The complex issue of housing and the future of Lambeth Hospital made for a lively discussion at the first Autumn Collaborative meeting at the newly refurbished Abbevilles Restaurant.

HOUSING

A presentation was circulated that outlined the different elements of Housing within the Council.

Housing Options

Paul Davis went through the presentation for Housing Options noting that:

·         This team is the gateway into Housing and Supported Housing.

·         They are guided by housing legislation with the biggest one being the Care Act 2014 where they have duties to prevent homelessness and provide temporary accommodation.

·         There are about 3,000 people in temporary accommodation in Lambeth. With about 400 single people in temporary accommodation.

·         There are 400 permanent lettings per year; and there is less turnaround in permanent housing.

·         Lambeth is getting better at sustaining tenancies than it has in previous years.

Supported Housing

Paul  went through the presentation for Supported Housing noting that:

·         The majority of supported housing is through the voluntary and community sector.

·         The team deal with homelessness and rough sleeping. The Homelessness strategy was launched that day and rough sleeping is built into that.

·         The strategy aims to have no one on the street, a reduction in street ASBOs, and that people have access to housing, health and wellbeing.

·         There is a service called Change, Grow, Live, which used to be called Crime Reduction.

·         There are safer street champions to keep track of who is on the streets. They have direct access to the vulnerable pathway and can take into housing straight away.

·         The vulnerable pathway includes; Rough sleeping, substance misuse, mental health, ex offenders; basically everyone outside of statutory responsibility.

·         There are various 24/7 hostels around the borough aimed at substance misuse, mental health, offenders, which provide access to dentists, GPs, substance misuse and sexual health support.

·         There is a Psychology in Hostels project, which supports  250 people on the vulnerable adult pathway. This project is being extended into the Young People pathway within Housing Options.

·         It is difficult to leave the vulnerable adult pathway. Most vulnerable adults move onto supported housing.

·         There was an offer to go and visit any of the hostels in Lambeth to show people around and help them get an understanding.

·         There is limited housing supply in Lambeth and London. If you are housed, it may not be in Lambeth and any reasonable placement is within the M25.

·         If there are rough sleepers who have no access to public funds there is a night shelter in Brixton Hill, which is open access to anyone, and can help gain settled status.

·         Riverside has Housing in Lewisham, there is no fixed term; if you are working and want to live in Lewisham, there are places available! Contact Sarah Fulham.

Neighbourhood Housing

Tunde, Head of Neighbourhood Housing, provided an update on Neighbourhood Housing noting that:

·         There are 30,000 properties in Lambeth, 230 Housing Estates and 3,500 sheds.

·         They operate across 6 neighbourhoods and in the North and South.

·         They deal with tenancy queries, empty homes, move on and social housing.

·         They manage contracts and want to know who is vulnerable to link them in with services.

·         They do tenancy enforcement and have 15,000 live cases of ASBO. This is across 16 categories and risk assessed as High, Medium and Low.

·         They manage Lambeth 500+ which is an online consultative platform, free to join for any resident who receives housing from Lambeth. https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/council-tenants-and-homeowners/get-involved/lambeth-500

·         There is a national fraud initiative with HMRC that looks at fraudulent lettings, and is cross matched and any issues will be flagged up. These are categorised as High, Medium, Low and Housing Officers check it out.

·         There was the question on how we can improve links with housing to ignite a conversation. Previously the Living Well Network Hub used to have links with South Lambeth Housing office and provided training for Housing Managers and vice versa. There was agreement that this would be re-ignited and reciprocal training would be provided. ·         There was a challenge about GPs being able to connect and navigate housing in Lambeth and agreed that more joined up working could take place.

LAMBETH HOSPITAL REDEVELOPMENT

Rob Harland, Clinical Director of South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM), went through the Lambeth Hospital redevelopment presentation.

·         There are a couple of options on the future of Lambeth Hospital, but also where the people move to.

·         It was noted that there should be a third option of bringing the site up to standard as opposed to do nothing, or move to the Maudsley site.

·         It was noted that there are national SLaM services on site including eating disorders and Neuropsychiatry.

·         There was a question about how these changes are going to address staff behaviours on the ward; currently they don’t answer the door or the phones. The redevelopment has an emphasis on architecture for staff to be out on the floor as much as possible and to use technology for better/easier access i.e. remotely open doors.

·         It was noted that carers are terrified of losing support and the question was how SLaM will be engaging with carers. This will be done through the Service User and Carer Advisory Group and Carers Forum.

·         There needs to be a balance between community and in-patient. It is not a decision on its own. Need to think about the community and the opportunities. Currently in a pre-consultative phase and there will be an opportunity to respond on future use of the site. This will also be co-produced with people.

·         The question was raised if it’s a missed opportunity to consider the site as an alternative to in-patient – such as a peer hotel or Crisis House. ·         It was noted that there are Peer Workers on the ward in Oxleas and SLaM will be meeting with them in a few months’ time to explore this. There is also the Acute Hospital ward In-Reach pilot partnership, which has previously been highlighted (Thames Reach, Mosaic and Certitude).

·         There was a challenge around producing a zero carbon for Maudsley and Lambeth Hospital sites.

·         The timeline for the site is 2022. There are complexities as this involves moving to Douglas Bennett House, which is on the Southwark site, and will need to involve Lambeth Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and possibly Southwark as well as DBH is on their Southwark premises. It is also further complicated that Lambeth Clinical Commissioning Group will not exist from April 2020 and will become South East London CCG, which will be the decision making body, even though it will be a Living Well Network Alliance discussion and will be approached in line with Alliance Principles.

·         It was agreed to come back in January when clearer on the timeline.

Solidarity in a Crisis

·         Mathieu Smith is covering for Moyo while on maternity leave.

Single Point of Access:

·         Materials on this are on the Lambeth Together website: https://lambethtogether.net/living-well-network-alliance/get-help/lambeth-single-point-of-access/. Will have this on the agenda for October 10th meeting.  

Natalie Sutherland