Homelessness Strategy 2008 - 2012

You can read the entire Homelessness Strategy below or access any segment of it by using the hyperlinks provided in the Strategy's Index.

Homelessness Strategy 2008 - 2012 Index

1. Acknowledgements

One of the Council´s objectives is to tackle homelessness as robustly as possible so that its effect on individuals and the community as a whole is minimised.

It is not an easy task and cannot be undertaken by any one organisation alone. Over the past 5 years much progress has been made and it is with this in mind that thanks and appreciation is given to Staff, Elected Members and Partner Organisations for their input and hard work throughout.

Thanks and appreciation is given to the specific service users who voluntarily offered their personal views and experiences of the services provided as well as the following who participated in a variety of stakeholder workshops during February 2008.

Citizens Advice Bureau
Family Welfare Association
Health visitors
16 plus, Leaving Care Service
Hyde HA
Swale HA
Reardon Properties
Avenue Lettings
Mental Health team
The Quays
Welfare Support, Sheppey College
YOT
Skillnet

Acknowledgements - Top

2. Foreword

Since the production of the first Homelessness Strategy in July 2003 significant progress has been made in reducing homelessness and improving homelessness services within the borough of Swale.

The Council has responded positively to the Communities and Local Government department's (CLG) changing agenda with regard to homelessness, in particular the shift towards prevention and partnership working.

The Council is pleased with its progress in adopting a more proactive approach to tackling homelessness with a number of positive and practical initiatives taking place.

Key successes have been:

Meeting the CLG target on reducing the number of households placed into B&B accommodation
Substantial reductions in bed & breakfast accommodation spend allowing this money to be redirected elsewhere
The number of households residing in temporary accommodation has fallen significantly. In these key areas the council has done well when compared to others, both nationally and regionally.
Evaluating and establishing homelessness services towards prevention and early intervention so that actual homelessness is reduced
Promoting a cultural shift in favour of prevention rather than process.
Substantial reduction in the number of homelessness applications made and those requiring re-housing, because of our focus on early intervention and prevention
Provision of a variety of effective housing options in place so that actual homelessness is prevented
The bringing back of the housing advice service in house coupled with the re- introduction of the Housing Register service, leading to a more seamless service for customers in one location.

Key challenges for the future:

To continue and improve the progress and performance made to date in reducing homelessness in the borough.
To identify how those affected by homelessness are helped into employment and/ or training schemes
To further reduce, the number of households living in temporary accommodation by 2010.
To further strengthen partnership working so that the council fully meets its strategic objectives

This Strategy 2008- 2012 will build on the very positive work undertaken to date, ensuring that a long term vision is taken and that the homelessness service is robust and responsive to changing needs. The Council is determined to continue working with all relevant partner organisations and build further on the links already made.

Whilst it is recognised that there have been a number of notable successes, the Council will not be complacent and it recognises that there are a number of areas where more work is needed as highlighted by the recent review.

These will be addressed through the Delivery Plan which will steer the 2008-2012 Homelessness Strategy to success.

Foreword - Top

3. Executive Summary

3.1 Vision

The Council's vision in respect of homelessness is: To prevent homelessness and assist those who become unavoidably homeless by offering realistic housing options and choice.

3.2 Aims

To work towards achieving its vision the Council has established the following aims:

to prevent homelessness through offering realistic options and choice
to provide good quality temporary accommodation
to assess the needs of the homeless and target resources effectively
to continue to improve effective partnership working
to meet CLG and other performance targets
to monitor and respond to external economic and social changes
to ensure nobody is disadvantaged by homelessness

3.3 Review

A review of homelessness in Swale was undertaken in February 2008. This included consultation with key stakeholders and service users through public meetings, face to face and telephone interviews. It considered data trends, service delivery, achievements and gaps together with strategic priorities for the next 4 years.

3.4 Key Challenges

The homelessness review has identified the following Key challenges for the future:

To continue and improve the progress and performance made to date in reducing homelessness in the borough.
To identify how those affected by homelessness are helped into employment and/ or training schemes
To further reduce the number of households living in temporary accommodation by 2010.
To further strengthen partnership working so that the council fully meets its strategic objectives

3.5 Resources

The key resources for achievement of the strategic objectives set out in the Homelessness Strategy Delivery Plan include:

Social Housing stock – approximately 8000 permanent housing units
Council Staff – specialist teams comprising housing advice and options, housing register operating in liaison with a range of internal services including housing benefits, private sector housing and staying put.
Partnership arrangements – a range of quality partnerships with external organisations which the Council is committed to strengthening and expanding.
Financial – including from the Councils General Fund, Government Homelessness Grant and external Partner contributions.

Executive Summary - Top

4. Introduction

Under the Homelessness Act 2002 there is a legal requirement for all Councils to develop a Homelessness Strategy.

The Strategy must set out the local authority's plans for the prevention of homelessness and for securing that sufficient accommodation and support are or will be available for people who become homeless or who are at risk of becoming homeless. This can be provided directly or indirectly as long as its provision is effective and appropriate.

The Strategy should comply with existing equality and diversity legislation as well as meeting the needs of new legislation as it comes into force. In addition it is incumbent upon each Council to make sure that the Strategy is consistent with other local plans and strategies that relate to and/or have some impact on homelessness both to the individual and the community as a whole.

The Homelessness Strategy is a key component of the Council's Housing Strategy which is produced in response to national Housing policy and the desire of the council to best meet local needs. The Government's strategy for tackling homelessness is outlined inSustainable Communities: Homes for AllandSustainable Communities: settled homes; changing lives, published in 2005.

Much has been achieved since our first Strategy was published in July 2003 and as this Strategy draws to a close it is pleasing to note its success.

Following on from the Homelessness Strategy 2003-2008 the Council, in liaison with key stakeholders including service users, has completed a comprehensive review of homelessness in the Borough. This has contributed to a clear understanding of the key challenges related to homelessness facing Swale in future years and assisted in shaping the 2^ndHomelessness Strategy to build on previous strengths, particularly in relation to homelessness prevention, address gaps in service provision and meet forthcoming challenges.

This Strategy has been developed in line with best practice and the requirements of Communities and Local Government (CLG).

In order to drive forward the Strategy, a Delivery Plan will be used to monitor for continued improvement to services whether provided by the council or partner agencies.

Introduction - Top

5. Homelessness in the Swale area: The Homelessness Review

In early 2008 the Council undertook a comprehensive review of homelessness. This included analysing data and trends and consulting staff, stakeholders, elected Members and service users. We believe that this review has contributed to a robust and holistic understanding of the key homelessness related challenges facing Swale. The review has helped determine the direction and content of the 2^ndstrategy so that it builds on previous successes particularly in relation to homelessness prevention.

The review has confirmed that significant improvements have been made over the last 5 years in terms of performance and partnership working. There are a number of key findings that are discussed below.

5.1. Key Issues

Key Issues that the review has looked at are;

The principle causes of homelessness and how it can be prevented.
Current levels of homelessness
The provision of various housing options and choice given to households facing homelessness (preventative work)
The use of and length of stay in temporary accommodation
How the Council and its partners are performing compared with national and regional performance comparisons
Customer views and expectations of the service provided
The views of our partner agencies

5.2. Key Statistics

60% of concealed households (adult children living with parents) cannot afford to buy a one bedroom flat and 40% are unable to afford to rent privately. In addition to this, household formation is forecast to rise at over two times the level of population growth.
Between July and September 2007 66% of homelessness acceptances were from people aged between 16 and 24
Numbers residing in temporary accommodation has fallen significantly and ahead of the South East Region as a whole
As at 13^thMarch 2008 there were 4349 of applicants registered on the housing Register compared to 1500 in 1999 and 4100 in 2007 representing a growth of 249 households since 2007.
The number of families placed into Bed and breakfast has fallen dramatically from 200 in 2005/06 to only 20 in 2007/08
The cost of owner occupation has increased by 4 times, with the average mortgage now at 4.36 times salary (ninth highest house price to income ratio in Kent).
The cost of rented accommodation has also increased by 40% over recent years (from £500 per calendar month to £700 per calendar month for a 3 bed house).
Over 90% of accepted households had at least 1 child or there was an expectant mother.

5.3 Key findings:

The shift towards effective prevention work has produced a significant decrease in the number of accepted cases for re-housing. In the year 2005/06 there were 112 households accepted. A year later in 2006/07 it had reduced to 44 and the past year it was 45 indicating that this number is becoming more stable.

Early intervention and preventative measures have proved to be successful in reducing the numbers of accepted households. However in the latter half of 2007 there were indications that the numbers of new cases opened were increasing. The reasons for this need to be considered.

The use of a matrix of different measures tailored to meet individual circumstances has delivered substantial progress.

The number of households residing in temporary accommodation has reduced substantially and is ahead of the 2010 target.

Performance comparisons both at a National and Regional level have been largely favourable.

The Rent Deposit Scheme has been a valuable contributor to the prevention of homelessness.

In April 2007 Swale Borough Council extended its in-house service by taking back its statutory Housing Advice service from a voluntary agency provider. This was followed in January 2008 with the full re-introduction of the Housing Register service. The re-introduction of the Housing Register in January 2008 has consolidated this one stop shop approach.

The number of households applying to join the Housing Register has been consistently increasing since 1999.

Young people under 24 are accessing homelessness services more than other age groups.

"Parents no longer willing to accommodate" remains by far the main reason for homelessness followed by "relationship breakdown".

5.4. Gaps/weaknesses

The homelessness review has identified a number of weaknesses that will be addressed through the Delivery Plan.

A framework is required to drive forward the Strategy and help develop a co-ordinated multi agency approach to service provision. This could be achieved through an improved Homelessness Forum
Further protocols, service level agreements and move on arrangements are needed with Partners to improve support to clients and reduce time spent in temporary accommodation
Greater understanding and information sharing is needed so that Partners and service users have access to up to date information
Better consultative mechanisms need to be in place so there is continual cycle of information to implement the Strategy and respond to service needs
There is a need to provide more Bed and Breakfast across the borough rather than in one location, outside the area
Respite / crash pad accommodation for young people so that they may leave home for a temporary period whilst family relationships can be improved, facilitating safe return and reduction in parental homelessness
Look at ways to help homeless people back into employment or training

5.5. Priorities for Action

This section provides a summary of the key issues identified as a result of the review of homelessness carried out during the first quarter of 2008.

Housing Options

To continue to adopt a proactive and preventative approach to reduce the levels of homelessness and support the provision of housing advice and assistance services
Modernise the approach to Housing Options offering greater access, more choice, more housing options and increased access to private sector opportunities
Explore how housing options work can link to employment and training opportunities

Targeting Resources

Focus on getting the best use from the resources that are available for different client groups
Revisiting structures and targeted resources within the Housing Options Team
Evaluating the value for money achieved from use of CLG homelessness grant
Co-ordinating partnerships to achieve increased resources

Accommodation

To ensure that appropriate support is provided to homeless households to access and maintain permanent accommodation across all tenures
Work to reduce the amount of time spent in temporary accommodation and improve its quality
Reduce reliance on B&B by exploring all other possible options
Eliminate the use of B&B for 16/17 year olds

Consultation

To develop mechanisms for improved consultation with service users and partners
Consult with service users regularly and listen to and act on the results of consultation

Legislation and external influences

To monitor and respond to demands and pressures as a consequence of legislative and economic changes

Joint Working

To continue to develop partnership working to improve effective advice, move on and support services to prevent homelessness
To investigate whether further protocols, partnership working and SLAs could be beneficial to more effective working
To ensure adequate frameworks exist to ensure cohesion between all partners
To revitalise the Homelessness Forum which will be the vehicle for delivering the Strategy
To continue to monitor performance and share good practice across Borough boundaries

Specific Client Groups

To understand the needs of diverse client groups in Swale and adopt effective strategies for them
To improve the use of targeting so that specific needs are met.

Homelessness in Swale - Top

6. Consultation as part of developing the strategy

We have worked closely with a range of stakeholders in order to conduct the review of homelessness and to develop this strategy. Full details of this are set out in the homelessness review document. A series of workshops was held with partner agencies at the beginning of the review process to ensure their views and comments were taken into account. Partner agencies were asked for their top priorities for the new Strategy. During June 2008 as the final strategy was being developed, a Stakeholder Conference was held to engage partners in shaping the Delivery Plan. Results are summarised below. Whilst it is recognised that these are the priorities for partner agencies they must be considered in light of the Council's strategic aims and within available resources.

Development of a comprehensive directory of services, on-line, to show exactly what services are available, contact names and numbers
Improving provision for vulnerable people
Move on - maintaining capacity in supported housing schemes
Improved multi-agency approach - at strategic and operational level
Ensuring TA is provided across the 3 main towns
Housing 'Start Up Pack' for new tenants who do not have any real belongings (including basic provisions)
Rent deposit scheme for under 25's
Crash pads for young people
Housing "drop in" surgeries in Sheppey and Faversham
More training for agencies on prevention and to know what's going on in Swale

The council also undertook an exercise which engaged 20 past users of the service to seek their views and experiences. The evaluation focused on how the homelessness service was perceived in terms of customer service, the processes employed by officers, the provision of temporary accommodation and other preventative measures offered. Consideration was also to be made of any gaps in provision.

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7. Preventing Homelessness

The Council already has a range of tools and systems in place to prevent homelessness. There is clear evidence that the work involved in prevention is leading to a reduction in the number of cases where households are accepted as eligible for accommodation. The Council has its own Housing Options Team which has been successful in reducing levels of formal homelessness. However, the benefits of partnership working are substantial.

The council works with the following partners:

Community Police
Police D.V unit
Connexions
Sheppey Community College
Social Services
16+ team
Swale Housing
Domestic Violence Forum
Casa Support
CAB

and has additional agreements as below:

The Citizen's Advice Bureau provides money advice at the Quays Direct Access Hostel for single person households, for which the Council's Housing Service is a major referrer.
The Council's Housing Service, Swale Housing and Citizens Advice Bureau, in partnership with Council Tax and Housing Benefit services are working towards an arrangement regarding Housing Benefit overpayments to ensure they are affordable for claimants.
Regular monitoring meetings with Citizens Advice Bureau to discuss Money Advice, housing specialist and benefits advisor services.
Joint training with partners

By increasing the number and scope of existing partnership arrangements the council will seek to address these and other hard-core areas. The Council will therefore seek to extend its relationships with existing partners and seek new partners where appropriate.

Preventing Homelessness - Top

8. Housing Services and Employment

It is well documented that unemployment and poverty are factors associated with homelessness and the Council is aware that this is also the case in Swale. This makes it very important that joint working is effective in connecting homeless people not only to available opportunities for work and training but also education to help give people the right skills to meet employers' needs. In order to improve the prospects of those affected by homelessness the council will:

find ways to assess the impact of homelessness on employment opportunities and access to training across the borough.
seek to ensure that those affected by homelessness are not disadvantaged in accessing employment and training opportunities.
strive to successfully connect homeless people to existing Employment and Training Programmes
ensure that relevant organisations consider people who are homeless within their strategies and plans

In doing so this would be consistent with the aim of generating mixed and thriving communities as stated in "Ends and Means: The future roles of social housing in England" published by John Hills, February 2007.

Housing Services and Employment - Top

9. Accommodation for Homeless Households

As can be seen from the homelessness review there will be a continuing need for temporary accommodation.

The review also shows that Customers perceive the private rented sector as unaffordable and insecure, and private landlords in Swale are often reluctant to accept Housing Benefit. A number of people interviewed for the review felt they had no real choice regarding what to do when they found themselves faced with homelessness.

It is noted that although temporary accommodation should be available across the borough, Bed and Breakfast accommodation is in short supply and should not form part of the long term strategy. Provision of adequate move on accommodation is required to free up temporary accommodation speedily.

Given that most of the accepted households contain children or an expectant mother sufficient accommodation needs to be in place to meet this demand.

Accommodation for Lomeless Households - Top

10. Supporting the Homeless and those who are threatened with Homelessness

There have been a number of key successes since the adoption of the 2003 -2008 Homelessness Strategy. These have included:

Effective use of the Rent Deposit Scheme
Further reduction in the number of households living in temporary accommodation
The provision of effective floating support for those facing homelessness
A number of county wide joint working protocols and SLA's

However the homelessness review has also identified a number of areas that require further attention. Areas include:

Prevention of homelessness from friends/family no longer willing to accommodate
Those becoming homeless through violence or harassment
Hostel accommodation being used for clients with support needs and therefore the length of stay is often extended due to the lack of appropriate 'move-on' accommodation.
Better working with Social Services specifically in relation to young people
Housing start up packs for new tenants who do not have any real belongings
Crash pads for young people so as to offer "Respite" with the aim of preventing homelessness
Development of a directory of services so that service users and partners have up to date information.

Supporting the Homeless - Top

11. Predicting Future Levels of Homelessness

The results of the Housing Needs Survey undertaken in 2005 revealed that fewer Housing Association properties are becoming void and available for re-letting every year. This trend continues. The supply of new build affordable accommodation is also falling, which has a negative result on the number of new affordable houses available for letting every year. 60% of concealed households (adult children living with parents) cannot afford to buy a one bedroom flat and 40% are unable to afford to rent privately.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has predicted that there could be a 50 per cent increase in repossessions in 2008 to levels not seen since the mid-1990s. Mortgage Lenders are also tightening their criteria in view of the present credit crunch and this will reduce the options for those with imperfect credit records.

Homelessness as a result of family and friends no longer willing to accommodate is substantial. This will continue to disproportionately affect young people.

Predicting Future Levels of Homelessness - Top

12. Vision and Aims

12.1 Vision

The Council's Vision in respect of Homelessness is:to prevent homelessness and assist those who become unavoidably homeless by offering realistic housing options and choice.

The Homelessness Strategy reflects this vision and sets out related priorities, aims and specific objectives for achievement. It also reflects the Council's overarching Corporate Plan for improving the lives of the people that live in, work in and visit Swale. The Plan includes the following priorities for Housing:

Work with partners to develop a new housing strategy
Provide assistance to improve the poorer private sector housing and reduce the number of empty properties across Swale
Continue to work with partners to develop affordable housing options that meet the needs of the Swale communities
Continue to work with partners to prevent homelessness and to meet the housing needs of vulnerable people in Swale

12.2 Key Aims and Objectives

This section identifies the Homelessness Strategy aims and objectives for the years 2008-2012. The planned actions and detailed targets to achieve these aims are set out in the Homelessness Strategy Delivery Plan.

Strategic Aim One: To prevent homelessness through offering realistic options and choice.

Our three objectives are:

To enable more people to access the private sector.
To improve information to customers about housing options and the delivery of the housing service.
To increase the prevention options for young people.

Strategic Aim Two: To provide good quality temporary accommodation (TA), minimise the length of stay and reduce numbers.

Our four objectives are:

To improve the temporary accommodation at Tylden House.
To explore the possibilities of providing bed and breakfast accommodation in the Borough.
To increase the options for move on accommodation from TA.
To extend the use of the rent deposit scheme to provide move on accommodation from supported accommodation.

Strategic Aim Three: To work in partnership to maximise housing options and improve the quality of life for local people.

Our seven objectives are:

To assist those under-occupying their homes and wishing to move.
To assist those living in over-crowded conditions.
To review the operation of CBL to ensure maximum customer satisfaction and minimum void times.
To increase the level of money and debt advice to residents.
To fully implement the Prevention of Homelessness Protocol with housing associations.
To increase options available for people subject to domestic violence. (DV)
To develop joint monitoring and training.

Strategic Aim Four: To provide quality, accessible services to all customers.

Our four objectives are:

To improve consultation with customers about the service and how it could be improved.
To review and improve service delivery at the front desk including interviewing facilities.
To ensure a comprehensive understanding of the needs of BME, disabled and vulnerable groups to ensure that the service meets those needs.
Provide housing options tailored to the needs of travellers.

Vision and Aims - Top

13. Strategic Links

The Government has a clear agenda with respect to tackling homelessness with a number of key objectives. This strategy has been developed to ensure that its priorities for action are in keeping with the Governments key objectives and are within the context of National Policy framework

Government key priorities are:

Ending the use of B&B for families with children (except in emergencies and then for no more than 6 weeks)
Reducing rough sleeping level to two thirds below the level recorded in 1998
Reducing levels of repeat homelessness
Reducing levels of homelessness against main causes
Reducing the inappropriate use of temporary accommodation by reducing the amount of time households spend in temporary accommodation, the number of moves homeless people have to make and enabling them to maintain their support networks.
Reducing levels of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) homelessness

The Councils overarching vision is set out in the Corporate Plan 2007-2011 "Shaping the future of Swale". The Plan sets out how the council will deliver essential services and takes into account 4 main corporate priorities that provide a framework for policy.

The Homelessness Strategy 2008-2011 has clear links to a number of council strategies; the key relevant strategies are set out below:

Strategic Document	Links
Housing Strategy	The Homelessness Strategy forms part of the Council's Housing strategy. The Delivery Plan is a key component to help meet the objectives of the Housing Strategy.
Kent Supporting People Strategy	The key aim of the policy is to ensure; Focus on delivery of housing related support Enable vulnerable people to live in the community Partnership working between Statutory and voluntary organisations and stakeholders
Kent Empty Property Initiative	To increase the number of empty properties returned to use. Engage and work with the Private rented sector to make Swale a better place to live and work
Swale Local Strategic Partnership	Through partnership working it aims to ensure economic, social and environmental well being within sustainable communities. This is in the process of being revised to focus on regeneration, which will strengthen the focus on delivering to tackle housing needs
Community Safety Strategy	The joint aim is to improve quality of life in the community and to help individuals and families with some of the issues that can lead to homelessness such as the reduction of drug and alcohol misuse through the provision of appropriate advice and help and tackling domestic violence.
Sustainable Communities Plan	To create sustainable neighbourhoods so that individuals and communities can live happier and more fulfilled lives
South East Regional housing strategy	Increased partnership working with the Private rented sector to bring more homes back into use
Local Development Framework	This sets the framework for development within Swale and this will include the provision of affordable housing.

Strategic Links - Top

14. Resources

There are a number of resources available to us in order to enable us to meet the requirements of this strategy and to move forward on delivering the action plan. These are:

Social Housing stock- There are in the region of 8000units of permanent social housing accommodation within the borough. We know that this is not enough to meet identified need and that more work needs to be done to open up access to private rented homes.

Staff- now that services are all under one roof within the Housing Options Team, the Council has a broader staff resource base to tackle homelessness and address wider housing needs issues. We want to ensure that we have the right staffing resources in the right place and will be commissioning work early on in the life of this strategy to review this.

Partner arrangements- There are already a number of very good partnership arrangements in place that make an essential contribution to helping people affected by homelessness. The council is committed to strengthening existing arrangements and maximising on opportunities to build new relationships and to make sure that partner agencies have a stake in service development.

Financial- In addition to its funding from the Councils General Fund, the Council has made use of its CLG Homelessness Grant to fund a range of items including the Rent Deposit Scheme, specialist advice and support for people suffering from domestic violence.

Other- we know that we have other resources that we can tap into such as the private sector and our own skills and expertise in terms of delivering housing advice and actively preventing homelessness through casework. Developing these areas is detailed in the delivery plan.

Key Risks

There are considered to be a number of key risks which may adversely affect successful delivery of the Strategy. These are outlined below and will be kept under review as the Strategy is progressed:

Deteriorating economic climate;

Rising levels of mortgage repossessions (48% increase nationally in August 2008 compared to August 2007)
Reduction in house sales and finance availability making the market increasingly difficult, particularly for first time buyers
Reduction in completions of shared ownership homes
Risk of landlords being repossessed resulting in tenant evictions
Reduction of private rented housing as the market reduces due to repossessions and the ending of buy-to-let mortgages

Temporary Accommodation;

The effects of the current economic climate will make it increasing difficulty for people to address their housing issues
This could lead to increased levels of homelessness and resultant demand for limited temporary accommodation, making it increasingly difficult to place homeless applicants in temporary accommodation within the Borough.

Resources

A lack of alternative housing options due to the impact of the economic climate may result in more people remaining as social housing tenants thereby reducing the number of properties becoming available to meet housing need
Potential reduction in the number of new build homes as developers withdraw from the market due to the current economic climate thereby reducing housing options
The combined impacts of the current economic climate may put pressure on both human and financial resources in terms of staff to deal with increased demands and increased budget costs for temporary accommodation and other forms of preventative assistance

Monitoring and Review

Effective monitoring and review of progress in achieving the objectives and targets of the Strategy is essential. It is also important that this process embraces the views and influence of key stakeholders.

The Swale Homelessness Forum comprising a range of key stakeholders and Agencies involved in homelessness related issues has been set up and will meet regularly to undertake monitoring of progress and to keep the ongoing focus of the Strategy under review to ensure emerging needs are duly considered.

Periodic reporting of progress and related issues will also be made to the Councils Performance Board comprising Executive Members of the Council.

Ongoing monitoring of progress will be further assisted by the introduction by the Council of a comprehensive computerised performance management system termed 'Covalent' enabling ongoing tracking, evaluation and reporting of achievements.

Resources - Top

15. The Delivery Plan

In order to meet objectives of the Homelessness Strategy 2008 - 2012 a clear Delivery Plan is in place. This prioritises activities and allows effective targeting of resources and monitoring throughout the next three year period. The Delivery Plan is attached as an Appendix to this strategy, but because it is a live and ever changing document, the most recently updated version is always available on this website and can be downloaded below.

The Delivery Plan - Top

Downloadable files

Homelessness Strategy Delivery Plan

Pdf file format. Opens in a new browser window

Supporting People Induction Pack

External link to KCC's supporting people induction pack. (PDF)