Dynamic purchasing system for supply of temporary accommodation.
All local authorities have a statutory duty under the Housing Act 1996 Part VII, (as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002) where appropriate, to provide temporary accommodation for homeless applicants pending investigations into their application. Local authorities also have additional statutory powers to provide help and assistance to other categories of people. Often this requires Local Authorities to provide accommodation to some of the most vulnerable members of the community including, for example, people with mental health issues, physical disabilities and learning disabilities. Local authorities are also bound by statute to provide suitable temporary accommodation to applicants who are then assessed as homeless until a homeless household can obtain a settled housing solution.
This dynamic purchasing system is to be established to secure private sector leasing and/or nightly let accommodation plus giving the local authorities the ability to discharge their duty into the private rental sector. Definitions of these property types are:
• private sector leasing (PSL) scheme — procurement and management of self-contained units of furnished/unfurnished accommodation on a lease (normally 3 years);
• nightly let — procurement and management of self-contained units of furnished accommodation used as nightly accommodation.
