Homelessness, Housing Allocations, Fraud and Staffing

The request was successful.

Dear St Albans District Council,

Please find below a request for information under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act. Unless otherwise specified, all questions refer to the situation at present in the district, or if this information has not yet been collated, please use the most recent date available within the last 3 months.

1) How many homeless households in St Albans are registered with the local authority?
a) How many of these homeless households include a child under the age of 16 and/or a pregnant woman?
b) How many of these homeless households have you accepted by way of application as having a duty to assist with housing under the relevant legislation?
c) How many of these homeless households are currently having their applications assessed? How many of these applications 'under assessment' have been undecided for 6 weeks or more?

2) How many homeless households in St Albans are currently staying in temporary or emergency accommodation organised by the local authority?
a) How many of these homeless households in temporary or emergency accommodation include a child under the age of 16 and/or a pregnant woman?
b) How many of these homeless households in temporary or emergency accommodation have you accepted by way of application as having a duty to assist with housing under the relevant legislation?
c) How many of these homeless households are currently staying in emergency accommodation only such as bed & breakfast facilities or a hotel? If there are any households with a child under 16 or a pregnant woman, staying in such accommodation, please specify the number.
d) What the is the current longest stay of a homeless household in temporary accommodation for the following groups?: i) Adult only household ii) Household including a child under 16 or a pregnant woman.
e) What is the current longest stay of a homeless household in emergency accommodation for the following groups?: i) Adult only household ii) Household including a child under 16 or a pregnant woman.
f) How many homeless households are currently being temporarily or emergency housed outside of the St Albans district? If there are any households with a child under 16 or a pregnant woman, housed in accommodation outside of the district, please specify the number.

3) How many properties do the local authority own or otherwise lease/possess control over for the purpose of providing temporary or emergency accommodation to St Albans residents?
a) Please provide a breakdown of the size of these properties. E.g. 40x 1 bedroom with shared facilities, 50x 1 bedroom self contained, 30x 2 bedroom self contained etc.
b) How many of these properties are outside of the St Albans local authority area, if any? Please provide a breakdown of the size of these properties outside of the local area and their approximate location
c) How many of these properties are currently empty? Please provide a breakdown of the size of these empty properties and if empty due to repair work or renovation, please make this clear.
d) What is the current average wait for a homeless household to be moved from emergency accommodation to temporary accommodation? If the longest wait to be moved from emergency to temporary accommodation exceeds 6 weeks or more, please provide details of the longest wait in the preceding 3 years.

4) In St Albans, how many applications for homelessness have been received by the local authority in the past 12 months?
a) What percentage of these applications were from households including a child under 16 or a pregnant woman?
b) What percentage of these applications resulted in the local authority accepting a duty to assist with housing under the relevant legislation?
c) What percentage of these applications resulted in the local authority rejecting a duty to assist with housing under the relevant legislation? Please break this down into households including a child under 16 or pregnant woman and those households consisting of adults only.
d) Of the applications rejected by the local authority, what percentage of these were subjected to an internal appeal or external legal challenge by the applicant? Please break this down into households including a child under 16 or pregnant woman and those households consisting of adults only.
e) Of the applications rejected by the local authority and subjected to an internal appeal or external legal challenge, what percentage of the decisions were overturned, or held to be unlawful by the appeal board or external judicial agency? Please break this down into households including a child under 16 or pregnant woman and those households consisting of adults only.

5) How many homeless households in St Albans were made a suitable direct offer of permanent accommodation by the local authority in the past 12 months?
a) What percentage of these offers were made in relation to accommodation provided by the local authority or other registered social landlord?
b) What percentage of these offers were made in relation to accommodation provided by the private sector?
c) What percentage of these offers were made for the following types of accommodation: i) 1 bedroom with shared facilities ii) 1 bedroom self contained iii) 2 bedrooms self contained iv) 3 or more bedrooms self contained.
d) How many homeless households in St Albans have the local authority discharged their duty to assist following their refusal to accept a final offer of permanent accommodation with a local authority or registered social landlord? Please break this down into households including a child under 16 or pregnant woman and those households consisting of adults only.
e) How many homeless households in St Albans have the local authority discharged their duty to assist following their refusal to accept a final offer of permanent accommodation with a private sector landlord? Please break this down into households including a child under 16 or pregnant woman and those households consisting of adults only.
f) How many homeless households in St Albans have the local authority made an offer of permanent housing to, where the location of the permanent accommodation fell outside of the local authority geographical boundary? Please confirm the approximate location of these properties, the percentage refusal rate and whether any of these refusals led to the local authority discharging their duty to provide assistance.

6) How many homeless households in the St Albans area are also registered on the social housing waiting list?
a) Of these homeless households on the waiting list, how many are in priority Band A and what is the earliest priority date?
b) Of these homeless households on the waiting list, how many are in priority Band B and what is the earliest priority date?
c) Of these homeless households on the waiting list, how many are in priority Band C and what is the earliest priority date?
d) Of these homeless households on the waiting list, how many are in priority Band D and what is the earliest priority date?
e) Of these homeless households on the waiting list, how many are in priority Band E and what is the earliest priority date?

7) In the past 3 years, how many homeless households (with the local authority having accepted a duty to assist), in St Albans have had to wait longer than 6 months for an offer of permanent accommodation? Please break this down into households including a child under 16 or pregnant woman and those households consisting of adults only.
a) Of those homeless households waiting longer than 6 months, how many were in priority Band A and what was the longest recorded wait? If the longest recorded wait was due to a need for adapted accommodation or 4 bedroom + housing, please specify.
b) Of those homeless households waiting longer than 6 months, how many were in priority Band B and what was the longest recorded wait? If the longest recorded wait was due to a need for adapted accommodation or 4 bedroom + housing, please specify.
c) Of those homeless households waiting longer than 6 months, how many were in priority Band C and what was the longest recorded wait? If the longest recorded wait was due to a need for adapted accommodation or 4 bedroom + housing, please specify.
d) Of those homeless households waiting longer than 6 months, how many were in priority Band D and what was the longest recorded wait? If the longest recorded wait was due to a need for adapted accommodation or 4 bedroom + housing, please specify.
e) Of those homeless households waiting longer than 6 months, how many were in priority Band E and what was the longest recorded wait? If the longest recorded wait was due to a need for adapted accommodation or 4 bedroom + housing, please specify.

8) Based on 2015/16 projections, recent applications and current allocations, what is the overall average wait for a homeless household to be offered permanent accommodation in the St Albans area? Please break this down into households including a child under 16 or pregnant woman and those households consisting of adults only.
a) As per the above question, but specifically the current average wait for homeless households in priority Band A to be housed. Please break this down into households including a child under 16 or pregnant woman and those households consisting of adults only.
b) As per the above question, but specifically the current average wait for homeless households in priority Band B to be housed. Please break this down into households including a child under 16 or pregnant woman and those households consisting of adults only.
c) As per the above question, but specifically the current average wait for homeless households in priority Band C to be housed. Please break this down into households including a child under 16 or pregnant woman and those households consisting of adults only.
d) As per the above question, but specifically the current average wait for homeless households in priority Band D to be housed. Please break this down into households including a child under 16 or pregnant woman and those households consisting of adults only.
e) As per the above question, but specifically the current average wait for homeless households in priority Band E to be housed. Please break this down into households including a child under 16 or pregnant woman and those households consisting of adults only.

9) In total, how much has the local authority spent on providing emergency and temporary accommodation for homeless households in the last 12 months?
a) If this is above the allocated budget, please specify by how much.
b) What is the highest cost, per 1 night stay, spent on emergency or temporary accommodation? Please specify name of establishment used and number of nights paid for at this rate.
c) What percentage of the overall cost of providing emergency and temporary housing is successfully recouped through housing benefit or private charging?

10) How many cases of social housing or homelessness fraud have been suspected by the local authority in the past 3 years?
a) Of those cases, how many resulted in prosecution. Please specify the exact offences charged and the result of each court case.
b) Of those cases, how many resulted in the issue of formal cautions by the local authority or police. Please specify the exact offences cautioned for.
c) Of those cases, how many resulted in no further action. Please specify the number of offences were there was insufficient evidence to proceed and those offences where it was deemed not in the public interest to proceed.

11) How many whole time equivalent (WTE) staff are directly or indirectly employed by the St Albans local authority in a role which wholly or primarily includes dealing with homeless applications, facilitating emergency or temporary accommodation, sourcing suitable offers of social housing and/or sourcing suitable private sector tenancies?
a) Please break this number down into individual job titles and the approximate salary for each role
b) Please confirm whether your WTE staffing levels in these areas have increased, decreased or remained stable since 2010? Please specify any percentage increase or decrease in staffing levels as appropriate.
c) How many complaints have been received in relation to staff working in the above areas in the past 3 years? Please specify the broad reasons behind these complaints, the numbers upheld or rejected and whether any complaints resulted in formal disciplinary action (and if so, the result of that action)

I would like to thank you in advance for your full and prompt response to this request within 20 working days.

Yours faithfully,

Mohammed Islam

St Albans District Council

Reference: 233563    Date: 05/08/2015

Dear Mr Mohammed Islam

Thank you for your FOI request.  We will pass the details onto the
relevant department(s) who will send a full response by 2 September 2015.

Yours sincerely

Customer Services

Email: [1][St Albans District Council request email]

 

 

 

YOUR VOTE MATTERS, MAKE SURE YOU’RE IN

If your name is not included on the electoral register, you won’t be able to vote in future elections.

A form for you to check whether your name is on the Electoral Register has been sent to your address.

Complete the form with details of adults living at the property and return it to St Albans City & District Council as soon as you can.

Alternatively, you can respond online, by free phone or by using the text registration service (standard network rates will apply). Information on how to do this is set out on the canvass form.

Anyone added to the form not already registered to vote will be sent a second form inviting them to register. To be able to vote at future elections they will need to register online or by completing and returning this second form.

For further information visit www.stalbans.gov.uk/elections
or call 01727 819294

****Disclaimer****

The information in this message should be regarded as Private and is
intended for the addressee only unless explicitly stated.
If you have received this message in error it must be deleted and the sender
notified.
The views expressed in this message are personal and not necessarily
those of St Albans City and District Council unless explicitly stated.
Please be aware that emails sent to or received from St Albans City and
District Council may be intercepted and read by the council.
Interception will only occur to ensure compliance with council policies or
procedures or regulatory obligations, to prevent or deter crime, or for the
purposes of essential maintenance or support of the email system.

Please note that the Council does not accept service by e-mail

References

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1. mailto:[St Albans District Council request email]

Ella Malyon, St Albans District Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Islam,

 

Please see attached a letter of response to your recent Freedom Of
Information request.

 

Kind regards

 

Ella Malyon

 

Tenant Consultation and Communication Support Officer

Housing Services

St Albans City & District Council
St Peters Street
St Albans
AL1 3JE

 

YOUR VOTE MATTERS, MAKE SURE YOU’RE IN

If your name is not included on the electoral register, you won’t be able to vote in future elections.

A form for you to check whether your name is on the Electoral Register has been sent to your address.

Complete the form with details of adults living at the property and return it to St Albans City & District Council as soon as you can.

Alternatively, you can respond online, by free phone or by using the text registration service (standard network rates will apply). Information on how to do this is set out on the canvass form.

Anyone added to the form not already registered to vote will be sent a second form inviting them to register. To be able to vote at future elections they will need to register online or by completing and returning this second form.

For further information visit www.stalbans.gov.uk/elections
or call 01727 819294

****Disclaimer****

The information in this message should be regarded as Private and is
intended for the addressee only unless explicitly stated.
If you have received this message in error it must be deleted and the sender
notified.
The views expressed in this message are personal and not necessarily
those of St Albans City and District Council unless explicitly stated.
Please be aware that emails sent to or received from St Albans City and
District Council may be intercepted and read by the council.
Interception will only occur to ensure compliance with council policies or
procedures or regulatory obligations, to prevent or deter crime, or for the
purposes of essential maintenance or support of the email system.

Please note that the Council does not accept service by e-mail