Ms Mary Hayes:

I have a concern about the short term in the sense that it is very important. That is why I have an openness on this point. I am almost tenure-neutral when it comes to having alternatives to emergency accommodation, as I said earlier, because we must bridge that gap between now and supply coming online. I am confident supply will increase this year. I am aware secure tenure is the option preferred by everyone here for social housing and that is what we aim for but we still strongly encourage uptake of homeless HAP in the city because we do not want a build-up of people waiting for a social housing letting within emergency accommodation. We have often been asked why we are so encouraging of homeless HAP and encouraging people to take it up. The alternative is homelessness which, apart from the expense, has a human cost. We are far happier to build up supports around a family in a community-based service, whether it is HAP, leasing or social housing. I recognise social housing is most people's preferred choice. It is not everybody's. Not so much with homelessness but with the general housing list, we see huge interest in HAP uptake across the city, where there is not necessarily huge desire for social housing in the long term. In homelessness you see the opposite. Where people have been through and have concerns they definitely prefer social housing options. I hope it will come on board. I hope HAP will continue to deliver for us in the short term.