Agenda item

Mags Mercer, Chief Executive Officer, gave an update on the Hope Hub which was a charitable organisation which worked to prevent and end Homelessness within Surrey Heath.

The Hope Hub provided crisis and empowerment services for anyone who was or was at risk of becoming homeless, or whom was struggling with mental health, debt issues and unemployment. This included provision of emergency relief and items and one to one casework support, employment advice; and money and debt advice.

Recently, the Hope Hub had reintroduced its living well programme, where it was envisaged that in the future one programme per weekday would be featured. Sessions included a 5 week affordable cookery course, shopping on a budget and understanding labelling. It was recognised that many clients had enjoyed sharing experiences and socialising during such sessions which had been missed during the height of the pandemic.

The Hope Hub’s digital inclusion project called IT Connect allowed clients to borrow a tablet for up to three months. The programme also worked to train and upskill clients; and this ran alongside a programme provided by a training and employment coach. In addition a number of clients had completed a certificated volunteering programme. Overall a total of 183 individuals had attended the Hope Hub’s training courses; some of whom left with accredited qualifications.

Moving forward the charity was developing a service user forum, which would be made up of individuals which reflected the Hope Hub’s client base. In addition, as many of the volunteers which had lent their time during the pandemic had moved on to other opportunities, the Hope Hub was seeking to engage new volunteers and had benefited from the expertise of the Frimley Park Hospital Volunteer Coordinator.

On looking forward and on evaluation of the recent changes to the demand for the Hope Hub’s services, statistics showed that Hope Hub Clients now suffered with more complex needs and were often multiple disadvantaged. This resulted in the Hope Hub’s average client engaging with the service on 31 occasions. In relation to this the Hope Hub aimed to provide a wider range of services, which included social enterprise initiatives, and had longer term ambitions of a ‘Hope House’, and skills centre.

The Hope Hub’s Emergency Accommodation Service, provided in conjunction with the Council, was due to officially open on 22 March 2022. However, the service was already providing 3 rooms with a further 3 rooms slowed down by defect and building material supply issues. The accommodation’s residents would live at the house for 6 weeks in which they would work intensely with the day service offering. At the end of the period the client would move into private rental or social housing.

Arising from Members’ questions and comments the following points were noted:

·         Where a homeless person was entrenched in rough sleeping, the Hope Hub would provide them with the necessities, but would not support them in order to enable them to continue sleeping rough on a permanent basis. In such instances, the day service would help them obtain identification in order to give them access to temporary accommodation and would often add them to the 2 year SAN programme, where the Hope Hub would report on the individual’s progress to Surrey Heath and Surrey County Councils.

·         All of the Hope Hub’s Emergency Accommodation’s residents signed a declaration stating that they would not engage in substance misuse whilst at the house.

·         There was potential for The Hope Hub to work in conjunction with the Man with a Pan initiative.

·         Following the completion of a risk assessment, coordination between the Council’s Housing team and The Hope Hub could allow for a rough-sleeping individual to be placed within the emergency accommodation within the same day.

·         There was a lack of emergency accommodation within easy reach of Camberley. This problem was exacerbated by the lack of a clear emergency accommodation referral process for out of office hours. It was felt that there was an opportunity to hold easily-assessed emergency rough sleeping kits, which would include a sleeping bag, clothing and essential toiletries, at St Michaels, St Martins and St Marys Churches.

The Committee thanked Mags for her informative update and continued fantastic work in the borough.