As at 31st December 2020 there was 910 households in temporary accommodation which represents an increase of 59 from 30th September 2020. This is the last figure published by MHCLG.

 The figure is still distorted by the additional households accommodated under central government’s direction during lockdown and that the eviction ban continues preventing landlords from obtaining possession of properties except in extreme circumstances.

Homeless applications are still being made however, mainly  with households requiring temporary accommodation from relationships breaking down or people fleeing domestic abuse.

A set of design principles have been developed to inform future joint commissioning across the local partnerships enabling continued investment in housing related support services.

A Rapid Rehousing Grant secured by the Council’s strategic housing lead has provided an additional £335,000 to deliver a Rapid Rehousing Pathway in West Sussex. Three Homelessness Charities – Turning Tides, Stonepillow and Crawley Open House – have formed a coalition to take on the work. They will each employ Navigators and Supported Lettings Officers who will form part of the Rapid Rehousing Pathway.

Joint work with the D & B Housing services is ongoing to develop joint temporary accommodation portfolios and homeless prevention initiatives to stop households from becoming homeless and entering the system. In addition, with partners, it is exploring the feasibility of shared use of temporary accommodation, taking a unified approach to working with the private rented sector in West Sussex and other initiatives such as the development of modular housing to tackle the pressures on accommodation. 

A partnership with a Housing Association has been developed that will utilise redundant WSCC properties as temporary accommodation as opposed to bed & breakfast establishments and will provide support to assist families to move on to independent housing.

A successful bid has secured £275,000 in funding to prevent rough sleeping which is being delivered through local homeless charities. This work is overseen by the Strategic Housing Group that reports into the Chief Executives Group.

WSCC along with the District & Borough Councils will be joint funding and commissioning a set of housing related support contracts to prevent homelessness in early 2020 utilising the design principles previously developed.

Further bids have been submitted to MHCLG to access the latest round of government funding to tackle and prevent rough sleeping in the county to build upon the work already ongoing with the homelessness charities that was commissioned following the successful funding bids in 2019.