Agenda item

Tim Rice explained that an outline had been developed for a new housing and health JSNA which would support commissioning and policy development. Any necessary consultation would take place and the final draft would be brought back to the Board in September.

Progress had been made on some of the key indicators in the national Memorandum of Understanding. The STP Prevention Board was concentrating on housing and work was on-going around homelessness with The Chief Executives and Leaders’ Board receiving a presentation about rough sleepers.

A pilot for a Housing First Project was being planned to help people to return to independent living and Neighbourhood teams were able to signpost people to appropriate help with housing issues. A strategic housing workshop would take place in June and would concentrate on homelessness and rough sleeping. There was a new duty to refer placed on public bodies including the NHS and as a result, referrals had been sent through to District Councils.

During the discussion the following comments were made:

·       It appeared that all the actions taking place were secondary prevention and dealing with problems once they had arisen. Do we know the effect of house building in the County and the effect on the infrastructure and environment? In reply the supplementary planning guidance was mentioned which tells developers to take account of health and well-being issues. There were also health impact assessments, with much of the work led by public health to ensure the right stock of housing was being built.  Public Health were able to comment on local plans, and strategic housing partnership meetings were held. Five out of six District Councils were currently reviewing their District Plans and housing was part of that consideration. Housing was not a reactive service and organisations were considering the stock of housing and how it could feed into the prevention agenda.

·       Work with Partners such as within Neighbourhood Teams had begun but needed to develop further

·       A concern was raised about the numbers of new houses and whether there were enough GPs and NHS infrastructure to meet the health needs of a larger population. Planning lead officers had now met with representatives from the CCGs and health and population growth was being mapped against GP capacity so problem areas could be identified. There was an on-going discussion about receiving appropriate contributions from developers

·       The Chairman asked if anything could be done to ensure people who were offered a place to live could afford to remain there. It was agreed that affordability was a complex issue, but welfare and benefits were a national issue. More intense work was on-going around how to help rough sleepers. A district Task and Finish Group were looking at what a Worcestershire Housing First Programme would look like. It would involve giving people a house and ensuring it was affordable and supporting the individual to become independent. It would mean a completely new way of working. The Group was hoping to have a final report by September

·       There was a concern that the amount of affordable housing in Worcestershire appeared to be decreasing. It was agreed that it was a difficult issue which the District Councils were trying to deal with but it was partly a national issue.

RESOLVED that the Health and Well-being Board:

a)     Noted the progress on the housing and health JSNA; and

b)    Noted the progress being made against the MoU on housing, health and care.