"Partnership working is key to driving system change" - CHC gives evidence to Senedd committee on the Homelessness Bill

On 26 June, members joined Head of policy and research, Elly Lock, in giving evidence to the Senedd’s Local Government and Housing Committee, as part of its scrutiny on the Homelessness and Social Housing Allocation Bill.

The Bill follows the White Paper on ending homelessness in Wales and introduces a range of new provisions to reform homelessness and social housing allocation systems within Wales.

Elly was joined in the session by:

• Helen White - Chief Executive (Taff Housing)
• Clare Way - Director of Operations (Tai Tarian)
• Luke Takeuchi - Deputy Chief Executive (Beacon Cymru)
• Suzanne Mazzone - Executive Director of Housing Services (Clwyd Alyn)
• Sarah Schofield - Director of Customers and Communities (Adra)

Key takeaways

A range of topics were discussed, including:

• The need for more supply alongside legislation - the right type of housing in the right areas, accompanied by the right support.

• A partnership approach to allocations to meet the needs of tenants and communities

• Not driving people to a point of crisis to access social housing.

• The importance of a cooperative and multi-agency approach in meeting people’s housing and support needs.

• Protecting vulnerable people who do not have a local connection to Wales.

• What is needed to make a success of the help to retain accommodation proposal, including testing the Welsh Government’s assumptions on how many people might require this

• Potential risk of reclassification of RSLs into the public sector, and the cumulative impact this poses

Commenting after the session, Elly said,

"RSLs have social good as their core purpose, and ending homelessness is something the sector is committed to playing its role in.

It was great to have the opportunity today to highlight how the legislation could be improved to ensure that it delivers on its aims.

We think partnership working is at the heart of what will drive the system change we need across those working in the homelessness space. There is much to be celebrated in the Bill and we look forward to following its passage through the Senedd"

Further recommendations

To help the committee in its scrutiny, we also submitted a detailed response to its consultation.

In that response, we set out support for the principles of the Bill, with the sector ready to assist in ending homelessness. However, we emphasise that additional affordable homes and sufficient funding are crucial alongside the new legislation, and advocate for implementing recommendations from the Affordable Housing Taskforce report.

We stress that accuracy in the legislation's details and successful implementation are more important than speed, given concerns about potential unintended consequences. Several key areas have been highlighted for improvement, including:

• A more balanced approach to allocations, requiring that LAs provide support information when requesting an RSL to house someone, and more clarity over what constitutes a ‘good reason’ to say no

• Redrafting the proposal on Common Housing Registers to cover only social housing and allow for urgent transfers

• Bolstering data sharing provisions to allow partnership working to flourish

• Clarifying RSLs' role in helping to retain accommodation and taking a multiagency, case coordination approach

Read our full response here.