ADD2029 Mental Health and Rough Sleeper Interventions Project

1.1 The Mayor has committed to tackling the “scourge of homelessness” and in particular has noted that the rise in rough sleeping over recent years is a growing source of shame that we have a “moral imperative” to stop. In his manifesto he pledged to look at preventing rough sleeping and to develop a ‘No Nights Sleeping Rough’ initiative, a London-wide taskforce to oversee the implementation of the Mayor’s rough sleeping work and funding priorities. The mental health rough sleepers intervention project will assist entrenched rough sleepers with mental health issues accessing treatment.

1.2 The Mayor has responsibility for funding and commissioning a range of pan-London rough sleeping services. These are services for rough sleepers, or initiatives to tackle rough sleeping, that cannot or would not be provided at a London borough level, as they are pan-London or multi-borough in their remit. A budget of £33.8 million for these services was approved for the period 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2020 granted through MD1532.

1.3 The shape and nature of these services is underpinned by the pan-London Rough Sleeping Commissioning Framework, which includes a priority ‘to work with boroughs and partners to meet the physical and mental health needs of rough sleepers’. In order to help meet this priority, it is proposed that the GLA provides grant funding to Pathway (a homeless healthcare charity) for the Mental Health and Rough Sleeper Interventions Project. This project, has received a small amount of GLA funding in the past to carry out mental health and mental capacity training for a range of professionals working with rough sleepers. Should a GLA grant funding be forthcoming, Pathway intend to carry out a refresh of the training and also to expand the service to provide a complex case advice line for professionals to enable them to receive guidance to resolve difficult cases.

1.4 For the last two years, Pathway have provided the Project in partnership with EASL (Enabling Assessment Service London), a mental health team supporting homeless people and the agencies working with them. It is proposed that the GLA grant is provided to Pathway, which will then have a service level agreement (SLA) with EASL, which will conduct the work outlined in section 2 and Appendix 1. The project is expected to run for eight months, from 1 August 2016 to 30 March 2017.

1.5 There has been a significant increase in the number of rough sleepers in recent years, primarily because of the increased flow of new people onto the streets. Over 8,000 people were seen rough sleeping by outreach workers during 2015/16, of which 65 per cent were new arrivals onto the streets. 46 per cent of people sleeping rough in 2015-16 were assessed as having a mental health need (around the same proportion as the previous year).

1.6 The targets for the training and advice service have been negotiated with Pathway and will be incorporated into the grant funding agreement (see Appendix 1 for more information).

3.1 Of those seen rough sleeping in 2015/16:
• 59 per cent were non-UK nationals
• 46 per cent had a mental health need
• 15 per cent were women
• most of those seen rough sleeping (58 per cent) were in the 26-45 age group
• 10 per cent were under 26 years old
• 11 per cent were over 55
• 4 people were under 18.

3.2 As rough sleepers are over-represented among those with the protected characteristics of race and disability, the proposals in this paper are likely to have positive impacts on these groups.

a) Key risks and issues

b) Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

The objectives of the proposals are in line with
• the pan-London Rough Sleeping Commissioning Framework 2016 priority 8
• the Mayor’s manifesto commitment to ‘tackle the scourge of homelessness’
• the statutory London Housing Strategy which includes the following priorities: to work with boroughs and other partners to ensure that no one new to the streets sleeps rough for a second night, no one lives on the streets of London and the flow of new rough sleepers onto the streets is minimised.

c) Impact assessments and consultations.

The Rough Sleeping Commissioning Framework 2016+ was made available for consultation with key stakeholders and partners and was subject to a full equalities impact assessment. The statutory London Housing Strategy has been subject to a full-integrated impact assessment and undergone statutory consultation with the London Assembly and functional bodies and with the public.

5.1 This decision seeks approval to expend £13,762 to grant fund Pathway’s Mental Health Interventions Project (MHIP) for rough sleepers. Funds are available from Mayor’s Rough Sleeping services, which have been allocated with total funding of £8.49m for the 2016/17 financial year.

5.2 The Programme, Policy and Services Unit of the Housing and Land Directorate, will be responsible for monitoring and managing the grant and ensuring that all activities and associated expenditure comply with the Authority’s Financial Regulations, Contracts and Funding Code and Expenses and Benefits Framework. Any changes to this proposal, including the requirement of additional funds, will be subject to further approval via the Authority’s decision making process.

N/A

6.1 The GLA will monitor the service on a quarterly basis to assess performance against targets. As with the other pan-London rough sleeping services funded by the Mayor, the performance of this service will be reported to the Deputy Mayor for Housing each quarter.

Appendix 1

Performance targets 2016-17