Agenda item

[Report of the Director for Housing and Growth. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Housing Regeneration and Planning]

This paper will include options which can be offered to leaseholders whose properties will be demolished as part of regeneration schemes. This decision involves updating the existing Re-housing and Payments policy for consultation. This updated policy would apply to housing schemes led by the Council and extend to schemes led by Haringey Development Vehicle, and Housing Association schemes where the Council determines that it has a strategic interest.

The policy will also clarify the commitment to tenants, leaseholders and freeholders on re-housing on estate renewal schemes.

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and Planning introduced the report which was seeking approval to consult on a revised re – housing and payments policy which was previously agreed in July 2016 but required revision in light of progress with the HDV [Haringey Development Vehicle]and taking into account new DCLG and GLA guidance on estate renewal.

This revised policy aimed to provide:

• Borough wide commitments to residents, whose properties will be demolished as part of estate renewal and regeneration schemes, on how they will be re-housed and the terms they can expect. This is aimed at improving lives of residents, extending promises tenants and leaseholders beyond statutory requirements and improving life chances.
• Set a benchmark for the housing options that must be offered on a borough wide basis.
• Clarify the Council’s commitments to tenants.
• Extend the options for leaseholders beyond the statutory minimums set out in the existing ERRPP.
• Extend the commitment to all Haringey Development Vehicle schemes and Housing Association schemes where the Council determines it has a strategic interest.
• Respond to the recent publication of guidance on estate regeneration by the Department of Communities and Local Government and the Mayor of London and the issues around the Secretary of State’s decisions on the Aylesbury Estate.

In response to questions from Councillor Newton the following information was noted.

• There would be some estate renewal by the HDV and some by Housing Associations. Whilst the pledge is for equivalent terms, if a new resident moves to the estate and has a new landlord it may be on a different type of tenancy. However, Cllr Strickland stressed that Council Tenants moving into a HDV property will have lifetime security as they do in their current tenure.

• The leaseholder shared equity and shared ownership options put forward go beyond the Council’s statutory obligations. There will be a value difference when moving to an improved regenerated area but it is clear that people will not be penalised and will get their share of the uplift when selling on their property.

• The Council cannot guarantee exactly same rent when moving from one place to another – which is also the same situation now. Currently the rent setting formula depends on your landlord and the size of the property. For example, if a resident was moving to a larger home in the regeneration to meet family space needs, then the rent may increase. The Head of Housing stressed that the rent being applied, on a replacement social rented home, will be a social rent based on the national rent setting formula, not an “Affordable rent” that can be up to 80% of the market rent.

RESOLVED

1.         To approve the draft Estate Renewal Rehousing and Payments Policy (Appendix 1) for consultation and in particular:

a) The application of this policy to all estate renewal schemes of 50 or more properties led by the Council

b) The extension of this policy to schemes led by the Haringey Development Vehicle, and Housing Association schemes where the Council determines that it has a strategic interest

c)The commitment to all residents that:

• No tenant, leaseholder or freeholder will be financially worse off as a result of estate renewal

•  All tenants will have a guaranteed right of return to an appropriate sized home on an equivalent social tenancy at an equivalent rent
• All tenants who wish to move away will be supported to do so
• All resident leaseholders and freeholders will have a guaranteed right of return, and will have an offer of a home that is affordable to them, either on an open market, shared equity or shared ownership basis.

2.         To note that the Policy allows for individual regeneration schemes to offer additional options above and beyond those in this Policy where these are viable and appropriate for the scheme.

3.         To approve the setting aside of the Council’s revision to its Allocations Policy in April 2017 which restricted of eligibility for social housing on the basis of incomes and savings, where the offer is part of an estate renewal scheme covered by this policy.

4.    To approve the consultation plan set out at paragraphs 6.51-6.54.

5.    To notes that, following 3.3 above, a further report will be submitted to the    Cabinet which will include a summary of the consultation outcomes, a full Equalities Impact Assessment and a final updated Estate Renewal Rehousing and Payments Policy for approval, in line with the outline timetable set out at 6.54].

Reasons for Decision

• The reason for recommendation 3.1 is to bring the existing Policy into line new national and regional guidance and to set out within it a clearer offer to all residents on renewal schemes in Haringey.
• The reason for recommendation 3.2 is to ensure that while the Policy sets an effective benchmark for all renewal schemes, it does not constrain individual schemes from making additional offers.
• The reason for recommendation 3.2 is to ensure that tenants and leaseholders are not restricted from moving or becoming tenants by recent changes to the Allocations scheme; in order to enable a full range of options to be offered.
• The reason for recommendation 3.4 is that while there was consultation on the existing ERRPP in 2015/16, the draft revised ERRPP sets out a much clearer and more extensive offer to residents.
• The reason for recommendation 3.5 is to ensure Cabinet have sufficient time to consider the outcomes of the consultation and the findings of the EqIA before formally adopting the policy.

Alternative Options considered

To retain the existing ERRPP with no change. This was rejected because the current ERRPP is, in effect, no more than a statement of the statutory minimums to which tenants and leaseholders are entitled. It sets out a general aim to achieve the outcomes set out in the draft revised ERRPP, but makes no commitment to these. It leaves any commitments and any additional offers over and above the statutory minimum to be determined on a scheme by scheme basis. This is a legally defensible position but is not one that promotes confidence among residents and as such does little to garner resident support for proposed these estate renewal schemes.

To include all commitments being discussed in some current schemes as the Borough baseline. This was rejected because there are some schemes where the financial viability and the detail of the scheme itself may allow it to make offers over and above those set out in the draft revised ERRPP, such as gifted equity shares or enhanced compensation payments. However, setting these as the borough baseline may well render some proposed regeneration schemes unviable, or at a minimum reduce the finding available for the scheme as a whole. As such, this would not be in the wider interests of all residents in the regeneration area.

To apply this new Policy solely to Council renewal schemes. This was rejected because it would exclude the HDV and schemes where the landlord is a Housing Association (e.g. Wood Green) from the Policy. As the HDV will play a major role in future estate renewal in Haringey it is essential residents have confidence that the commitments in the Policy will be delivered by the HDV. Similarly, while the Council is not the landlord in Wood Green it has a strategic interest in ensuring this renewal scheme is a success and thus ensuring residents have confidence that they will benefit from the scheme.