Issue - meetings

[Report of the Assistant Director for Regeneration. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and Planning.]This report will  be seeking approval to extend the use of permanent council housing stock to provide temporary accommodation for homeless households and reviewing rents in council stock already used as Temporary Accommodation.

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and Planning introduced the report which sought approval to the use of a small proportion of the Council’s permanent one bedroom stock as temporary accommodation on a flexible basis to respond to budgetary and temporary accommodation placement issues. Cabinet noted that there was less of demand for 1 bedroom properties and making this stock available for 2 bedrooms homeless families provide options to keep families local in the borough and to support networks.

RESOLVED

1. To approve the letting of vacant permanent Council housing stock to provide TA for homeless households, as set out in the report at paragraphs 6.5-6.8

2. To note that the rents for these properties will be set in accordance with the ‘Rents and Charges in Temporary Accommodation’ paper (subject to the approval of this paper at the Cabinet Member Signing on 3^rd April 2017) as noted in 6.24.

Reason for decision

Recommendation 3.1 was proposed in order to:

a)           Provide an increased supply of TA units, which can be let to households who would otherwise probably have to been housed in expensive private sector TA outside the borough.

b)           Enable more households in TA to remain closer to their existing communities

Alternative options considered

Other options considered included:

The continuation of the current policy of normally using the vacant properties (outside of estate renewal areas) for permanent re-housing.

As set out in the report below, currently around half of all 2 bedroom homeless households are placed in expensive out of borough accommodation. This position is not sustainable financially, and the Council seeks to minimise the placement of households away from support networks. Not implementing the proposed policy would forego the opportunity to locate a significant number of two bedroom households within the borough.