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RESOLVED:
 
Hackney Council
notes:
 
1. 
Despite the previous Government’s commitment in 2019 to end
rough sleeping by 2024, estimates show there has been an increase
in rough sleeping in all regions of England, with London and the
south-east accounting for almost half of the rise.
2. 
Rough sleeping increased under the previous Government, with the
number of rough sleepers having increased by 74% since 2010.
3. 
The most recent annual count by the London-only Combined
Homelessness and Information Network (Chain) showed 11,993 sleeping
rough in London between April 2023 and March 2024. This marks a
significant 19% increase from last year's total of 10,053.
4. 
The majority of people sleeping rough in England are male, aged
over 26 years old and from the UK. Meanwhile the Office for
National Statistics found men who are living on the street
outnumber women at a ratio of six to one.
5. 
Women are often missing from rough sleeping counts because they
tend to be less visible than male rough sleepers due to the risk of
violence on the streets. A coalition of homelessness and
women’s organisations in London conducted a women’s
rough sleeping census in October 2022 and found 154 women,
including trans and non-binary women, sleeping rough in London in a
week. That number was higher than previously thought with an extra
71 women found across 13 London boroughs when the data was compared
to the latest official rough sleeping count.
6. 
The cost of living crisis has exacerbated longstanding drivers of
homelessness, such as a shortage of affordable housing, an often
punitive welfare system and increasingly stretched health
services.
7. 
Local authorities and homelessness charities state that street
homelessness is just the tip of the iceberg and estimate the number
of people living without a home is much higher than the figures
show, with many people in informal living arrangements such as sofa
surfing.
8. 
The number of households living in temporary accommodation in
England are at an all-time high. As of March 2023, 104,510
households were living in TA, including 65,000 households with
children.
9. 
Over 3,000 households in Hackney were among more than 300,000
nationwide who spent Christmas without a home. In Hackney this
includes 3,500 children, and around 50% of TA placements are now
outside our borough, severing people from their livelihoods and
support networks.
10.Like other local authorities,
Hackney has seen a precipitous increase in the number of
homelessness applications. The number of households seeking support
is up by 44% from 2017/18 to 2021/22. The Council anticipates the
number of approaches will continue to increase at around 8% per
year.
11.Hackney’s Homelessness and
Rough Sleeping Strategy, adopted at Cabinet in December, will
ensure we strengthen the advice, support and tools available to
people at risk of homelessness need, and make sure that no one in
Hackney is left facing homelessness alone. This will include
maximising access to short and long-term affordable housing,
tackling rough sleeping and addressing homelessness among young
people in Hackney.
12.Private rents in Hackney rose to
an average of £2,290 in April 2024, an annual increase of
11.2% from £2,059 in April 2023. This was higher than the
rise in London (10.8%) over the year. 32.2% of households in
Hackney live in the private rented sector.
13.The number of homelessness
presentations made by refugees and people seeking asylum evicted
from Home Office accommodation increased by 39% from September to
October 2023, according to research by London Councils.
14.In 2023 homelessness among armed
forces veterans in England rose by 14%. Local authorities must
consider the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant when making
decisions about homeless applications and when drafting
homelessness strategies
 
Hackney Council
further notes:
 
15.That the Mayor of London’s
Rough Sleeping Charter was created by a pan-London coalition working to end rough sleeping,
and enshrines principles and actions needed to tackle the issue; an
example of London’s commitment to working together to end
rough sleeping for good.
16.The Charter sets out six
principles for signatories to uphold in their work including:
a. 
Accepting that whilst people sleeping rough may have problems, they
aren’t problem people
b. 
Recognising that everyone rough sleeping is unique, and there
should be meaningful options for all, regardless of immigration
status
c. 
Ensuring that people sleeping rough are safe from violence, abuse,
theft and discrimination and that they have the full protection of
the law
 
17.The Charter also includes key
actions that signatories commit to undertake and support:
a. 
Acknowledging people when they talk to you or ask you for money,
even if you decide you would rather not give it to them
directly
b. 
If you see someone sleeping rough who needs help, let Streetlink London know
c. 
Volunteer, donate, or support a charity who has joined this
pledge
 
Hackney Council
resolves to:
 
18.Ask the Mayor of Hackney to sign
the London Charter to End Rough Sleeping on behalf of Hackney
Council.
19.Continue to call on the
Government to:
a. 
Remove the cap on Housing Benefit subsidy for TA, which is
currently set at the 2011 Local Housing Allowance rate, to enable
local authorities to provide more TA locally.
b. 
Increase the Homelessness Prevention Grant.
c. 
Implement an emergency increase in Discretionary Housing Payments
in the current financial year.
d. 
Provide additional grant funding to acquire Private Rented Stock
released by landlords (currently 40% of all sales listings in
London).
e. 
Invest in new build affordable housing – bringing
London’s Affordable Homes Programme target back up to at
least 35,000 homes.
f. 
Increase the 40% cap on the proportion of individual sites that can
be funded through Right to Buy receipts and allow boroughs to use
receipts in conjunction with grant funding (particularly Affordable
Homes Programme grant).
g. 
Address the financial shortfall created by the 7% rent cap in
2023/24
h. 
Deliver a long-term rent settlement post-2025 which puts social
housing on a sustainable financial footing
i. 
Fully fund the new Decent Homes Standard and ensure a long-term and
more easily accessible funding pot for home retrofit measures.
j. 
Make an early decision on Rough Sleeping Initiative funding for
2025/6 to ensure continuity of service and ensure work to end rough
sleeping can be properly planned and delivered through a long term
commitment to the RSI funding scheme.
k. 
Support the expansion of Housing First projects through additional
funding and detailed evaluation of effectiveness.
l. 
Recognise the increasing housing requirements to support rough
sleepers with multiple and complex physical and mental health needs
through provision of additional supported accommodation that is
psychologically and trauma informed.
 
 
Proposer: Cllr Joseph
Ogundemuren
Seconder: Cllr Sharon
Patrick