MD2957 Rough sleeping – Winter provision & COVID-19 Response

1.1 During 2020-21, 11,018 people were seen sleeping rough in London – more than double the number in 2010-11. Of these, 68 per cent were new to the streets, 50 per cent were non-UK nationals, and 22 per cent were from Central and Eastern European countries. Around two-thirds had support needs, of which 44 per cent related to mental health, 29 per cent to alcohol, and 31 per cent to drugs.

1.2 In his London Housing Strategy, published in 2018, the Mayor set out his aim that there should be a sustainable route off the streets for every rough sleeper in London. In June 2018, he published his Rough Sleeping Plan of Action which outlines the steps that need to be taken by City Hall, the government and others to achieve this. In 2021, the Mayor refreshed his Rough Sleeping Commissioning Framework, which sets out the overarching and crosscutting priorities that will underpin the GLA’s commissioning activities over the three years from 2021 to 2024.

1.3 Since taking office, the Mayor has been expanding the pan-London rough sleeping services that the GLA funds and commissions. These services collectively form his Life off the Streets programme. They are services for people with experience of or who are at risk of sleeping rough, 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. Since 2016, the Mayor’s Life off the Streets rough sleeping services have supported over 12,000 people to leave the streets for good.

1.4 In March 2020, the GLA, in partnership with London boroughs, charities, the NHS and businesses, pioneered Everyone In – the initiative to ensure that rough sleepers at risk of COVID-19 were safely accommodated during the pandemic. To date, around 10,000 rough sleepers have been provided with emergency accommodation and support across London, including over 2,600 in GLA-procured hotels. At the peak of the operation, the GLA had 14 hotels with capacity for around 1,400 people.

1.5 This rapid and comprehensive response has kept the rates of COVID-19 infection among London’s rough sleepers far below that seen in other world cities. It is estimated to have prevented many infections, hospital admissions and deaths (see section 2.3, below).

1.6 As the first period of lockdown eased, the phase of the operation to secure and move people at risk into hotels scaled down, and the GLA and boroughs moved into the next-steps phase. This meant implementing the Mayor’s In For Good principle – providing an offer of support to everyone accommodated in the hotels, so that no one needs to return to rough sleeping when they leave; and winding down some of the hotels. As of 31 December 2021, 7,032 people in the capital had positively moved on, including 1,694 from the GLA-procured hotels.

1.7 However, the continuing pandemic (especially the ongoing risk to those with clinical vulnerabilities), the pressures faced during periods of severe cold weather and the lack of move-on options for many of those currently in the hotels mean that accommodation is still needed. As of 31 December 2021, 2,010 rough sleepers were accommodated in hotels and other emergency accommodation in the capital, including just under 400 in GLA-procured provision.

1.8 As outlined in MD2853, the response of the Mayor’s rough sleeping services, described above, was necessary in order to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic upon rough sleepers. The urgent focus of this response delayed the planned procurement of new contracts for some of the GLA’s rough sleeping services. The contract variations for No Second Night Out (NSNO) and Routes Homes, which are subject to this decision form, are a continuation of that response.

1.9 While many of the Mayor’s Life Off the Streets services are funded by the GLA’s core rough sleeping budget, in recent years, some have been introduced, enhanced or expanded as a result of funding from the government’s Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI). In 2021-22, funding from the RSI also enabled the GLA to move to the recovery phase of its COVID-19 Rough Sleeping Response (see MD2853). The GLA has been allocated £3.5m funding from the RSI for Q1 of 2022-23. This will be used to continue a range of GLA services that were RSI-funded in 2021-22. It will also part-fund the extension of the hotels and associated support procured by the GLA as part of COVID-19 rough sleeping response, enabling the recovery phase to continue a phased wind down during the first quarter of 2022-23.

1.10 In addition to this RSI funding, the GLA has also been allocated £0.15m from the government’s Winter Pressures Fund to enhance the GLA’s cold weather provision this Winter. This includes the provision of hotels and associated support for the delivery of pan-London overflow SWEP and additional StreetLink capacity, to ensure that the demand created by seasonal increase in referrals to StreetLink for people sleeping rough in London over the winter can be met by the service.

1.11 Some of the decisions sought through this MD relate to 2021-22 and are retrospective. The remainder are for 2022-23. The retrospective decisions relate to the following:

• Expenditure of £1.61m for pan-London severe weather emergency accommodation, and £0.04m for emergency placements by the London Street Rescue service during the winter. Due to the critical nature of this provision, it was not possible to delay delivery once funding had been allocated by the government. This expenditure ensured that people sleeping rough in London were safeguarded during the winter of 2021-22, where the usual risks of cold weather were exacerbated by the ongoing risk from COVID-19, through the provision of additional single-occupancy accommodation with accompanying support.
• Expenditure of £0.01m on additional staffing capacity for StreetLink during the winter of 2021-22, to ensure the service could better meet the demand of the increased calls it receives during the colder months.

1.12 The decisions on forthcoming activity relate to £0.2m of expenditure in 2021-22 and £5.64m of expenditure during 2022-23. This will ensure that:

• The recovery phase of the GLA’s COVID-19 emergency rough sleeping response can continue as planned. This will include further hotels closing, as part of a phased approach to ensure that everyone is supported to secure a longer-term move-on option before hotel closures.
• The Mayor’s Life off the Streets services continue to provide vital support to people sleeping rough, including the interventions and service expansions funded by the government’s Rough Sleeping Initiative.

1.13 The budget will be spent as follows:

Activity in 2021-22

• SWEP accommodation (retrospective decision) – to procure around 135 single-occupancy bedspaces to be used as emergency accommodation in freezing temperatures, provided with intensive support to help people find longer-term accommodation (£1.61m)
• London Street Rescue (retrospective decision) – emergency accommodation placements during winter 2021-22 (£0.04m)
• StreetLink (retrospective decision) – additional staffing capacity for winter surge in demand (£0.01m)
• research into the effectiveness of supported reconnections to someone’s country of origin as a route out of rough sleeping (£0.05m)
• Youth Hub – a forty-bed short-term accommodation service with support for people under 26 years old who are or at risk of rough sleeping, with a focus on move-on to sustainable accommodation (£0.14m).

Activity in 2022-23

• No Second Night Out (NSNO) – two Staging Posts and a specialist PRS Access team (£0.37m)
• Tenancy Sustainment Teams – two teams delivering floating support for up to 500 people each year moving out of homelessness into the Private Rented Sector (£0.25m)
• Clearing House – administration of referrals into the above TST PRS service (£0.02m)
• Routes Home – support for non-UK nationals, including two members of staff and three bed spaces to accommodate non-UK nationals while this support is being delivered, and evaluation of the service by a third-party which is to be procured (£0.08m)
• CHAIN - three additional short-term staff posts (two of which are continuations) to increase the service’s capacity to provide responsive support to its expanding user base (£0.08m)
• London Street Rescue – continuation of the core service until September 2022 (£0.32m)
• StreetLink – additional capacity during Winter 2021-22 and extension of funding for both the national StreetLink and StreetLink London services until March 2023 (£0.29m)
• Equipping Shelters Project – navigator posts within Housing Justice to support non-commissioned rough sleeping service (£0.01m)
• Peer led outreach – an outreach team consisting of people with lived experience of rough sleeping, supporting longer-term rough sleepers on the streets who other services have not successfully engaged with (£0.06m)
• Supported housing service – a service to provide medium-term accommodation and on-site support to people exiting rough sleeping in HMO accommodation (£0.08m)
• London Navigator Team – intensive case-management and throughcare for the ‘Target Thousand’ multiple, complex support needs rough-sleeper cohort (£0.28m)
• Rapid Response Outreach Team – outreach responses to StreetLink referrals within 24 hours to help people move off the streets as swiftly as possible (£1.1m)
• Night transport outreach – outreach response on London’s night bus and tube network, to find and support people who are sleeping on transport and so not located by other teams (£0.1m)
• Groundswell Peer Health advocacy – supporting current rough sleepers and people living in temporary accommodation to access health services (£0.05m)
• Veterans Aid Welfare to Wellbeing – rapid interventions for formed armed service personnel who are sleeping rough, or at risk of sleeping rough, in London (£0.06m)
• Outside Project – daytime refuge and social space for LGBTQ+ people at risk of homelessness via their community centre whilst also providing overnight shelter accommodation for more vulnerable clients (£0.1m)
• research into the effectiveness of supported reconnections to someone’s country of origin as a route out of rough sleeping (£0.05m)
• GLA staffing – resource within the GLA rough sleeping team (£0.02m)
• Pan-London accommodation, recovery phase – continued provision of over 425 bedspaces of accommodation during Q1 2022-23, with a phased wind-down ongoing during this time (£2.39m).
  

Severe Weather Emergency Provision (SWEP) and COVID-19 recovery phase

1.14 The SWEP is an emergency humanitarian response, the primary aim of which is to preserve life. Every year, the GLA provides SWEP overflow provision to ensure that there is sufficient capacity at a pan-London level to meet demand when borough local provision reaches capacity. Prior to the pandemic, the GLA delivered SWEP accommodation through a communal shelter model. However, the ongoing risk of COVID-19 transmission means that for the winter of 2021-22, single-occupancy hotel accommodation was used.

1.15 The funding of £1.61m, for which approval is sought retrospectively, means the GLA could deliver around 135 bedspaces of SWEP accommodation throughout the Winter period, provided with intensive casework to support people to secure a longer-term route out of homelessness. The Mayor’s In for Good policy means no one is asked to leave SWEP accommodation, until there is a plan in place to end their rough sleeping, even if temperatures have risen. The funding will also enable the GLA to deliver a transition period at the end of the winter, in which some of the SWEP accommodation is retained until May 2022, meaning In for Good offers can be made to people even if there are periods of SWEP towards the end of winter.

1.16 The funding of £2.39m for the COVID-19 response recovery phase, will enable the GLA to continue to provide step-down for rough sleepers brought into GLA-procured hotels as part of the pandemic response, until the end of June 2022. The services provided will enable individuals to access settled accommodation and support needed to help them exit rough sleeping permanently. During this period, many more people will be supported to find longer-term options and a large proportion of the total hotel capacity will close by the end of June 2022, as part of a phased wind-down of the recovery phase. However, some of the hotel capacity will be retained to continue to provide immediate off the street accommodation for the Mayor’s NSNO service.

1.17 This decision would delegate authority to the Executive Director of Housing and Land to approve the allocation of monies within the £2.39m expenditure on hotels and related services for both the severe weather emergency accommodation and the COVID-19 rough sleeping response recovery phase for 2022-23.

 

Funding profile

1.18 The table below sets out the proposed spend for which approval is being sought.

1.19 Details of the services and initiatives in the above table are set out in section 2.

2.1 The Mayor’s Life off the Streets programme focuses on achieving the Mayor’s vision for everyone sleeping rough to have a sustainable route away from the streets. The programme is underpinned by the overarching priorities set out in the pan-London Rough Sleeping Commissioning Framework 2017, to work with boroughs and partners:

• to minimise the flow of new rough sleepers onto the streets
• to ensure that no one new to the streets sleeps rough for a second night
• to ensure that no one lives on the streets of London
• to ensure that no one returns to the streets of London.

2.2 A key performance indicator for the Mayor’s Life off the Streets services is that at least 85 per cent of rough sleepers who are supported do not return to the street.

2.3 The key objective of the programmes for which approval is being sought is to protect rough sleepers from the risk of harm presented by severe weather and to enhance the COVID-19 rough sleeping recovery phase with additional units of accommodation, increasing access to healthcare and vaccination, thus reducing infections, hospital admissions and deaths. It is estimated that as many as 7,000 infections, 90 deaths, 390 hospital admissions and 115 ICU admissions have been avoided in London as a result of the Mayor’s Everyone In measures and the proposals in this paper will enable people who are sleeping rough to access self-contained accommodation immediately from the streets, and to move on and rebuild their lives.

2.4 As of 31 December 2021, 1,694 of the circa 2,900 rough sleepers accommodated in the GLA-procured hotels since March 2020 have been supported to positively move on. The Mayor’s charity partners working with hotel guests will continue to apply the ‘In For Good’ principle in, supporting people to positively move on. However, options for some non-UK nationals, who form a large proportion of those currently in the hotels, are very limited. With additional casework support, there is potential for some of these individuals to establish their right to welfare support, or to gain employment, and thereby move on positively into independent accommodation. The majority, though, are ineligible for welfare support, including help with housing costs. The Mayor is continuing to lobby the government for the policy changes and funding needed to increase the options for this group. In the absence of these options, many still require emergency accommodation, and further government funding secured by the Mayor and the associated spending, for which approval is sought, will help ensure that they do not return to the streets.

2.5 Further details of individual Life off the Streets services and initiatives for which approval is being sought under this MD are set out below.

Pan-London SWEP provision

2.6 The SWEP is an emergency humanitarian response, the primary aim of which is to preserve life. Since Winter 2017-18, the GLA, with agreement by all 33 London boroughs centrally coordinates the activation of SWEP when the trigger temperature of 0° is reached on any one night in the capital in any London borough.

2.7 Each London borough is expected to make its own SWEP provision for those sleeping rough in the area and the capacity of local provision is expected to meet local demand informed by an assessment of need undertaken at a local level. GLA provides SWEP overflow provision to ensure that there is sufficient capacity at a pan-London level to meet demand, for example in case a borough’s local provision reaches capacity. In Winter 2020-21, 459 individuals were accommodated in the Mayor’s pan-London overflow SWEP provision. 77% of people who accessed this service were not seen sleeping rough again within six months of the start of their SWEP stay.

2.8 Since the outbreak of the pandemic, and with clear guidance from public health partners, the Mayor issued guidance to local authorities to provide single-occupancy SWEP accommodation to minimise the risk of transmission of coronavirus in communal settings. In 2021-22, there was an anticipated shortfall in single-occupancy SWEP capacity across London of approximately 175 units of accommodation. This Mayoral Decision therefore seeks retrospective approval for expenditure of £1.61m on pan-London SWEP overflow provision which will fund the procurement of 136 single-occupancy rooms during the winter of 2021-22.

Variations of contracts

NSNO

2.9 NSNO supports people who are seen sleeping rough for the first time. They are supported to access the service by outreach teams. Once at an NSNO turnaround ‘hub’ – of which there are three – individuals spend time with specialist staff who will quickly establish their current situation and the best options available to them. The NSNO team make people offers of help based on their specific circumstances and needs and supports them to take up that offer. The hubs are complemented by self-contained hotel assessment beds, more medium term staging post-type accommodation, or appropriate move-on arrangements within London boroughs. This model will allow an immediate, off-the-street assessment service for rough sleepers that is COVID-safe.

2.10 The NSNO contract was awarded to St Mungo’s and entered into following an OJEU procurement exercise to identify the provider. The contract began in April 2017. The initial NSNO contract value was £14.72m over four years (£3.68m per annum) and was approved under MD2031. MD2620 approved expenditure of £7.36m for the GLA to exercise its contractual option to extend the contract for its stipulated final two years, to 31 March 2021 (already accounted for in the original contract value). MD2481 approved an inflationary uplift for this service, the provision of SWEP beds and government Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) funded enhancements to the service at a cost of £2.04m. MD2125 approved variations totalling £2.97m for further government-funded enhancements to the service in 2019-20. MD2657 approved a number of variations to the contract with expenditure of £2.21m, funded from the government’s RSI, to 31 March 2021. MD2789 approved the extension of the contract for a further two years until March 2023 and the provision of emergency severe weather accommodation and extension of certain enhancements for the first quarter of 2021-22, at a total expenditure of £8.47m. MD2853 then extended these enhancements for the remainder of 2021-22. The cumulative total of the contract to date for NSNO, including all extensions and variations, is £32.86m.

2.11 In 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22, the GLA used funding secured from the government to expand the NSNO service to include a floating hub, two additional staging posts and a PRS access team. These variations to the NSNO service fell within the scope of the original contract, and as such the continuation of these variations which are the subject of this decision also fall within the scope of the original contract.

2.12 The two additional staging posts have provided extra places to stay for those people who had visited NSNO and were awaiting a longer-term offer. During the COVID-19 emergency response, they have also provided vital additional accommodation for people for whom a stay in a hotel was not suitable.

2.13 The PRS access service works with people from NSNO hubs and staging posts, and also people referred by outreach teams, for whom PRS accommodation is their most suitable route out of rough sleeping. The team also provides pre-tenancy training and support to people moving into PRS accommodation, to help set up their home. During the pandemic, in addition to working with NSNO, the team has supported many people from the COVID-19 response hotels to move into PRS accommodation.

2.14 There is a clear case for extending these enhancements to the service further, and this MD seeks approval of £0.37m expenditure for NSNO between 1 April to 30 June 2022, to:

• retain the additional staging posts between 1 April to 30 June 2022, at a cost of £0.28m, providing 52 bed spaces for people who have slept rough
• retain the specialist PRS Access team between 1 April to 30 June 2022, at a cost of £0.09m.

2.15 Subject to approval of the above, the total value of the contract will increase to £33.23m.

Tenancy Sustainment Team North

2.16 People in Clearing House accommodation receive support from TSTs of which there are two: one in north London and one in south London. In 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 the GLA used funding secured from the government to expand the work of the TSTs to support former rough sleepers in private rented sector (PRS) accommodation.

2.17 The contract to deliver the TST North service was entered into following an OJEU procurement process and commenced on 1 April 2016. The initial contract value was £6.05m over five years (£1.21m a year). The contract included an option that allowed the GLA to extend the contract for a further period of one year. MD2620 approved expenditure of £1.21m for the GLA to exercise its existing option to extend the contract with St Mungo’s for one year, to 31 March 2021. It also approved expenditure of £0.129m for St Mungo’s TST North to expand the work of TSTs for 12 months, to 31 March 2021 to enable support to non-UK nationals living in Clearing House homes. MD2657 approved a number of variations to the contract, funded from the Government’s RSI, to 31 March 2021. MD2789 approved expenditure of £1.33m to extend the St Mungo’s contract for a further year until 31 March 2022, including the TST PRS variation until 30 June 2021. MD2853 approved expenditure of £0.44m for TST North for the continuation of the TST PRS expansion until 31 March 2022. The cumulative total of the contracts to date for TST North (St Mungo’s), including all extensions and variations, is £9.35m.

2.18 The value of the variation requested in decision 2b is £0.15m. Whilst the TST North contract is expected to be awarded to a new provider before 31 March 2022 following an OJEU procurement process, the incumbent provider has the technical expertise to continue to provide the PRS element of the TST service. The previous variations to extend the TST service to support people in PRS accommodation fell within the scope of the original contract, and as such the continuation of this variation, which is the subject of this decision, also falls within the scope of the original contract. The funding is only for a short period (one quarter) there is no advantage to be gained in a competitive tender and insufficient time to complete one. This approach was agreed in the TST procurement strategy which was approved by TfL procurement.

2.19 This Mayoral Decision seeks approval for expenditure of £0.15m for the GLA to extend the St Mungo’s contract to deliver the TST PRS from 1 April 2022 to 30 June 2022. The new total value of the TST North (St Mungo’s) contract, assuming the above is approved, will be £9.49m.

London Street Rescue

2.20 LSR is an outreach service helping people sleeping on the streets in London boroughs where there are no locally commissioned outreach services. LSR outreach workers typically go out at night alongside volunteers to make contact with people sleeping rough. They carry out casework and advocacy during the day.

2.21 The GLA’s LSR contract with Thames Reach was entered following an OJEU procurement exercise to identify a provider. The contract began in April 2016. Its original value was £3.19m for an initial period of three years plus the option to extend the contract by two more years. MD2620 approved the GLA exercising its contractual option to extend the contract for one year, to 31 March 2021, and to extend a variation to the contract, also to 31 March 2021, for the night transport outreach team. MD2789 approved expenditure of £0.76m to extend the contract, including the night transport outreach variation, for a further year to 31 March 2022. In addition to the above contract extensions, there have been eight other previous variations to the contract with a combined value of £1.62m. The cumulative total of the contract to date for LSR, including all extensions and variations, is £5.58m.

2.22 In 2019-20 the GLA secured £0.05m from the government’s Cold Weather Fund to support EEA rough sleepers during the suspension of the EU derogation, and for LSR to provide emergency accommodation as an ‘immediate route off the streets’ for these individuals. More than 50 people were accommodated as a result of this funding. The GLA then secured additional funding from DLUHC for this accommodation over the winter of 2021-22 which has provided an immediate route off the street for 112 people including UK and non-UK nationals. This variation to the LSR service fell within the scope of the original contract. The variation which is the subject of this decision also falls within the scope of the original contract.

2.23 This Mayoral Decision seeks approval for expenditure of £0.36m of which £0.32m is for the GLA to extend the service for a period of up to six months to 30 September 2022 and retrospective approval of expenditure of £0.04m to expand LSR’s Immediate Route off the Streets accommodation until 31 March 2022.

2.24 The new total value of the contract, assuming the above is approved, will be £5.94m.

Routes Home

2.25 Routes Home assists non-UK national rough sleepers with support needs to find a route away from the streets. It helps them to access necessary advice (such as immigration advice), establish their status and entitlements, and access accommodation and work in the UK. If, following advice and support, the individual decides voluntarily to return to their home country, they are supported in accessing accommodation and support there. The service provides a minimum of 12 bed spaces as part of its core contract.

2.26 The Routes Home contract was entered following an OJEU procurement exercise to identify a provider. The contract began in April 2016. Its initial contract value was £3m over three years (£0.6m a year) plus the option to extend for a further two years . MD2333 and MD241 approved RSI funded enhancements to the service in 2018-19 and 2019-20 respectively. MD2620 approved expenditure of £0.6m for the GLA to exercise its contractual option to extend the contract for one year, to 31 March 2021. MD2657 approved a number of variations to the contract, funded from the government’s RSI, to 31 March 2021. MD2740 approved further variations in 2020-21 funded by the government’s Next Steps Accommodation Programme. MD2789 approved expenditure of £0.06m to extend the contract for 2021-22 and £0.06m for 2022-23. MD2853 approved further variations to the contract in 2021-22 amounting to £0.17m. The cumulative total of the contract to date for Routes Home, including all extensions and variations, is £5.63m.

2.27 In 2019-20 and 2020-21, the GLA used funding secured from the government to expand the Routes Home staffing team, and the level of immigration advice and accommodation options, including the provision of three additional bed spaces. These variations to the Routes Home service fell within the scope of the original contract, and as such the continuation of these variations which are the subject of this decision also fall within the scope of the original contract.

2.28 This MD seeks approval of £0.08m expenditure of which £0.06m is to continue this work from 1 April 2022 to 30 June 2022 to fund two members of staff to work in and alongside the NSNO hubs with European Economic Area (EEA) nationals who need assistance to access their entitlements, or want to return to their home country and three additional bed spaces to accommodate non-UK nationals whilst this support is being delivered.

2.29 The new total value of the contract with St Mungo’s assuming the above is approved will be £5.69m.

2.30 Approval is also sort for £0.02m expenditure to fund an evaluation of the Routes Home Service procured through a competitive process in line with GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code which will inform future commissioning decisions.

Exercise of contractual options

Tenancy Sustainment Team South

2.31 People in Clearing House accommodation receive support from TSTs of which there are two: one in north London and one in south London. In 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 the GLA used funding secured from the government to expand the work of the TSTs to support former rough sleepers in private rented sector (PRS) accommodation.

2.32 The contract to deliver the TST South service is due to end on 31 March 2022. A new contract will be awarded before 31 March 2022 following a Contract Notice published at the beginning of the tender to the incumbent provider (Thames Reach). The value is £16.5m over six years. As agreed in the approved procurement strategy, the competitively tendered contract includes an option to expand the service to support people in private rented accommodation. If agreed, the GLA would exercise this option to enable the service provider to support people in PRS accommodation from 1 April to 30 June 2022.

2.33 The option is contained in an unequivocal review clause, and the exercise of the option on this occasion falls within the scope and nature of the contract. Furthermore, the proposed exercise of the option falls within the conditions, under which this contractual option may be used. Finally, the value of this option does not take the cumulative spend under the contract beyond the upper limit set out in the Contract Notice.

2.34 This Mayoral Decision seeks approval to exercise the option in the TST South contract to provide support to people in PRS accommodation between 1 April 2022 and 30 June 2022 at a cost of £0.10m.

 

Clearing House

2.35 The Clearing House service provides the administrative functions of the accommodation programme formed by Clearing House, TST North and TST South. It receives, assesses and processes referrals and makes allocations of void properties. In 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 the GLA used funding secured from the government to expand the work of the Clearing House to administer referrals related to the PRS TST service.

2.36 The contract to deliver the Clearing House service is due to end on 31 March 2022. A new contract will be awarded before 31 March 2022 following a Contract Notice to the incumbent provider (St Mungo’s). The value of the new contract is £6.5m over six years. As agreed in the approved procurement strategy, the competitively tendered contract includes an option to expand the service to provide administration of the referral process for TSTs supporting people in private rented accommodation. If agreed, the GLA would exercise this option from 1 April 2022 to 30 June 2022.

2.37 The option is contained in an unequivocal review clause, and the exercise of the option on this occasion falls within the scope and nature of the contract. Furthermore, the proposed exercise of the option falls within the conditions, under which this contractual option may be used. Finally, the value of this option does not take the cumulative spend under the contract beyond the upper limit set out in the Contract Notice.

2.38 Approval is sought for expenditure of £0.02m to exercise the option in the Clearing House contract to provide the administration of referrals into the TST PRS from 1 April 2022 to 30 June 2022.

CHAIN

2.39 The CHAIN database collects and contains data on those who are found sleeping rough in London. It enables the providers of rough sleeping services to record interventions and monitor outcomes. It represents the most detailed and comprehensive source of information about rough sleeping in London.

2.40 Increased demands resulting from the RSI in recent years have required the CHAIN team to postpone plans to review and update their system to ensure it be robust, accessible and fit for purpose in the future. RSI funding has been secured to create three additional posts to allow the CHAIN team to carry out this delayed system review. The funding will also enhance the CHAIN team's ability to provide responsive support to its expanding user base, and in light of the evolving nature of service delivery post-pandemic.

2.41 The contract to deliver the CHAIN service is due to end on 31 March 2022. A new contract will be awarded before 31 March 2022 following a contract notice to the new provider (Homeless Link). The value of the new contract is £3.6m over six years. As agreed in the approved procurement strategy, the competitively tendered contract includes an option to expand the service to provide additional staffing resource to respond to increased and emerging needs of the sector. If agreed, the GLA would exercise this option from 1 April 2022 to 13 December 2022.

2.42 The option is contained in an unequivocal review clause, and the exercise of the option on this occasion falls within the scope and nature of the contract. Furthermore, the proposed exercise of the option falls within the conditions, under which this contractual option may be used. Finally, the value of this option does not take the cumulative spend under the contract beyond the upper limit set out in the Contract Notice.

2.43 This Mayoral Decision seeks approval for expenditure of £0.08m for the GLA to expand the CHAIN team (Homeless Link) by three additional posts, all from 1 April 2022 to: 30 June 2022; 22 July 2022; and 13 December 2022 respectively.

Grant funding

StreetLink

2.44 StreetLink is a website, mobile app and phone service for England and Wales, which enables people to send an alert when they see someone sleeping rough to connect that person to local support services that can help to end their homelessness.

2.45 Throughout 2021-22, StreetLink has struggled to effectively manage the number of calls it receives. For example, in Q2 2021-22, 6,157 calls went unanswered, 80% of which would have been in London. As over three-quarters of self-referrals are made via telephone, answering more calls is a means to ensure that people sleeping rough who are seeking help receive the support which they need to leave the streets. This Mayoral Decision seeks retrospective approval for expenditure of £0.01m to enable StreetLink to employ one additional temporary shift leader for three months of Winter 2021-22. This will increase overall call handling capacity by 1,000 more calls, around 800 of which are expected to be from London.

2.46 This Mayoral Decision also seeks approval of £0.06m expenditure on grant funding for StreetLink between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 and £0.23m expenditure on grant funding for the enhanced StreetLink London service between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023.

Equipping Shelters Project

2.47 The ESP has been operating since 2018-19. The project, delivered by Housing Justice, works with, and supports, faith and community-based winter night shelters in London. The aims of the service have been to increase the capacity of the shelter network; to improve the quality and consistency of service provided; to improve data collection; and to increase positive outcomes for guests of the shelters.

2.48 During 2020-21 the work of the ESP team changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The service was instrumental in the GLA’s work to decant all shared rough-sleeper accommodation spaces in London during March and April 2020. Since that time, the ESP has supported shelter projects to adapt and continue to provide vital support to people sleeping rough in a COVID-secure manner.

2.49 The need for ongoing engagement with, and support of, faith and community-based shelter projects continued during 2021-22 as further COVID-19 developments emerge, and the flow of new people to the streets continued. Additional funding has been secured through the RSI to extend the programme through Q1 to aid the closure of winter night shelters and the move on of guests.

2.50 This Mayoral Decision seeks approval for expenditure of £0.01m to grant-fund this service between 1 April 2022 and 30 June 2022.

Peer-led outreach

2.51 The majority of people who sleep rough in London are not on the streets for a long time. Supported by services such as Rapid Response and NSNO, as at Q3 2021-22, 75 per cent of people who sleep rough in the capital were seen on the streets by outreach teams on one occasion. However, a significant number of people are out on the streets for much longer than this. In 2020-21, there were almost 2,126 people who were sleeping rough in London for a second consecutive year.

2.52 The GLA grant-funded Riverside to expand the work of their Street Buddies outreach services to four additional London boroughs, as approved for 2021-22 in MD2853. This peer-led outreach team works with long-term rough sleepers who other outreach teams had failed to support off the streets. It is now seen as vital to successfully supporting some of the most entrenched rough sleepers in London.

2.53 This Mayoral Decision seeks approval for expenditure of £0.06m to continue grant-funding Riverside for a further three months to 30 June 2022.

Supported Housing Service

2.54 Sanctuary provides 13 units of supported accommodation for people with a recent history of rough sleeping. The accommodation is provided for a period of 3-6 months with support provided for move on to longer-term housing. MD2853 approved expenditure to March 2022. This MD seeks approval for grant funding of £0.08m for Q1 2022-23.

London Navigator Team

2.55 MD2740 approved grant funding to St Mungo’s for a new initiative to target support at a cohort of London’s most entrenched rough sleepers, known as the Target Thousand during 2020-21. MD2853 approved an extension of this service during 2021-22. The DLUHC and London Councils worked with London boroughs and the GLA to identify this cohort of individuals who, based on their rough sleeping history, are likely to require additional, specialist support to secure or maintain settled accommodation. At the end of Q2 2021-22, the team had reduced the number of people who were sleeping rough or living in emergency and temporary accommodation from 52% of the caseload to 23%.

2.56 The GLA London Navigator Team expanded in January 2022 to provide specialist support to c200 individuals who meet the criteria for Target Thousand, but who are not being supported by a local authority through their local Target Thousand list.

2.57 This Mayoral Decision seeks approval for expenditure of £0.28m to continue grant-funding St Mungo’s from 1 April 2022 to 30 June 2022.

Rapid Response Outreach

2.58 The Rapid Response Team has been operating since 2019-20 to pilot an outreach response across London to respond to all StreetLink referrals. By focusing on StreetLink referrals, this service frees up local outreach teams and the Mayor’s LSR service to focus on those living on the streets. It operates across 25 London boroughs and was able to provide an immediate route away from the street for over 1,100 people in 2020-21.

2.59 During the COVID-19 pandemic and also during Severe Weather Emergency Protocol periods, Rapid Response has been an essential pan-London outreach service, increasing capacity in areas where rough sleeping is spiking, helping people access emergency accommodation, and responding to the large recent increase in StreetLink referrals.

2.60 This Mayoral Decision seeks approval for expenditure of £1.1m to continue grant-funding this service, to 31 March 2023.

 

Night Transport Outreach

2.61 The Night Transport Outreach Team was approved as an enhancement to the London Street Rescue contract by MD2166 from October 2017 to March 2019 and was subsequently extended under cover of MD2620 to March 2021 and again under MD2789 during 2021-22.

2.62 The Night Transport Outreach operates across the capital’s bus and tube network, working in partnership with TfL to identify people who are sleeping rough who are often hidden from mainstream outreach services. In 2020-21 they worked with 160 people; approximately half had longer-term rough sleeping histories and a quarter were women.

2.63 This Mayoral Decision seeks approval for expenditure of £0.1m to grant-fund Thames Reach to continue this service until March 2023.

Homeless Health Peer Advocacy Project (HHPA) – Groundswell

2.64 HHPA enables homeless people to address health issues by making services more accessible through the support of volunteers with experience of homelessness. Work is focused on rough sleepers and those at risk of rough sleeping, people living in hostels and those using day centres.

2.65 Over the past decade HHPA has supported 134 volunteers graduates as Peer Advocates, delivering over 23,500 health engagements for more than 10,000 people who are homeless. The current provider has the relevant technical expertise and is the only provider that could mobilise immediately.

2.66 MD2789 approved grant funding of £0.05m for 2021-22 to enable HHPA to develop a programme of work in each Integrated Care System area which includes one-to-one support, Care Navigation, Health Promotion and training, and to enable the roll out of learning and good practice from piloted projects.

2.67 The Mayoral Decision seeks approval for expenditure of £0.05m to continue grant funding this service during 2022-23.

Veterans Aid Welfare to Wellbeing

2.68 The ‘Welfare to Wellbeing’ offers an immediate route off the streets for every UK veteran in need and a bespoke, structured pathway into independent living. It specifically targets UK veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. In 2020-21 and 2021-22, the GLA provided £0.06m grant funding per annum for Veterans Welfare to Wellbeing (Veterans Aid). In 2019 Veterans Aid appropriately homed 177 ex-servicemen and women and prevented 122 from becoming homeless. The charity had 2,456 client interactions, supported 95 veterans into employment or onto training courses and put 66 into detox/rehab.

2.69 The Mayoral Decision seeks approval for expenditure of £0.06m to continue grant funding this project during 2022-23.

The Outside Project

2.70 The Outside Project were grant funded £50,000 in the second round of the Mayor’s Rough Sleeping Innovation Fund. They were subsequently awarded grant funding of £104,000 in 2020-21 (DD2381) and £104,000 in 2021-22 (MD2789) for their work in Partnership with Stonewall Housing to develop safe shelter accommodation for people from the LGBTIQ+ community experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

2.71 The project offers both daytime refuge and social space for LGBTIQ+ people experiencing homelessness via their community centre whilst also providing overnight accommodation for more vulnerable clients identified at an immediate risk of sleeping rough. During 2021-22 and in response to the pandemic, the Outside Project provided emergency COVID-safe accommodation to 61 LGBTIQ+ people.

2.72 This Mayoral Decision seeks approval for expenditure of £0.1m to continue grant-funding this service during 2022-23.

Youth Hub

2.73 Youth Accommodation Hub (Hotel 1824) is a 40-bed service in the repurposed Hounslow Central Hotel, Hounslow, with 20 beds for rough sleepers directly referred by outreach teams or StreetLink, and 20 beds for people at risk of sleeping rough referred by the London Youth Gateway (LYG). The Hub is run jointly by DePaul and New Horizons.

2.74 The Hub’s success is built on providing accommodation that is safer for young people than all-age accommodation, as well as support bespoke to this age group. The service supported 160 young people in its first 9 months. Only two young people who have stayed at the Hub have been recorded or seen sleeping rough since leaving.

2.75 This Mayoral Decision seeks approval for expenditure of £0.14m to extend this service between 14 March 22 and 30 April 2022.

Crisis Reconnections Research

2.76 Due to immigration restrictions on the entitlements of some non-UK nationals it has been common for rough sleeping services to offer and support international reconnections as a route off the streets, especially in relation to EEA nationals. The GLA commissions Routes Home, which provides a lot more than just supported reconnections and represents one of the largest international reconnection projects for rough sleepers in the UK. In fact, there continues to be substantial investment by national and local government on international reconnection activities as a route off the streets for certain non-UK rough sleepers.

2.77 However, there has been no substantial work done on evaluating the effectiveness of these activities and at present there is limited empirical evidence on the effectiveness of international reconnections on the individual or the most effective model of support for international reconnections. This highlights the need for research that can lead to an evidence-based approach on this area.

2.78 To inform future policy and best practice on international reconnections and ensure these are evidence-based, including GLA commissioned projects, we will work with an independent homelessness organisation to match fund a research project to evaluate international reconnections for non-UK rough sleepers with a focus on London. We have worked with Crisis on a research proposal and the budget needed. Crisis has extensive experience of commissioning high quality research on homelessness related subjects, including a report on UK reconnections and on Migrant Homelessness.

2.79 This Mayoral Decision seeks approval for expenditure of £50,000 to grant fund Crisis in 2021-22 to contribute to the costs of commissioning and delivering this research project. Crisis will commit to securing additional funding for this research project.

 

Staff resource

2.80 This Mayoral Decision seeks approval for expenditure of £0.02m for staffing resource in the GLA rough sleeping team to oversee the delivery of rough sleeping and lead on partnership work with boroughs in London’s housing partnership sub-regions.

3.1 Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as public authorities, the Mayor and the GLA are subject to a public-sector equality duty and must have “due regard” to the need to (i) eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation; (ii) advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not; and (iii) foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not. Protected characteristics under section 149 of the Equality Act are age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, and marriage or civil partnership status (all except the last being “relevant” protected characteristics).

3.2 Of those seen sleeping rough in 2020-21:

• 50 per cent were non-UK nationals

• 4 per cent were from Gypsy/Romany/Traveller communities

• 44 per cent had a mental health need

• 16 per cent were women

• most (59 per cent) were in the 26-45 age group

• 10 per cent were under 26 years old

• 10 per cent were over 55

• seven persons were under 18.

3.3 Those with protected characteristics of race and disability are over-represented among rough sleepers. As the client group for these services is people with a history of sleeping rough, the proposals in this paper are likely to have positive impacts on Black, Asian and minority ethnic Londoners, and those with disabilities. As the majority of people sleeping rough are men, more men than women are likely to access these services. However, the services will provide personalised, specialist support for women and non-binary people that meets the needs of these groups.

Key risks and issues

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.1 The GLA played a significant role in the COVID-19 London response, which led to the Everyone In initiative. This work continues as we move into the recovery phase, ensuring that all those new to the streets have an immediate route off the

Impact assessments and consultations

4.2 The bids for the proposed new services and project were developed in partnership with the Mayor’s Life off the Streets taskforce and informed by in-depth consultation with stakeholders from London boroughs, voluntary-sector providers and the wider homelessness sector.

4.3 The GLA is working in close partnership with London boroughs, the health service, charities and the government on its and London’s wider rough-sleeping COVID-19 emergency response, including through the multi-agency Rough Sleeping Strategic Group.

Conflicts of interest

4.4 There are no known conflicts of interest for those involved in the drafting or clearance of this report.

5.1 This decision seeks approval for the receipt of £3.65m of funds from DLUHC; £3.5m from the Rough Sleeping Initiative and £0.15m from the Winter Pressures Fund.

5.2 This decision also seeks approval for the expenditure of £7.5m on rough sleeping services as set out in the table below:

5.3 The expenditure will be funded by the £3.65m received from DLUHC as set out above and £3.85m from the GLA’s core rough sleeping allocation of funds. £1.84m of the £3.85m will come from the 2021-22 budget allocation and £2.01m from the 2022-23 budget allocation.

5.4 Funding in future years will be subject to the annual budget-setting process.

Powers to undertake the requested actions

6.1 The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Mayor fall within the statutory powers of the Authority to promote and/or to do anything that is facilitative of, or conducive or incidental to, the promotion of social development in Greater London; and in formulating the proposals, in respect of which a decision is sought, officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:

• pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people
• consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom
• consult with appropriate bodies.

6.2 In taking the decisions requested of him, the Mayor must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

Variation of existing contracts

6.3 As was explained in MD2789, the response, which was required to deal with the effects of COVID-19 on rough sleepers, interrupted procurements of new contracts for the GLA’s rough-sleeping services. The variations that are the subject of this decision form are a continuation of that response. In light of this, decision 2b seeks approval of the variation of the following contracts between the Authority and St Mungo’s: NSNO; Routes Home and TST North; and the following contract between the Authority and Thames Reach: London Street Rescue. The variations will allow the services to continue whilst new contracts are put into place.

6.4 Each contract was procured in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (the “Regulations”). Therefore, modifications of each contract must be undertaken in accordance with the Regulations. Regulation 72(1)(c) allows for the modification of contracts where the need for the modification was brought about by circumstances that a diligent public authority could not have foreseen; the modification does not alter the overall nature of the contract; and any increase in price does not exceed 50 percent of the original contract.

6.5 The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic may be viewed as an event that the Authority could not have reasonably foreseen. Furthermore, as set out at paragraphs 2.9 to 2.30, above, in the case of each contract, the services to be provided during the proposed extensions fall within the scope of the original contract. Accordingly, they do not alter the overall nature of the services to be provided under each contract. Finally, in each case, the value of the extension is less than 50 percent of the original contract. In light of this, the proposed extensions may be viewed as falling within the Regulations. Officers are reminded of the need for the Authority to publish a contract modification notice in relation to the modification of each of the contracts listed at paragraph 6.3 above.

Exercise of contractual options

6.6 Decision 2c of this decision form seeks approval for the exercise of contractual options relating to the following contracts: the Authority’s TST South contract with Thames Reach; the Clearing House contract with St Mungo’s and the CHAIN Contract with Homeless Link. Regulation 72(1)(a) of the Regulations allows for the modification of a contract during its term by means of clear, precise and unequivocal review clauses, which may include options, so long as the review clauses state the scope and nature of possible modifications and do not alter the overall nature of the contract. Officers have set out at paragraphs 2.31 to 2.43 how these requirements have been met.

Exemption from the Contracts and Funding Code

6.7 In decision 3, officers have requested exemptions from the contracts and funding code in respect of each of the variations to the contracts listed in paragraph 6.3 and the exercise of options listed in paragraph 6.6. As regards the variations listed in paragraph 6.3, section 10 of the Authority’s Contracts and Funding Code (the “Code”) provides that an exemption may be granted in the case of an unforeseen situation. The COVID-19 pandemic may be viewed as just such a situation. It exerted unprecedented pressure on the Authority’s rough-sleeping services and caused corresponding delays to the Authority’s rough-sleeping procurement programme. As regards the exercise of the contractual options, these are allowed by regulation 72(1)(a) of the Regulations. In light of this, the Mayor may approve the exemption in the case of each contract in decision 3 if he be so minded.

Receipt by the Authority of funding

6.8 Decision 1 seeks approval for the Authority to receive funding from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). The officers are reminded to ensure that the Authority comply with any conditions imposed upon the expenditure of the funding by the DLUHC.

Hotel accommodation for rough sleepers

6.9 Decision 2e seeks approval to incur expenditure in relation to the provision of hotel accommodation and related services to rough sleepers. The officers are reminded to follow the Code when procuring the said accommodation and services and to ensure that an appropriate contract be put in place between the Authority and the relevant service providers, before the commencement of the services.

Funding from the Authority to Third Parties

6.10 Decision 2d requests approval for the provision by the Authority of grant funding to third parties. Section 12 of the Code sets out the requirements governing the Authority’s provision of grants to third parties. The officers have set out at paragraphs 2.44 to 2.78 how they propose to meet those requirements in relation to each of the grants. Furthermore, the officers must ensure that an appropriate funding agreement be put in place between the Authority and the grant recipients, before any part of the funding be paid over; and, in the case of existing grant agreements, that appropriate variations be put in place.

Delegation of authority

6.11 Any functions exercisable by the Mayor on behalf of the Authority may also be exercised by a member of the Authority’s staff, albeit subject to any conditions that the Mayor sees fit to impose. To this end, the Mayor may make the requested delegation to the Executive Director of Housing and Land if he so chooses.

Staff resources

6.12 Decision 2g seeks authority to incur expenditure in relation to staff resources. If any posts within the GLA’s establishment require creation or extension as a result of this additional funding, such extension will need to be approved by the Head of Paid Service in accordance with the GLA Act 1999 and the GLA’s Staffing Protocol.

Procurement of further services

6.13 Officers are reminded to ensure that all further services be procured in accordance with the Code and that a written contract be put in place between the Authority and the relevant service provider, before the commencement of the corresponding services.