Housing, homelessness and rough sleeping strategy

Our approach

We cannot meet local housing need and tackle homelessness alone.

We will work with partners across various sectors to address the challenges by:

Strengthening Development

The council is putting in place a number of measures to remove barriers and enhance development prospects in our area. These include:

  • maximising opportunities for new development and partnerships
  • investigating use of modern construction methods
  • joint supported accommodation boards/local boards to maximise potential collaborative development
  • launching a new local housing company to provide a flexible delivery vehicle to help meet the recently identified demand for sub-market / intermediate homes.
  • renewing and re-modernising our housing offer for older people to meet the needs and aspirations of the next generation
     

Reducing Homelessness

Focusing on prevention and earlier intervention through:

  • development of the required personal housing plans
  • refreshed housing pathways for vulnerable clients
  • developing partnerships and alternative housing options,
  • providing robust information and communication to enable households to better help themselves.
     

Educating tenants

Tenancy education and sustainment work is key to addressing any issues that may develop from the changes to the benefit system.

To address the impact of on-going welfare reform we are strengthening the work of our in-house sustainment teams and our partnership initiative with Citizen's Advice to build on the successful outcomes we have been achieving.

Working with the private rented sector

In the private rented sector we will:

  • continue to implement the government's mandatory licensing scheme.
  • work proactively with landlords (via our accredited landlord scheme) to improve standards and sustain tenancies.
  • take enforcement action against any landlord who acts illegally or puts residents lives at risk.
     

Supporting vulnerable people

To support vulnerable people we:

  • are working closely with Hertfordshire's Children's Services, Adult Services and Healthcare teams to understand the housing demand and future support needs of vulnerable children and adults in our area.
  • have developed joint housing protocols to support 16 and 17 year olds and children leaving care.
  • have created multi-agency local supported accommodation boards to ensure specialist housing pathways are in place and the supply of supported housing is increased.
  • will double the provision of our "Housing First" initiative for rough sleepers with addictions and complex needs.