- Durham County Council’s Cabinet will be asked to approve a £3.9 million investment to purchase 25 properties to provide accommodation for young people in care.
- The council works with providers across the county to ensure children are placed in appropriate, registered settings, but there is a shortage of suitable supported accommodation, particularly for 16 and 17-year-olds.
- Purchasing the houses would support the council’s ongoing work to fulfil its legal duty to provide sufficient, high-quality homes in the local area that meet the needs of young people in its care.
Ensuring young people in care have the right home, in the right place, at the right time is central to a proposal to be discussed by councillors next week.
Durham County Council’s Cabinet will be asked to approve a £3.9 million investment to purchase 25 properties, which would be used to provide accommodation for young people in care.
In County Durham, the use of supported accommodation for 16 and 17-year-olds has increased significantly since before the coronavirus pandemic, adding to the challenges of securing the right range and volume of placements locally.
Purchasing the houses would support the council’s ongoing work to fulfil its legal duty to provide sufficient, high-quality homes in the local area that meet the needs of young people in its care.
Cllr Cathy Hunt, Durham County Council’s Cabinet member for children and young people’s services, said: “We want every child in our care to have a safe, stable and welcoming place to live for as long as they need it.
“Our teams work tirelessly with providers across the county to ensure children are placed in appropriate, registered settings. However, demand continues to grow, and there is currently not enough registered accommodation available locally to meet all needs.
“Buying these houses would help us strengthen local provision, improve placement stability and fulfil our legal duty to ensure the right homes are available for young people when they need them.”
Cabinet will also be asked to approve a proposal to establish an in-house supported accommodation team. This team would be registered with Ofsted and would support young people to live independently in the properties, increasing the council’s oversight of provision and ensuring consistency with regulatory standards.
If approved, the council would hope to support young people to live in the homes from next summer. This would further strengthen the authority’s ability to meet current and future demand and fulfil its duty to provide suitable accommodation for children in care.
Cabinet will meet in County Hall at Aykley Heads at 9.30am on Wednesday 6 May.
