Angus Council chiefs have delivered an assurance over a new approach to helping the homeless after one rough sleeper’s desperate daily call for help was ignored for three weeks.
The area’s homelessness service has moved from the council’s housing division to Angus Health and Social Care Partnership.
It’s in advance of forecast housing bill changes which will place greater responsibility on public bodies and landlords to prevent homelessness.
A phased transfer is already underway in Angus.
But fears have already been raised over people slipping “through the net” after one councillor highlighted the case of one vulnerable man.
Ill and roofless
Brechin Independent Jill Scott said: “This is people’s lives we are dealing with.
“A couple of weeks ago I was approached by a specialist nurse worried for a gentleman who had been sleeping in a close for three weeks.
“He wasn’t in my ward.
“But it seemed this man had slipped through the net because he was still under the area housing office.
“He had been phoning every day and all that time he was roofless.
“He’s been homeless for over a year, was sofa surfing and was now roofless.
“Every day for those three weeks he was promised a call back and it didn’t happen.”
She added: “I’m glad to say he’s now housed.
“The team leader from health and social care was amazing once he was put to them – it happened almost immediately.
“But for three weeks this gentlemen was missed.
“He’s seriously ill. If the weather had turned he wouldn’t have made it.
“So I wonder what we are going to do to make sure that people like this man don’t slip through the net.”
‘Person-centred approach’
Housing strategy manager Catherine Johnson told Cllr Scott: “It’s really disappointing to hear there are examples like that.
“A main driver of the transfer is around making sure the homelessness service is a person-centred approach.
She said it aimed to be more closely linked to support services including mental health and drug and alcohol help.
“We’re working really hard to ensure that everything is in place for transferring the service,” added Ms Johnson.
“Hopefully what we’ll see is a much better standard of service and we will make sure we don’t have examples like that occurring.”
The health partnership already receives close to £1 million of council funding to deliver other homelessness and housing support services.
Under the transfer, it will be given another £425k which used to go to housing.
Montrose SNP councillor Kenny Braes said: “We are not going to give people the service they need and are entitled to if people are working in silos.
“We need to make sure people are working in collaboration to do the best for our tenants and the homeless.”
