Purpose

Members approved at Strategy
and Resources Committee on 5th June 2023 to note the
potential impact of the Security Force Assistance Scheme (Afghan
Relocations and Assistance Policy ARAP) on local housing need and
to accept the MOD’s original offer of 12 units of family
accommodation at RMB Chivenor.
 
The rationale behind the
decision being the potential impact on housing services in North
Devon following the local closure of 2 x bridging hotels and by
increasing the supply of temporary accommodation at RMB Chivenor
reduces the lack of supply and/or increased costs associated with
NDC’s statutory homeless duties.
 
Of these 12 units of
accommodation, 9 are already occupied and 3 further units will be
occupied by December 2023.
 
The Home Office have asked the
Council to agree to a further additional 6 units of accommodation
at RMB Chivenor, which would take the total allocation to 18
units.  NDC’s Housing Manager is
in close contact with the schools and local services to engage and
understand and manage local impact.
 
The Council receive funding of
circa £20,000 per refugee over 3 years on the basis of
agreement to the numbers within the scheme and these funds are used
to provide wrap around support.  Central
Government lease the properties directly through the MOD and if NDC
did not agree to the additional units, it is likely that the MOD
would carry on with the additional scheme numbers regardless of NDC
support, however the Council would then likely not receive the
above funding.
 
Decision on whether to accept
the additional 6 units of accommodation is required to feed back to
the Home Office and due to the timeline for decisions this cannot
wait until the next Strategy and Resources Committee in January
2024.
 

Content

To accept the MOD’s offer
of a further 6 units of family accommodation at RMB Chivenor for
the Afghanistan Resettlement Scheme, in addition to the current 12
units already occupied for the ARAP scheme.