Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2020 – 2024 consultation
Consultation period: Monday 25 January 2021 (12:00) – Monday 22 March 2021 (23:59)
The Homelessness Act 2002 requires the Council to conduct a review of the nature and extent of homelessness in its District every 5 years and to develop a strategy setting out how services will be delivered in the future to tackle homelessness and the available resources to prevent and relieve homelessness.
In 2018 the Government published their national rough sleeping strategy which obligated local authorities to include a special focus on Rough Sleeping and this is our first Homelessness and Rough Sleeping strategy.
Our draft strategy has now been published and has been shaped by the consultation we undertook in 2019/2020 with partners, stakeholders, voluntary agencies and local people. Based on the feedback from the homeless review and our understanding of the issues and causes of homelessness, we believe that our strategic priorities for tackling homelessness in East Kent over the next 5 years should be –
- Priority one: Tackling homelessness together through partnership work
- Priority two: Enhanced accommodation options
- Priority three: Using resources effectively
- Priority four: Improving options for homeless households and
- Priority five: Ending rough sleeping in our district
The overarching aim is to deliver an accessible service that helps prevent homelessness and assists homeless households in finding long term affordable homes. Dover District Council remains committed to working with partners in the statutory and voluntary sectors and with residents themselves to achieve this goal.
We would welcome views on the strategy generally and in particular whether you think -
- the strategic priorities are the right ones
- the strategy identifies the key issues
- specific actions are required which are not covered in the action plan
You can read the proposed strategy and equality impact assessment here:
Our consultation has now closed and we would like to thank those of you who completed our online survey.
A report will be presented to Cabinet with details of the comments and suggestions received and any changes made to the draft strategy as a consequence before a final version of the strategy is approved.