Camden Council - Information request (FOI/EIR) - Housing and adult social
care

Our reference: 9383640

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Dear Ms. Richardson

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST

Thank you for your recent Freedom of Information request received on 6 May
2014

You requested information on:

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 I seek access to documents
detailing the following information about council housing and
homelessness:
1. The number of people on the councils housing waiting list at present.
2. The number of people who have applied for council accommodation for the
calendar years of 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 (or financial year if
appropriate). Please break down by the number of one bedroom, two bedroom,
three bedroom, four bedroom, five bedroom properties.
3. The councils criteria for prioritizing council housing waiting list
applications.
4. The number of people on the councils housing waiting list who are
declared homeless in 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011.
5. Total number of homeless people given accommodation by the council in
2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, broken down by gender, age and ethnic background.
6. The councils annual budget allocated to tackle homelessness in years
2014, 2013, 2012, 2011.
7. The councils criteria for someone to be declared homeless.
8. The councils most recent headcount of street sleepers.
9. The number of council run hostels for homeless people in the borough.
10. Total annual spending on building new council housing accommodation in
the last three years.

I would prefer to receive this information electronically, preferably as a
data set, eg. in Excel, NOT as a PDF.
If the decision is made to withhold some of this data using exemptions in
the Data Protection Act, please inform me of that fact and cite the
exemptions used.
If some parts of this request are easier to answer than others, I would
ask that you release the available data as soon as possible.
If you need any clarification then please do not hesitate to contact me.
Under Section 16 it is your duty to provide advice and assistance and so I
would expect you to contact me if you find this request unmanageable in
any way.
I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received
this request, and I look forward to hearing from you within the 20-working
day statutory time period.

Your request is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and will be answered within twenty working days.

If appropriate, the information may be provided in paper copy, normal font
size. If you require alternative formats, e.g. language, audio, large
print, etc. then please let me know.

For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions which may
prevent release of the information you have requested. There will be an
assessment and if any of the exemption categories apply then it will not
be released. You will be informed if this is the case.

If the information you request was obtained from or relates to a third
party then they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken on
whether or not to release the information to you.

In some cases there may a fee payable for the information requested. This
will be considered and you will be informed of the fee payable if this is
the case. In this event the fee must be paid before the information is
processed and released. The 20 day time limit for responses is put on hold
until receipt of the payment.

If you have any queries about this request do not hesitate to contact me.
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

Yours sincerely

Stephen Carter
Information Access Officer (HASC)

Email: [email address]
Phone: 0207 974 4372

Camden Council - Information request (FOI/EIR) - Housing and adult social
care

Our reference: 9383640

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Dear Ms. Richardson

Re: Freedom of Information Act 2000

Further to your email, received on 6 May 2014, we are pleased to enclose
and attach the requested information.
 

You Requested
I seek access to documents detailing the following information about
council housing and homelessness:
1.           The number of people on the council’s housing waiting list at
present.
 
Response: We currently (as of 8 May 2014) have 28,070 households waiting
for housing; 27,653 on the general needs register, and 439 on the
sheltered register. 22 households appear on both registers.
 
2.           The number of people who have applied for council
accommodation for the calendar years of 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 (or
financial year if appropriate). Please break down by the number of one
bedroom, two bedroom, three bedroom, four bedroom, five bedroom
properties.
 
Response: Please see attached excel spreadsheet providing a breakdown of
new applications (to both registers) broken down by fiscal year and bed
need (Richardson-New Applicants 140507a)
 
3.           The council’s criteria for prioritizing council housing
waiting list applications.
 
Response: Please find attached a copy of Camden’s current allocations
scheme. (Full Housing Allocation Scheme)
 
4.           The number of people on the council’s housing waiting list
who are declared homeless in 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011.
 
Response: This is open to interpretation. However, the enquirer refers to
the year in which they were “declared homeless”. Given anyone to whom we
accept the full homelessness duty to is placed on one or both of the
housing lists, this seems to be simply a request for the number of
households accepted as homeless under PtVII and placed on the housing
register each year. The numbers below are for PtVII full-duty acceptances
placed on the register by fiscal year.
2010/11: 149
2011/12: 132
2012/13: 116
2013/14: 74
 
5.           Total number of homeless people given accommodation by the
council in 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, broken down by gender, age and ethnic
background.
 
Response: The enquirer does not make clear if they are referring to
permanent or temporary accommodation. As the enquirer refers elsewhere to
applications, and waiting, for housing I have assumed they are referring
to accepted PtVII households provided with permanent accommodation. Pls
see attached spreadsheet for tables.(Richardson PtVII rehousing 140508a)
 
6.           The council’s annual budget allocated to tackle homelessness
in years 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011.
 
Response:
 
The budget is broken down into 3 service areas described below.
·           Prevention:   services targeted at preventing tenants becoming
homeless, liaison between landlords and tenants, offering advice,
exploring options and helping to find sustainable private rental
arrangements.
·           Support:  the costs of the provision of temporary
accommodation including staffing resources required to support tenants to
find a permanent housing solution.
·           Admin: the provision of administrative and management support
to the homelessness services
 
The table below details the total budgets for the fiscal years requested
for all 3 service areas.

2014/15 2013/14 2012/13 2011/12
9,602,043 9,977,955 9,689,818 9,776,304

 
7.           The council’s criteria for someone to be declared homeless.
 
Response: I have attached a copy of the 2006 Homelessness Code of Guidance
which details the criteria Camden utilise.
 
8.           The council’s most recent headcount of street sleepers.
 
Response: “Camden no longer undertakes single night “headcounts” of rough
sleepers and now measures the number of people “Living on the streets”
(LOTS) on a regular basis along with assessing  “No second night out”
(NSNO) performance data to ensure that all new rough sleepers receive a
service offer . This provides a more accurate and comprehensive picture of
rough sleeping throughout the year.  The data for the last quarter is
below: 
 
•           The quarterly LOTS outcome (Jan – Mar 2014) for numbers living
on the streets of Camden is 31. (This is the number of people that have
had 5 or more rough sleeping contacts over a period of 3 weeks or more)
•           The quarterly NSNO outcome (Jan – Mar 2014) for Camden is 76%.
This represents the % of new rough sleepers who did not then spend a
second night out.”
 
9.           The number of council run hostels for homeless people in the
borough.
 
Response: Camden currently runs 4 family hostels and 3 hostels for single
persons, with one more single persons hostel due to open in the summer of
2014.
 
10.        Total annual spending on building new council housing
accommodation in the last three years.
 
Response: Please see following links to Government statistical data for
housing investment – I have attached a down load for 2012/13 as an
example. (This is the spreadsheet “Q10 lahs data returns….”)
The link will take you to the source document page for 2012 to 2013 but
data for all preceding years is also published on the website
[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/statistica...
Please note you should scroll across the page to New build , conversions
and acquisitions on Tab F, columns DU to DZ for all boroughs and scroll
down to filter for Camden.
The data for 2013/14 is still being collated and will be submitted for
publication on the site in July after which it will available to the
public.

We hope that the information is useful to you.

Please note the information is still covered by copyright legislation. You
are not authorised to re-use this information for commercial or research
purposes as defined by the Re-Use of Public Sector Regulations 2005. If
you do wish to re-use this information please contact the Information
Access Team, Legal Services/ Second Floor, Camden Town Hall, Judd Street,
London WC1H 9JE, who will assess your request. 

If you are unhappy with any aspect of the way in that your request has
been processed then you have the right to issue a complaint. If you wish
to issue a complaint, please set out in writing your grounds of appeal
(within 2 months of this correspondence) and send it to: Access to
Information Team, Legal Services, Camden Town Hall, Judd Street, London,
WC1H 9LP and your complaint will be administered through our Internal
Review procedure.
 
If you are still not satisfied following the Internal Review, you have a
right to appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office. They can be
contacted at: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire. SK9 5AF.
Telephone: 01625 545 700
[2]www.ico.gov.uk

 
Yours sincerely

Stephen Carter
Information Access Officer (HASC)

Email: [email address]
Phone: 0207 974 4372
 
 

References

Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistica...
2. http://www.ico.gov.uk/