Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and outlined the etiquette for the meeting.  It was noted that this was a joint meeting of the Living in Hackney Scrutiny Commission and the Children & Young People Scrutiny Commission and would be jointly chaired by Cllr Sharon Patrick and Cllr Sophie Conway.

1.1  Apologies for absence from Cllr Ajay Chauhan.

2.1  There were no urgent items, and the agenda was as agreed and published.

2.1   There were no urgent items, and the agenda was as agreed and published.

Scrutiny Chairs: Cllr Sharon Patrick (Chair of Living in Hackney) and Cllr Sophie Conway (Chair of Children and Young People)

Session format and timings

1.  (7.05)  Introduction by Chairs  (5min)

2.  (7.10)  Care Leavers views of housing support  (25min)

3.  (7:40)  Comparative models of housing support for care leavers  (35min)

4.  (8:10  Housing Support for Care Leavers in Hackney (Local Policy & Practice)  (60 min)

5.  (9:10)  Related submissions - London Wide Offer  (5min)

6.  Summary discussion

4.1The aim of this scrutiny session was to review the housing support and accommodation options available to care leavers in Hackney.  This was a joint session of both Living in Hackney and Children & Young People Scrutiny Commissions, reflecting that this issue encompasses children’s social care, the council’s corporate parenting responsibility, housing needs, housing strategy and housing supply. 

4.2The Commissions were assisted by the contributions of local officers and external guests from Lambeth and Islington, and local care leavers.  It was noted that a number of reports had been submitted to the Commissions which would also be used as evidence (enclosed within the report pack).  After this session, Commission members would reflect on all the evidence received and make recommendations to improve housing support to care leavers for relevant Cabinet members to consider.

Cabinet member introduction

4.3The Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Children’s Social Care thanked young people for contributing to the development of the new housing pathway for care leavers which it was hoped would provide better accommodation and housing support.  Despite these improvements, the Cabinet member noted that care leavers still had significant anxieties about their accommodation options not only in the short-term, but also for the medium and longer-term as they reached the ages of 21 and 25.  Whilst 18 social let properties were made available for care leavers each year, there were far more care leavers who would benefit from this opportunity.  The Cabinet member welcomed this review as it underlined the importance of joined-up support from across the Council and hoped it would develop challenging and innovative recommendations to improve housing support for care leavers.

Care Leavers in Hackney

4.4Prior to this meeting, it was noted that the Chair and Vice Chairs of both Commission’s had conducted a focus group with 10 young care leavers to understand the nature and level of housing support that they received.  An analysis of the key themes to emerge from the focus group is contained in the agenda pack. The Chair thanked young people for attending the focus group and this session, as it was critically important that members understood the lived experience of care leavers in relation to the housing support they received. 

4.5In addition, ahead of the meeting the Chair and Vice Chairs of both commissions undertook a site visit to semi-independent accommodation used to support young people leaving care.  This also allowed the opportunity for members to speak to support staff, care leavers and other young people about how housing needs were being met locally.

4.6Care leavers present were asked to briefly introduce themselves and  describe their current housing situation and any key issues they had faced or were likely to face in the future about their accommodation.  Key issues raised included the following:

·  (CL1) lived and attended University outside of London and was aware that they would unlikely to be able to access social housing on their return to Hackney given the limited supply available.  The care leaver also  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.1The draft minutes of the previous meeting on 13^th December 2021 and 17^th January 2022 had been delayed and would be provided at the next

meeting.

6.1The Chair referred to the work programme and outlined the discussion items for the next meetings.

7.1 None.