Boligsosialt arbeid i Holmestrand kommune

12of specification. Holmestrand council should therefore consider amore detailed survey of the council’s current housing needs.Clarify the purposes of the social housing stockWe advise the council to look at available housing with the view ofidentifying the target group(s) for the different types of housing.Re-allocation of council’s housingRe-allocation can proceed in three ways.- Changes in the existing housing stock- Sale of existing housing- Re-zoning of building landOrganization of allocation proceduresThe current organization of the coordinating unit (Koordinerendeenhet – KE), which also serves as a housing committee, is notoptimal. Housing allocation responsibilities should be removedfrom the coordinating unit, in our opinion. Housing should beallocated by a committee with representatives from the councilservices office (Tjenestekontoret) and the social services section atthe Norwegian Labour and Welfare Organization (NAV sosial).The committee should have a clear mandate to approve or rejectcouncil’s housing applications. Service representatives and entitiesworking together with social housing services (sheltered housingstaff, community nursing services / health visitors etc.), should becalled in for consultation whenever necessary. This would preventneedless toing and froing before the decision is put into effect.Streamlining the management of council’s housing stockThe management of the council’s housing stock needsstreamlining. How this should be achieved is an open question.There are, in our view, three likely options. 1) Give responsibilitiesto a dedicated trust or foundation; 2) give responsibilities to thecouncil; 3) divide responsibilities between the council and a trust,each with responsibilities for separate types of housing. Thecouncil should investigate the three options in light of pre-selectedassessment criteria.Preventing homelessnessMore temporary housingAs of June 2012, the council is making an apartment ready to serveas a temporary housing option. According to KOSTRA (aNIBR-rapport 2012:14