At a meeting on 8 December 2025, Brent Council's cabinet approved a new Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy, a plan to procure more secure cycle parking, and a direct award for the Integrated Treatment Recovery Wellbeing and Substance Misuse Service. The cabinet also reviewed corporate performance and approved the Q2 performance report.

Here's a breakdown of the key discussion topics:

Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2026-2031

The cabinet adopted the final version of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2026 – 2031, following a public consultation. The strategy sets out five key commitments:

• Understanding homelessness
• Preventing homelessness
• Affordable supply of housing
• Good quality, affordable temporary accommodation for short spells
• Partnership working

The strategy acknowledges the homelessness emergency in Brent and aims to prevent residents from becoming homeless, increase the supply of affordable housing, improve temporary accommodation, and work in partnership with other organisations.

The council received feedback from over 200 residents, partners and officers. Key themes that emerged included the importance of partnership working, engaging with residents who have experienced homelessness, trauma-informed approaches, and accountability for delivery.

The final strategy includes strengthened references to partnership working, commitments to engage with residents who have experienced homelessness, and actions to improve data sharing and set clear expectations around social housing availability.

The strategy also recognises the need for the council to advocate to the government for policy, legislative, and funding changes to address the homelessness emergency.

The Homelessness Review that informed the strategy noted that in 2024/25, there were approximately 551 rough sleepers in Brent.

Councillor Fleur Donnelly-Jackson, Cabinet Member for Housing, said:

Homelessness is one of the most significant challenges affecting local authorities in the UK, including Brent. Every week, over 170 households approach the Council as homeless. There are currently 2,400 households and 3,500 children in temporary accommodation. 20 new households enter temporary accommodation each week.

Procurement of Secure Cycle Parking Provision

The cabinet approved the procurement of a five-year contract, with the option to extend for a further two years, for the supply, installation, management, maintenance, and cleaning of bike hangars/nests. The estimated total value of the contract is £1,500,000.

The contract will include the delivery of £650,000 of NCIL¹ funding for 2025/26 to support the expansion of secure cycle parking across the borough.

The council has received over 1,200 requests from residents awaiting a space in a bike hangar. There are currently over 150 bike hangars/nests installed across Brent.

Councillor Krupa Sheth, Cabinet Member for Public Realm & Enforcement, said the programme would bring wider community benefits including increasing access to secure cycle parking, encouraging active travel, reducing transport costs for residents, supporting health and wellbeing, and contributing to the borough's climate and environmental commitments.

Procurement of Integrated Treatment Recovery Wellbeing & Substance Misuse Service

The cabinet approved the direct award of the Integrated Treatment Recovery Wellbeing and Substance Misuse Service to VIA Community Ltd for a period of three years.

The report noted that the Brent Integrated Treatment Recovery Wellbeing and Substance Misuse Service was currently provided to the council by VIA Community Ltd.

The service delivers against the key priorities outlined in the 2021 National Drug Strategy: From Harm to Hope and this includes clinical prescribing (including relapse prevention), Treatment and Recovery Services, Care planned counselling service and recovery day programme, Outreach and engagement, Criminal Justice Interventions and Young Persons Early Intervention and Prevention Services.

The council received an additional grant called the Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Improvement Grant (DATRIG). From 1 April 2026 the DATRIG funding will be assimilated into the Public Health Grant.

Corporate Performance Update and Q2 Reporting

The cabinet noted the progress in developing and embedding enhanced arrangements for corporate performance reporting along with the Borough Plan 2025-26 performance reporting for Q2.

Of the 60 Borough Plan indicators reported, 52% were green, 18% red, and the remainder amber or contextual.

The report highlighted a number of red KPIs, including the number of households in temporary accommodation, the number of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) licensed within the borough, and the average number of days taken to process new benefit claims.