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INVERCLYDE COUNCIL HOMELESSNESS SERVICES RE-INSPECTION REPORT


The Scottish Housing Regulator today published its inspection report on Inverclyde Council. Its inspectors awarded the Council a ‘fair’ rating for its homelessness services.

The purpose of re-inspection is to provide an independent external assessment of the effectiveness and progress of service delivery, following the award of a “poor” rating at a previous inspection, and make recommendations to help improvement.

Inverclyde Council covers an area of approximately 61 square miles which includes the three main towns of Greenock, Port Glasgow and Gourock. It has a population of 82,000 people. In early 2008 Inverclyde transferred all its housing stock to River Clyde Homes through the Community Ownership Programme.

Michael Cameron, head of inspection at The Scottish Housing Regulator, said:

“Inverclyde Council has a challenging operating context for the delivery of its homelessness services and we welcome the improvements achieved by the Council over the last 3 years. Our inspection team found that Inverclyde Council has responded well to our previous inspection in 2004 by successfully tackling some of the issues identified by our report.

It has focused its work on improving access to its homeless service, its work to prevent homelessness and notably in its work with homeless people who use the service.

The Council is aware that it needs to improve its approach to assessing homeless applicants, increase provision of temporary accommodation units, and reduce the time homeless people wait to be housed.”

Joe McIlwee, Convener of Inverclyde Council's Health and Social Care Committee, said:

“We are pleased that the work to improve services to homeless people in Inverclyde has been acknowledged in the report, and particularly welcome the recognition given to the improved access for individuals to the service. It is also encouraging that the inspectors have highlighted the professionalism of staff and the efforts made to prevent homelessness.

They have also indicated the challenges which are apparent from the recent successful stock transfer.  We are confident, that with the ongoing support and co-operation of our colleagues from the local Housing Associations we will be able to ensure greater access to appropriate accommodation for individuals and families, and to reduce waiting times.

The Homelessness service acknowledges that there are still improvements which can be made and believe that the findings of the inspection reinforce our belief that we are heading in the right direction and continuing to improve.”

NOTES TO NEWS EDITORS

1. Inspectors gave the following grade:

2. Full details of the Inverclyde Council re-inspection report can be found on the Scottish Housing Regulator website at www.scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk

3. The Scottish Housing Regulator came into operation on 1 April 2008. It is the successor to Communities Scotland’s Regulation & Inspection Division. As a government agency the Scottish Housing Regulator will have complete operational independence, but will remain accountable to Scottish Ministers, and through them to the Scottish Parliament for the standard of its work. The agency sits within the Justice and Communities Directorate of the Scottish Government and will work within the government’s overall purpose and contribute to its strategic objectives.