Agenda item

(Report of the Director of Adult and Housing Services). This report proposes that the Decent Homes programme is extended by one year in order to enable the Council to achieve full decency in 2015/16 (Year 8). The report also provides details of the schemes that are recommended for inclusion in the 2014/15 and 2015/16 Decent Homes Programme.

The Leader considered a report, previously circulated, which sought approval of the Housing Capital and Decent Homes Programme 2014-2016.

The Cabinet Member for Housing noted that provision had been made to vary the programme in order to address any technical issues that might be identified as part of the surveying process and to respond to any changes in the level of funding available, in order to maximise the amount of grant funding received and to ensure that improvements could be carried out in an efficient and cost effective way.

RESOLVED:

1. That the objective of achieving decency for all of the Council’s rented housing stock in 2015/16, by extending the Decent Homes programme to include an eighth year, in accordance with the approach described in Paragraphs 5.19 – 5.33 of the report, be agreed.

2. That the 2014/15 (Year 7) Decent Homes programme, as set out in Appendix A of the report, be approved.

3. That the 2015/16 (Year 8) Decent Homes programme, as set out in Appendix B of the report, be approved.

4. That it be agreed that the properties listed in Appendix C of the report are not included in the Decent Homes programme at this stage.

5. That it be agreed that where it became necessary to make adjustments to the approved programme (due to the availability of funding, wider stock investment priorities and/or unforeseen issues that affect delivery), the authority to make such decisions is delegated to the Director of Adult and Housing Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Members for Housing and Finance and Carbon Reduction.

6. That it be noted that the Housing Investment and Estate Renewal Strategy, the HRA 30-Year Business Plan and further proposals on stock investment are being prepared for consideration by Cabinet later in 2013/14 and will be aligned with the proposals set out in this report.

Alternative options considered

In the course of developing the proposed programme, Officers considered the merits and feasibility of a number of approaches, including:

a)      Applying the “elemental” approach (undertaking only external and health and safety works) for as many homes as possible;

b)      Applying the “whole house” approach (undertaking all works required to achieve the decency standard) and prioritising homes that have the greatest investment need; 

c)      Applying the “whole house” approach (undertaking all works required to achieve the decency standard) and prioritising homes that are easiest to complete and offer best value for money; and

d)      A selective approach combining elements of (b) and (c) above.

For the reasons outlined in this report, option (c) is the approach recommended for the Decent Homes programme in 2014/15 and 2015/16.

Option (a) was rejected on the grounds that, as this approach will not bring enough homes up to decency, Haringey will lose some or all of its Decent Homes funding for 2014/15 because it will fail to meet the 2014/15 decency target of 1,915 homes set by the Greater London Authority (GLA).

Option (b) was rejected on the grounds that a “whole house” approach that is targeted at those homes in the worst repair will not bring enough homes up to decency (so will result in the loss of GLA funding) because too few homes will be made decent within the available budget.

Option (d) was rejected on the grounds that, although it would bring enough homes up to decency, it would result in some internal works that have been outstanding from previous years being carried out instead of external works.

Reasons for Decision

A decision is required to enable the detailed planning of what will be a large Decent Homes programme in 2014/15 and 2015/16, in accordance with the available resources.