This council notes:
- The national scandal of homelessness, with official figures showing over 4,000 people sleeping rough on any one night, in England last year and over 250,000 people in some form of homelessness.
- That figures for sleeping rough have increased by nearly 50% in the last two years.
- The charities, Crisis, Centrepoint, Homeless Link, Shelter and St Mungo’s have launched the End Rough Sleeping Campaign to call upon politicians of all parties to make a commitment to end rough sleeping and homelessness.
Working with our social housing and voluntary sector partners, Council reaffirms its commitment to ending rough sleeping and homelessness.
Council resolves to:
> Adopt as policy the aspirations outlined in the End Rough Sleeping Campaign that in [OUR AREA]
- no one is sleeping rough
- no one is living in shelters, hostels or other emergency accommodation without a plan to move into suitable and settled housing within an agreed appropriate timescale
- no one is homeless as a result of leaving the care system, prison or other state institution
- everyone at immediate risk of homelessness gets the help they need to prevents it happening
> Ask the chief executive to write to the charities involved with the End Rough Sleeping Campaign to give the campaign this Council’s support and to ask the campaign to register the Council as a supporter.
> Ask the chief executive to write to [LOCAL] Members of Parliament, urging them to support action at a government level, including:
- Adequately funding local government and local health services enable them to properly undertake their duties to tackle homelessness and causes of homelessness
- Ensuring that the benefits system is contributing to stopping homelessness, not causing it
- Addressing issues in housing provision, including providing for longer and more stable private rental periods
- Ensuring that [OUR AREA] Local Plan has appropriate and affordable housing as a core priority.
Ensure that [OUR COUNCIL], and our social housing and voluntary sector partners, are doing everything we can to contribute to ending homelessness by asking the Leader to bring a report to Council outlining how our local services are working to end homelessness in the Borough.
Proposed by:
Seconded by: