What is Included?

The 35 draft targets for the upcoming LAA include the key Supporting People national indicator, 141: ‘Number of vulnerable people achieving independent living’.

Important Actions

Mark Menzies, Assistant Director for Housing Advice, sits on the executive of the Healthy City forum within the ‘Healthy City’ block of Derby’s Local Strategic Partnership. He stressed the importance of homelessness, and in particular Supporting People’s key national indicator 141, being included in Derby’s new LAA.

Consultation events about the new LAA took place where voluntary sector representatives, such as Derbyshire Housing Aid, alongside Mark and other Colleagues, successfully argued to get the target included.

These processes were aided by the fact that innovative approaches to homelessness have a high profile in Derby due to a new Communities and Local Government funded facility for single homeless people, Milestone House. This project showed the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) that homelessness and health services were strongly linked and ready to achieve the above target.

Milestone House will contain 26 nightshelter units run by Derbyshire Housing Aid and 6 units for those with an alcohol dependency where managed drinking will be allowed. It will contain a GPs surgery and will have access to CPN, alcohol, drug and other relevant services. A holistic assessment of individuals’ needs will be undertaken with a view to connecting people back to mainstream society, including training, education and employment.

Lessons Learnt

• Housing and homelessness staff must be engaged with the LAA process and find ways to input into LSP consultations around setting the indicators. They should lobby for national indicator 141, but also highlight how other indicators are relevant to homelessness.
• Local Councils need to work together with the voluntary sector to showcase innovative projects and prove that they can meet LAA targets.

For more information on this process please contact Mark Menzies at Mark.Menzies@derby.gov.uk