Annual Report

Chair's Report

Year 2007/2008 has been a year of consolidation for D.A.S.H.

We have now been running Churchill Square Emergency Accommodation, in partnership with City of Durham Council for 2 years. This has been a great success, having a 94.4% occupation level.

A further expansion of accommodation for the homeless has been negotiated with Private Landlords. Two houses are now occupied, accommodating 6 people; one more should follow in January 2009, with a further 3 occupants We currently have 22 bed spaces and when the 9 Private Landlord scheme beds are fully operational it will bring us up to 31. The support will range from emergency access with 24 hour supervision to longer stay accommodation and floating or tenancy support.

D.A.S.H. had 98.96% occupancy over the year, with 21 residents moving on. The referrals keep on increasing. We had 157 last year for our 14 bed spaces, so we are pleased to be able to offer another 9 beds for this coming year.

A member of the staff is exploring the possibility of providing an internet forum for the homeless. This seems an excellent idea and should prove useful in the future. The staff has again worked incredibly hard and efficiently throughout the year. Their drive and enthusiasm is what makes D.A.S.H. so successful.

I would like to offer grateful thanks to, Supporting People, Three Rivers Housing Group, D.A.A.T. and the City of Durham Council for their help and continued guidance.

I would also like to thank the management committee for their hard work and commitment to D.A.S.H (it is their blend of enthusiasm and common sense that helps D.A.S.H. to thrive), and the following organisations who kindly donate money and produce for our tenants.

St. John’s Church, Neville’s Cross
St. Brandon’s Church, Brancepeth
Durham Cathedral (Hartwell Charity)

Neville’s Cross Primary School
Kelloe Primary School
St. Andrew’s Church, Meadowfield
Methodist Chapel, Sherburn Hill

Senior Managers Report

In September 2007 a Support Worker was employed on a two year fixed term contract through a one off payment from an Innovation Fund set up by County Durham Supporting People Partnership. The purpose of the payment was to explore the potential of partnerships with private landlords. These developments are described by Melanie Turnbull from Supporting People elsewhere in this report, so I will just say that we consider them to be very significant.

One further development with which we are involved, is as a sub contractor to a larger provider (Stonham/Home) which has been awarded the contract for an Holistic Floating Support service through Supporting People. We see this as essential to safeguarding and maintaining our current floating support service in the coming years. To prepare for this bid, we joined forces with two other small floating support providers with whom we have good links, Moving On and SHAID, in a partnership which is receiving national attention through support from the Housing Associations Charitable Trust (HACT).

Referral rates were again higher than in the previous year, up from 153 to 166 from April 2007 to March 2008. Occupancy levels were also very high across Harry Mears House and our supported houses. Churchill Square Emergency Accommodation (CSEA) is proving to be a vital additional resource, not just for the City of Durham Council but for the whole of the County since it opened to other districts in May 2007. Occupancy levels at CSEA over the period have been 94.40%. Floating Support to people in their own homes has been at full capacity throughout the period.

The issue of the shortage of Social Housing is not one which is likely to improve much, especially for the single people seeking to move on from DASH accommodation, who are generally not a priority for Local Authorities or Housing Associations. Nevertheless, we have had some notable successful moves into the Social Housing sector again this year proving that perseverance is worthwhile. The City of Durham Council have adopted a new Allocations Policy this year, which gives more recognition to people moving on from supported housing and which will hopefully result in more people being accommodated by them in the future. We are also hopeful that our developing relationship with the private rented sector, along with initiatives from the County Homeless Action Partnership which include a Rent Deposit scheme, will result in more people moving on into privately owned accommodation.

Plans for Future Periods

The Local Government Review (LGR) in County Durham, will result in a single unitary authority for the County in place of the existing District and County Councils. While this will not necessarily directly affect the future of DASH, the reality is that they do cast an uncertainty over the shape of services within the County, which does include us.

In order to help us to understand and influence our position in the evolving structure, management committee and staff are involved in the Local Strategic Partnership as members of the Housing and Environment Sub Group and have attended consultation events to present the need for homelessness services.

Moves within the County Council and Supporting People towards competitive tendering for support services such as those provided by DASH are now underway. The Holistic Floating Support service awarded to Stonham was part of this process. We see the partnership arrangement between DASH, Moving On and SHAID, which helped us to succeed as subcontractors, as a constructive, innovative and flexible means of meeting this challenge. We have also trained extensively in procurement and tendering processes to assist our preparations. Trustees believe that we continue to be in a strong position to retain the services which we provide in the new funding environment.

While we have not yet developed any new services funded from diverse sources, we are working towards doing so. It is envisaged that the first service funded from sources other than Supporting People will be internet based, while we are also researching other accommodation based and education/ employment orientated services.

Treasurer's Report - Year Ended 31st March 2008

The Income and Expenditure shows a surplus for the year to 31st March of £49,704 compared to £41,557 in the previous year.

There are now 14 full time and 1 part time staff employed by the project, some of who are involved in part of the financial management in addition to their other roles. The increase in staff is due to the expansion of the project’s housing accommodation and support services and the provision of emergency accommodation under a contract with Durham City Council.

Income and Expenditure Account

Income

The higher level of activity resulted in an increase in the total income for the year to £415,250 compared to £378,359 in the previous year. This was due to increased rents and funding from statutory agencies.

Expenditure

The expenditure for the year was £365,546 compared to £336,802 in the previous year reflecting the increase activity of the project with additional wages and other costs.

Balance Sheet

Fixed Assets

The freehold properties, £190,750 are shown at their original costs as their current values are not considered to be greatly in excess of this figure. Other Fixed Assets reduced by £10,242 to £262,348 after depreciation, reflecting increase depreciation and reduced expenditure in the year.

Current Assets

The net current assets are £237,275 compared to £177,329 at the end of the previous year, due to increased Cash at Bank reflecting the surplus for the year.

The Total Assets less Current Liabilities are £499,623 compared to £449,919 at the end of the previous year.

Overall the project continues to grow in its activities and resources and remains in a strong financial position.