Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Social Housing presented a report on the proposal for the Council to participate in a multi-London Borough initiative aimed at providing a collaborative approach to the procurement of temporary accommodation across London.

The Cabinet Member explained that the current piecemeal approach across London often led to Councils competing against each other for suitable accommodation, which created a false housing market and drove up costs.  The new initiative, via the creation of a company limited by guarantee to be known as ‘Capital Letters’, would enable participating Councils to access more properties via a co-ordinated approach, as well as potentially benefiting from a £34m funding stream from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).  The intention was to join the company in the first phase, which would give the Council a voting seat on the Board as well as other benefits over those who joined at a later stage. 

In response to questions, the Cabinet Member confirmed that the new service was expected to go live in April 2019 and he was aware of approximately six Councils who had currently expressed an interest in joining in the first phase, although it was hoped that the initiative would be London-wide in the longer term.

The Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Agree, in principle, to the Council’s participation in “Capital Letters”, a company limited by guarantee to be established by the London boroughs, in accordance with the strategy set out in the report; and

(ii)  Delegate authority to the Chief Operating Officer, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Social Housing and the Director of Law and Governance, to make the final determination on the Council’s participation and, if appropriate, enter into all the legal agreements, contracts and other documents on behalf of the Council required to implement any aspect of the arrangements, including the appointment of the Council’s Company Member Representative and operational arrangements for staff secondment.