Decision details

Establishing a Multi-Disciplinary Team and Homeless Health Centre – The Portfolio Holder for Homes introduced the report, a copy of which had been circulated to each member of the Board and a copy of which can be found at Appendix ‘C’ to these minutes in the minutes book. The Portfolio Holder was accompanied by the Lead Member for Homelessness to present the report. In the subsequent discussion the issues which were raised by the Board included:

·       Part of the purpose of the scheme was to provide a vehicle which could help homeless people get settled into housing and get back into work. It would provide a point for homeless people to access primary care resources.

·       That it was a community project including joint working with partners from health and voluntary organisations.

·       This was something which the area really needed but there were concerns raised as to whether there would be anything to prevent people from accessing the hub, such as problems with drug use or addiction. The service would be available to access by anyone who needed the assistance. As with any service there was a need to manage peoples’ time. Service users would be encouraged to make appointments.

·       There would be a welcome service for initial access and to help people decide which services they needed but it may not be possible to see a clinician immediately. However, it was anticipated that the service would be as flexible as possible.

·       A Board member raised a concern regarding the large unfunded pressure of £100k per year and asked whether options such as a special purpose vehicle or specialist charity to house this service within.

·       The Lead member for homelessness confirmed that they were looking into options surrounding this. The flat rental would also provide some income.

·       In response to a question it was confirmed that the hub would not cater only to rough sleepers but also to those who were vulnerably housed or further currently contracted by Council – adversely effected in order to fund the running of the centre.

·       There were some concerns raised that the hub would attract rough sleepers to a particular area. It wasn’t considered that it would, but it was also felt that it may speed up the process for reconnecting to the area.

·       A Member requested that local police stations and the 101 service should be made aware of this provision and know how to direct people to it Ensure local police stations and 101 system actually know about this provision.

Board members requested to raise some issues pertaining to the confidential appendix to the report, it was therefore:

RESOLVED that under Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act and that the public interest in withholding the information outweighs such interest in disclosing the information.

Cllr A Stribley left the meeting at 4:16pm.

-       The meeting moved into non-public session    -

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The Board discussed a number of issues relating to the exempt information contained within the appendix including issues regarding the negotiations on the price, actions in order to achieve best value and the length of term for repayment.

-       The Meeting resumed into public session   -

The Chairman summarised the debate and noted the Board’s overall support for the proposals and thanked the Councillors and Officers for presenting the report and responding to questions.