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This estimate covers programme management and administration, integration and orientation, housing (costs of a housing support officer and one-off housing fit-out
costs), interpretation and translation, English language tuition and some social care
costs (relating to the provision of family support). It does not cover the one-off
investment requested by local health services to coordinate primary health care, specialist provision such as education and mental health, or community hub costs
(including any property costs).

2.2.3 As noted in Paragraph 17, The Home Office will not provide funding for
discretionary housing payments (topping up housing benefits). Therefore, a
potential top-up to housing benefit predicted by Norwich City Council is not included in this estimate. However, it still represents a cost pressure and is addressed in
Paragraph 27 below.

2.2.4 The details of projected costs are set out in Annex 3.

2.2.5 The basic funding offer by the Government is £20,520 per refugee (five years of funding per individual), equating to total funding of £1,026,000 for 50 individuals. It is forecast that this total income will be over a seven year period, based on an assumed pattern of arrivals over three years.

2.2.6 This leaves a predicted total funding shortfall of £401,659 over seven years for delivering a basic resettlement service in Norfolk. It is difficult to profile any shortfall,
as it depends on the type of refugees and their needs. This shortfall does not allow for any inflation on costs over the seven years, any contingency in the budget, or any associated property and other overhead costs. It is therefore assumed that all other costs, including support service costs (HR, ICT etc) and finance costs relating to the administration of the grant, can be absorbed within existing budgets.

2.2.7 All of the costs identified for the scheme set out in Annex 3 represent additional
(cash) costs. The social care costs represent additional provision to meet specific expected needs. Any other growth in demand for local authority services has not been considered and is not included in the scheme costs (i.e. it is assumed that any
further service costs from increased demand are absorbed within existing budgets).

2.2.8 In addition to the predicted funding shortfall of £401,659, as estimated by Norwich
City Council, there is likely to be an additional cost for housing providers of
approximately £216,000 to take into account, which relates to the cost of providing top-ups to housing benefit over a five year period.

Norwich City Council will take the lead in working with other district and borough councils in Norfolk to secure and manage properties for refugees, and provide tenancy support during the five year programme. The provision of tenancy support was identified as a critical factor in enabling Gateway refugees in Norfolk to maintain
stable and successful tenancies.

Upon arrival in Norfolk, refugees will be housed in private rented accommodation in
Norwich. Homes will be risk assessed, furnished (including basic white goods) and
insured.

Careful planning will take place between statutory partners to ensure that wherever possible, given the availability of housing, refugees are located within 40 minutes
walking distance of key services. This will include an Arabic-speaking mosque and
schools with sufficient school places to take siblings, to minimise transport costs for
refugees.

Given the extremely high demand for all tenures of housing in Norwich, refugees are
likely to be accommodated on Norwich’s outlying estates, with local services and
good transport links to the city centre.

8. Refugees are eligible for housing benefit, which will be used to cover the cost of
housing. However, it will not be possible to secure housing for refugees in Norwich
beneath the housing benefits cap (see Annex 3 for more information). As already shown, refugees may be reliant on housing and other benefits for the duration of their time in Norfolk. Therefore, in order to avoid putting refugees at risk of homelessness, the Government is called upon to make an increased contribution to discretionary housing payments (DHP) costs for a minimum of five years

Posted By: hoolahan, Jul 25, 21:56:23