a focus on the M5 corridor. Aside from providing positive impact to homeless household’s health and wellbeing (homelessness is bad for your health) the provision of accommodation enables homeless households to move out of temporary accommodation and reduce our associated costs.

Developing Health and Independence (DHI) is the organisation appointed by Resonance to manage their private sector investment portfolio within Gloucestershire, and DHI are responsible for receiving nominations from local authorities within the county.

The proposed nominations agreement sets out how the Council and DHI will work together to progress nominations in a timely manner, how we will work together as partners to manage risk and ensure effective housing solutions.

Alternative options considered

Utilising Resonance properties to discharge the Council’s homeless duties will result in reduced lengths of stays in temporary accommodation and consequently reduced temporary accommodation spend. The option not to work with Resonance/DHI would result in negative outcomes for our homeless customers and is not recommended.