Head of Planning, Housing and Health and Service Lead – Housing Advice and Homelessness to report.

The Committee received a presentation by the Service Lead – Housing Advice and Homelessness regarding the support of Ukrainian refugees.  She outlined the following:

·       The background of the Homes for Ukraine scheme which was launched on 14 March 2022 by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up and Communities.

·       Guest arrival checks that were undertaken.

·       The role of the sponsor in providing suitable accommodation for a period of a minimum of 6 months.

·       Devon County Council’s role in the completion of Enhanced DBS checks on all adults over the age of 18 living within the sponsors home.

·       The District Council’s responsibility for accommodation checks, safeguarding checks, welfare support and financial payments.

·       An update was provided on the work that had been undertaken by the Council to date which included: carrying out property inspections; creation of an IT system to store and administer data; creation of a specific email address for both hosts and guests; creation of and updating the NDC website with links to other services; met on a weekly basis with other local external services such as the Department for Works and Pensions, Early Help and Pickwell Foundation; working with Pickwell Foundation to deliver the wrap around support for both host and guests; created a suite of letters and agreements for hosts, guests and voluntary sector; set up safe payment methods; attended Devon wide  meeting in relation private sector housing, financial, support and re-hosting. A representative from the Adult Social Care had also been invited to attend the weekly meetings.

·       The support that NDC had provided to-date.

·       Numbers of sponsors, completed inspections, total numbers of children and adults being supported as of 5 May 2022.

·       Impact on NDC services and teams.

·       The reasons and stories in relation to why NDC were providing support.

In response to questions, the Service Lead – Housing Advice and Homelessness advised the following:

·       There had been incidents whereby families were experiencing problems with obtaining visas. These issues had been reported to the MP and it was understood that there had now been an increase in staff involved in processing visa applications.

·       There had been incidents in other areas where placements had been made with inappropriate sponsors. As a result the Council had started carrying out enhanced DBS checks. These checks would not be 100% full proof.  Checks were also made with Social Services as part of the DBS checks. If there were concerns, further checks could be made with the Police. Pickwell Foundation made home visits and would have an understanding if there was a potential issue within the home. A re-matching service was already in place and had worked well.  Officers were also in the process of setting up a database of “foster” hosts that could be used to accommodate families for up to 6 weeks whilst alternative accommodation was secured.

·       If a family member secured accommodation, the host would still receive the £350 payment to cover costs. This would also be the case also for self- contained accommodation to cover costs.

·       Officers were conscious of the potential impact on communities in relation to housing and employment and would seek to mitigate any issues arising.

·       Officers were also asking sponsors if the accommodation could be used for temporary accommodation if it was not suitable to support families.

The Committee on behalf of the Council and Ukrainian refugees thanked Pickwell Foundation for their support and thanked the Service Lead – Housing Advice and Homelessness and her team for their hard work.