To receive declarations of personal and prejudicial interest (if any) from Members/Officers in accordance with the provisions of the Members Code of Conduct adopted by Council from 1 September 2008 (including whipping declarations)

Councillor Steven Bletsoe declared a prejudicial interest in Agenda Item 4, Housing Support Programme Strategy (Homelessness Strategy) 2022-2026 as Operations Manager for Wales, for the National Residential Landlords Association.

To receive for approval the minutes of the meeting of the 20 02 23

RESOLVED:                   That the minutes of meetings of the Subject

                                        Overview and Scrutiny Committee 3 dated 20

                                        February 2023 be approved as a true and accurate

                                        record.

Invitees

Councillor Rhys Goode - Cabinet Member for Housing, Planning and Regeneration

Carys Lord - Chief Officer Finance, Performance and Change

Martin Morgans – Head of Performance and Partnerships

Ryan Jones – Strategic Housing Commissioning Manager 

Debbie Thomas – Head of Policy and Communications, Crisis Cymru 

The Head of Performance and Partnerships presented the report, the purpose of which was to update the Committee on the draft Housing Support Programme (HSP) strategy (Homelessness Strategy) 2022-2026.

The Chairperson thanked the Head of Performance and Partnerships and Members discussed the following with Invitees:

·       Housing for Armed Services veterans, the different circumstances a veteran may find themselves in and the local authorities awareness.

·       The report clearly mapping out succinct actions, identifying what some of the challenges were. Members considering the main points in terms of early prevention and multidisciplinary working.

·       How the progress of the plan was to be measured, the individual objectives and what data would be used to measure those objectives.

The Chairperson advised that there were no further questions for the Invitees, thanked the Invitees for their attendance and, advised that they may leave the meeting.

RESOLVED:                           Following detailed consideration and discussions

                                           with Cabinet Members and Officers, the

                                           Committee made the following

                                           Recommendations: 

1.     To strengthen the Strategy in terms of support for veterans and Armed Services personnel.

2.     To maximise effectiveness of the Strategy, that the strategic priority objectives be reviewed to ensure that they are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timebound) and set out in the Action Plan and the timescales be broken down further detailing the year and month in which each action is planned to be achieved, so that progress can be clearly measured.

3.     That the Strategy be made more user friendly and as easy to navigate as possible.

And the Committee requested:

A route map setting out the broad working practice model of what happens when someone presents as homeless, including the stages, timescales and type of services offered and where appropriate, average timescales for rehousing.

The Committee discussed the draft outline FWP and Members welcomed the Levelling Up Fund – Porthcawl Pavilion report topic but felt it may be more effective to scrutinise this at an early date and asked whether the topic could potentially be considered suitable for a briefing session.

RESOLVED:                The Committee approved the FWP in Appendix A,

                                     subject to the addition of the above, noted the

                                     Recommendations Monitoring Action Sheet in

                                     Appendix B and noted that the FWP,

                                     Recommendations Monitoring Action Sheet and any

                                     updates from the Committee would be reported to

                                     the next meeting of COSC.

To consider any item(s) of business in respect of which notice has been given in

accordance with Part 4 (paragraph 4) of the Council Procedure Rules and which the person presiding at the meeting is of the opinion should by reason of special circumstances be transacted at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

None.