Agenda item

To consider the progress made against the Housing and Homelessness Strategy Action Plan.

62.1          The report of the Housing Services Manager, circulated at Pages No. 108-135, provided Members with an update on progress made against the Housing and Homelessness Strategy Action Plan.  Members were asked to consider the report.

62.2          The Housing Services Manager advised that the Housing and Homelessness Strategy had been approved by Council in April 2022 where it had been agreed that monitoring of delivery would be undertaken by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  This report gave an update on the progress made to date against the action plan which had been agreed by the Executive Committee.  It was noted that the strategy had been compiled prior to the issues in Ukraine and the impact of inflation so Officers had moved things around within the action plan to prioritise actions around improvements for tenants, for instance, working with partners to secure better build standards with committed funds and changing tenure type from affordable rent to social rent.  It was noted there had also been a change to the approach in delivery of rented affordable housing with social rent being prioritised through the new evidence base of local housing need; this would have a significant impact on affordability for tenants.  The second priority related to the development of an Empty Property Strategy which had been approved by the Executive Committee earlier this month.  In relation to this, a housing stock condition survey was being undertaken across the county and, once that had been carried out in Tewkesbury Borough, the results would be incorporated into the strategy to improve the housing stock.  Bromford had recently done a survey of its own stock and that data could be matched with the information on the housing register to inform those findings.  Priority three related to meeting the housing needs of homeless households and others with specific needs.  Part of this would involve engaging with people with a lived experience of homelessness and other disadvantage to inform how Officers worked with customers and understand the reasons why they might not make the right choices.  In terms of work on care leavers, the Council was committed to assisting with the corporate parenting model and was leading on the protocol on behalf of the Housing teams across the county to help them move on from care settings into accommodation.

62.3          A Member asked for clarification as to the difference between affordable and social rent and was informed these were different tenure types; by definition, affordable rents were 80% of the market rent capped at housing benefit levels so some still could not afford them whereas social rent was the cheapest tenure type available.  The Member asked how many empty homes there were in the borough and for more information about the proposal to incentivise people to downsize in terms of how that would be achieved.  The Housing Services Manager explained that, as at October 2021, there were 510 empty homes in the borough and a breakdown was provided within the Empty Property Strategy along with information about how long they had been empty etc.  In terms of incentives to downsize this was not easy but there were things which could be done via Gloucestershire Homeseeker such as promoting people so they had a better chance of being rehoused if they were willing to move to a smaller property and working with partners such as Bromford to overcome barriers to moving.  A Member noted that, five or six years ago, there had been a call to identify potential sites for affordable housing development using Section 106 money but nothing had come to fruition.  The Head of Finance and Asset Management advised that no specific projects had been taken forward but Officers were happy to receive any ideas for sites to deliver affordable housing.  A meeting was being held with Bromford in December to discuss whether it was possible to get a number of sites moving.  In response to a query regarding whether the Empty Property Strategy related to affordable housing as well as private housing, the Housing Services Manager confirmed that, in terms of the social housing stock, partners should be on board and doing things to incentivise bringing these back to use already so private rent and owners would be the focus of the strategy and it was intended to get to a place where enforcement action was taken to bring those empty properties back into use.  The Member asked if Councillors should notify Officers of any empty properties they were aware of and the Environmental Health Manager advised that part of the strategy involved updating the Council’s website so there was a facility for reporting; however, in the interim Members could email him directly if there was a property they were concerned about.  It was a three year strategy until 2026 and the first part of the process would be to engage with property owners; if that was unsuccessful, enforcement powers such as Compulsory Purchase Orders could be used.  Another Member asked when the first homes might be returned to occupation and was advised that the initial task would be to establish an empty property register where properties would be risk-rated based on location, detrimental impact and particular tenures required for affordable housing etc.  Once this had been done, Officers would start to engage with the owners and try to get the properties occupied, hopefully by summer 2023.  A Member noted that Council Tax would increase if properties remained empty for prolonged periods so that would be an important factor in bringing them back to use.  He asked whether the 510 empty homes which had been identified in October included flats above shops as some were not habitable, for instance, if they could only be accessed via the shop.  The Housing Services Manager advised that he was unsure whether the 510 properties identified reflected every single property or just the ones which met the Council Tax criteria; some properties would be exempt if they were going through probate etc.  He undertook to find out the details and ensure there was consistent reporting going forward.  A Member asked if the empty homes register would be available for Members to view and was informed it would be once it was up and running, subject to the General Data Protection Regulation.

62.4          A Member drew attention to Page No. 122 of the report and the aim in objective two around improving communication and raising resident awareness in the private sector of how to access financial help and obtain advice to make improvements to their properties and he asked what sort of things would be done.  He noted that several residents in his area had issues with black mould etc. the dangers of which had been highlighted in the news recently.  The Housing Services Manager confirmed that it was intended to use social media channels and the Borough News as well as targeting housing register applicants and making use of Community Officers who had access to various community groups to push the messages out.

62.5          In response to a query, the Housing Services Manager confirmed that the severe weather protocol was in place for rough sleepers which set out that three consecutive nights at zero degrees or below, or a single night at minus three degrees or below, would trigger a countywide response to ensure any rough sleepers were brought in.

62.6          A Member felt the Housing and Homelessness Strategy was a really good high-level document and he particularly welcomed the work being done with regard to care leavers.  In terms of social housing, he raised concern that large numbers were not being occupied by local people, particularly young people, and he suggested they should be prioritised.  In terms of objective two at Page No. 124 of the report which related to the need for specialist supported accommodation for older people, he indicated that it was very important to also look at supported accommodation for those with physical disabilities or impairments and he asked how this was being approached by the team.  The Housing Services Manager explained that Tewkesbury Borough was so large that people did not want to move more than a couple of miles from where they worked so it was about making sure there were accessible properties on a range of housing sites – it was recognised there had been a trajectory of not being able to secure this with a number of applications being built without accessible properties; the housing needs assessment would be the evidence base required to address this going forward.  Another Member also commended the emphasis on care leavers but indicated that there was nothing in the strategy in relation to the Armed Forces Covenant which she felt was important as homelessness was a significant problem amongst people leaving the forces.  The Housing Services Manager confirmed that this was part of the Gloucestershire Homeseeker policy with people leaving the armed forces getting certain dispensations; whilst this was something already being done, he accepted that a statement to that effect could have been included in the strategy.

62.7          It was

RESOLVED           That the progress made against the Housing and Homelessness Strategy Action Plan be NOTED.