The Royal Borough council is to discuss a new strategy designed to reduce homelessness and support those at risk of homelessness at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, November 22.

Councillors will be asked to agree the new strategy which outlines new measures to help vulnerable residents over the next five years.

The strategy includes the creation of a homeless prevention and relief fund, funded by the homelessness grant the council receives from central government, which will be used to either prevent people from losing their accommodation or help them obtain alternative accommodation.

A multi-agency forum to jointly support and review homelessness cases and develop individual plans for each resident and develop joint hospital discharge plans to prevent homelessness is also in the plan, as are the creation of a new partnership to prevent families from becoming intentionally homeless and the development of a quality pool of temporary accommodation providers.

The strategy has been developed through homelessness reviews, consideration of national and local policy as well as engagement and discussion with partners.

Cllr Mike Airey lead member for environmental services (including parking, flooding, housing and performance management) said: “This strategy, if approved, will allow the Royal Borough to take a proactive, empathetic approach to residents who find themselves homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

“We believe the most effective way of dealing with homelessness and rough sleeping is to prevent it from happening in the first place.”

The proposed strategy would be monitored through a variety of actions including the number of homeless preventions and numbers of people sleeping rough as well as being reviewed, refreshed and updated on an annual basis to ensure that the actions continue to be the right ones to meet these five key priorities.