Elsewhere in this guide we have provided information and ideas about how councils address homelessness and the kind of questions you may want to ask about the situation in your locality. You will also want to think about how you carry out your own role and, in this section, we offer some ideas about how you can do that effectively. There isn’t a single way to do so of course. You will have your own leadership style and, while you may want to explore ways to enhance your skill set, it is important that you work in ways which build on what you are good at rather than trying to fit someone else’s template.
The LGA offers a range of resources and support for councillors directly and also through the political group offices.
As the cabinet lead
As the senior councillor with responsibility for work on homelessness you have an opportunity to provide leadership in your locality in a number of different settings. Inevitably much of your day-to-day work will be within the council itself with fellow councillors and officers but those involved in homelessness in the community will also look to you to offer a lead about the way that together your community can tackle all aspects of this issue.
You are not expected to be an expert in the way that the professional staff who work for the council are but you will need to develop a broad understanding of the subject matter so that you can begin to make informed judgements about the choices that face the council. As your understanding deepens you will want to look critically at the strategy that is currently being pursued and discuss it with people inside and outside the council who have knowledge and experience to share.
When the council is making financial decisions, you will need to be aware of and explain to your colleagues what the implications are of decisions to change the levels of funding for work on homelessness.
A key part of the information needed to do these things well will be the lived experience of individuals and families who are or have been homeless in your area. Your officers and local voluntary groups will be able to provide insights and also facilitate you engaging directly with service users.
As a ward councillor
If your council is experiencing a high level of homelessness you may find that this is a significant part of your casework load. Dealing with individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness can be a distressing experience and you will be able to assist them more effectively if you know what information they need to provide. Many in that situation will not be aware of the support and assistance they may be entitled to or the constraints on the council when trying to assist.
If you can, be supportive but do so without raising unrealistic expectations; this will be helpful to everyone concerned. For example, a family which has been placed in ‘temporary accommodation’ might reasonably expect that will mean they will be there for weeks or perhaps months. You will however be aware of the situation locally and if their stay is likely to be for some years you can explain this.
Some ward councillors may become aware that there are rough sleepers in the area either from their own observation or because constituents tell them about it. Getting a briefing from the officer team working on this will enable you to provide leadership to your local community by sharing the real story rather than some of the misconceptions which may arise.
The council may want to create accommodation in your ward, as part of its homelessness strategy. This may involve new homes or the conversion of existing properties, both of which can provoke strong feelings. You will need to make sure that your colleagues who are leading on the strategy are aware of local concerns, while also sharing with your constituents facts about the situation and what is planned.
As a scrutiny councillor
When a council is addressing an issue where there can be sudden changes in demand requiring urgent action, scrutiny councillors have a key role to play. Offering a constructive challenge to quickly formulated proposals can often lead to improvements ahead of implementation, while reviewing outcomes and identifying what has and hasn’t worked well is critical to improving future performance.
Scrutiny can also provide an opportunity to look at how issues such as homelessness have been addressed by other councils or in other countries. Decisions made in your council always need to take into account local circumstances but looking at ideas from elsewhere can stimulate new thinking locally.
Working with officers
In most councils there will be a corporate director whose brief includes housing in general and homelessness specifically. However, there may be aspects of homelessness that are dealt with in other directorates, in particular those covering social care, education and finance. There will be officers who are leading on particular aspects of the council’s housing services. This could include management and maintenance of council homes, external partnerships with other housing providers and housing needs including strategy and construction of new homes as well as homelessness itself.
As well as senior officers, for whom homelessness will be one of a significant number of priorities they have to address, there will be staff who work on the frontline and who meet homeless families and individuals every working day.
Doing a frontline job in this field can be very challenging. As a councillor you will know how distressing it is to talk to a family to whom you cannot offer immediate solutions but some staff are doing that day after day and a visit to their workplace can make clear that you not only value what they are doing but want to hear from them about what they are learning.
When policies are being framed and budgets decided, the role of the cabinet member in being an advocate for work on homelessness is key and the officer team will provide the briefings and information needed to do this effectively. But whatever your role as councillor, making sure that homelessness is given thorough consideration alongside other pressing issues will be important and will potentially make a difference for those experiencing homelessness and those inside and outside the council working with them.
Helping you to be effective
Whatever your role, it is worth asking for some basic information that will help you do your job.
Know who the key people to talk to are – you might ask for a structure chart showing which officers work on homelessness and related issues. You may also want to identify the people who are involved in other organisations who are working on homelessness locally.
Does the council provide councillors with regularly updated headline statistics? There will be detailed figures provided but do you know how many families are in temporary accommodation each night and whether the number is rising or falling? Try talking to officers about a short list of key numbers on which they can give you monthly updates.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions about the council’s internal processes. Working in partnership with other organisations is important but do the different parts of the council work well together? Is homelessness understood as a priority by all parts of the council?
Is the council open to new ideas about tacking homelessness? It can be very difficult to find the time for thinking about how things could change when facing everyday pressures to just to keep things going. Councillors can make sure that there are opportunities to step back and look at what is working well and what is not, what ideas are emerging elsewhere and could they be adopted in your council.
In conclusion
We began by looking at how one council, Newcastle City, is approaching homelessness in its locality. Their ambition is to eliminate homelessness but they acknowledge that this will take many years and along the way it is vital to help, as much as possible, those who are currently homeless.
Councillors can play a key part in making that happen and this guide offers some suggestions about how this can be done and where ideas and information can be gathered but it does not tell you what the right answer is for your locality – only you, working with council officers, partners and local residents can work that out.