Decision

The Council refers family households to whom it has a homelessness prevention or relief duty, and who have housing related support needs to different supported housing schemes. A new scheme has become available at XXXXXXX, where there is a total of eight self-contained one-bedroom flats, and one self-contained two-bedroom flat. The properties are owned by A2Dominion South and residents would pay their housing costs by claiming Housing Benefit and the cost of providing support would be paid by Council from Homelessness Prevention Grant. As A2Dominion South owns and manages the accommodation it is not possible for another organisation to provide the support.

Reasons for the decision

To continue to run a prudent, sustainable homelessness prevention and relief service, maximise the options available to residents, and minimise expenditure on costly emergency and temporary accommodation.
It should be noted that a criteria now for HPG is that at least 51% of HPG must be spent on prevention and relief and no more than 49% on temporary or emergency accommodation. With homelessness increasing, it is vital to continue to fund initiatives to prevent/relieve homelessness to protect this grant funding stream.
The Contract will start with funding the support at two flats and will staircase up to a maximum of nine separate flats over the period of the contract, with pro rata payment made on a flat by flat basis as/when additional flats become available to let.
These flats are vital in the Council’s efforts to prevent and relieve homelessness in its borough. They are a key part of managing homelessness within the borough and keeping emergency accommodation numbers as low as possible, whilst enabling the best outcome for customers.
The scheme provides value for money overall because without them, the Council would incur the costs for 9 households x 52 weeks in B&B, At a rate of £55 per night (the cheapest possible rate), the cost of emergency accommodation to the Council would be £20,020 per household compared to a cost of £5,938.32 per household for support for at XXXXXXXX for a year.. It is in the interests of local residents to be able to access supported housing close to the borough to rebuild their lives.. It also aligns with the Corporate Priorities of an inclusive borough, a well-run Council and providing decent and affordable housing.
There is budget available for this non key decision with the Housing Options budget, which was approved as part of the overall corporate budget at Full Council in February 2026.

Alternative options considered

MUST be completed / actions explained. If there are no alternative options, state 'None'.
Officers are not able to consider alternative options for the provision of support – as the accommodation is owned by A2Dominion South, and the support is inextricably tied to the accommodation which is owned by A2Dominion South.