Issue - meetings

Report of the Cabinet Member for Housing providing a 12-month progress update on the Housing Strategy delivery plan.

Decision

1.         Cabinet notes and acknowledges the content of the 12-month progress update of the Housing Strategy year one delivery plan attached as Appendix 1 to the report of the Cabinet Member for Housing

2.         Cabinet notes the current refresh of the Housing Strategy taking place with a view to bringing back the revised document to the Cabinet meeting on 10 September 2019

Reasons for decision

1.         The report of the Cabinet Member for Housing providing the 12-month progress update on the year one delivery plan for the approved Housing Strategy 2017-2021 and attached as Appendix 1 to the report

2.         The decision made by the Cabinet on 12 April 2018 to adopt the Housing Strategy 2017-2021

3.         The 6-month update on delivery against the year one delivery plan of the Housing Strategy, which was presented to Cabinet on 1 November 2018

4.         The agreement that the Cabinet Member for Housing would regularly monitor progress against the action plan with the first review at 6-months to become annual reports at the end of year one

5.         The 5-year housing development programme

6.         The 2018 review of the Housing Allocations Policy to address overcrowding, under-occupancy and to meet new requirements in the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017

7.         Planning applications that had been submitted for two modular housing schemes

8.         The removal of the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap

9.         An assessment of Council-owned (HRA) assets 2018/19, which had informed a longer-term pipeline for housing development

10.      The Housing Enforcement Policy approved by Cabinet on 1 November 2018

11.      The Tenant Fees Act 2019

12.      The equality analysis of the Housing Strategy undertaken in September 2017 and subsequently reviewed

Other options considered and rejected

No other options were considered.

The Cabinet Member for Housing introduced his report on the 12-month progress update of the Housing Strategy’s year one action plan. He gave a summary of the actions and outcomes associated with the action plan, which included:

·         The development of a 5-year housing delivery programme for 300 units

·         A review of the Allocations Policy to address overcrowding, under-occupancy and requirements of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017

·         The number of affordable homes that had been delivered and planned

·         Submission of planning applications for two modular sites

·         The removal of the HRA borrowing cap

Reference was made to a modular scheme of eight homes that was being developed in Casewick Ward. The Cabinet Member for Housing was invited to go to the area to look at the scheme. Members of the Cabinet asked how the lifespan of modular dwellings compared with houses built using traditional building methods given the similarity in costs. Reference was made to prefab buildings erected post-war, which had an anticipated lifespan of ten-years. Advantages of modular homes included the speed with which they could be built and the fact that they did not rely on traditional building skills, of which there was a shortage in the district. It was hoped that as technology continued to improve, and production became increasingly automated, the cost of modular buildings would decrease.

Members asked about the rough sleeper pathway within the strategy and the implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, including the differentiation between homelessness and rough sleeping and the initiatives that had been put in place.

It was AGREED:

1.         Cabinet notes and acknowledges the content of the 12-month progress update of the Housing Strategy year one delivery plan attached as Appendix 1 to the report of the Cabinet Member for Housing

2.         Cabinet notes the current refresh of the Housing Strategy taking place with a view to bringing back the revised document to the Cabinet meeting on 10 September 2019