Agenda item

Cabinet:

1.    Approved the draft Housing Strategy and in particular the proposed key priorities for tackling homelessness, promoting new affordable housing development, meeting older people’s housing needs, promoting quality in the private housing sector, and providing more supported housing to meet identified need – detailed in section 4 of this report –subject to further consultation within the Council, and with partner organisations and residents.

2.    Delegated authority to the Cabinet Member for Housing to consider all of the consultation responses and to make amendments to the key priorities and/or the content of the Housing Strategy, unless any amendment has financial implications in which case further recommendations will be made to Cabinet.

Councillor Lesley Kelly, Cabinet Member for Housing & Public Protection, introduced the report.

The report introduced the Council’s draft Housing Strategy for 2013 – 2016 which comprehensively up-dated the previous Strategy. In particular, the new Housing Strategy had been drafted in the form a series of sub-strategies covering:

• homelessness
• affordable housing development
• older people’s housing needs
• private sector housing
• supported housing.

Since the previous Strategy was published, there had been many changes in national policy and legislation regarding local authorities’ housing powers, notably the reform of the Housing Revenue Account, new opportunities for local authorities to new build affordable homes, and welfare reform. In addition, locally, the Arm’s Length Management Organisation, Homes in Havering, had been reintegrated into the Council and the provision of Decent Homes Grant had brought the completion of the Decent Homes Programme in sight.

The draft Housing Strategy built on the progress made over the past three years which would enable the Council to re-think the ways it can meet the on-going pressures of housing demand.

The Strategy had been informed by up-to-date information on the housing needs and aspirations of Havering’s residents following the commissioning of an extensive Housing Needs Study in 2012, and on-going dialogue with colleagues across the Council and beyond.

Cabinet noted that a full Equality Analysis had been carried out to inform the development and implementation of the overarching Strategy and Sub-strategies

Reasons for the decision:

The Council’s previous Housing Strategy 2008/9 – 2011/12 was now out-of-date. In addition, there had been a number of significant changes to services locally, and policy changes at the local, regional and national levels since its publication affecting the borough’s strategic direction and priorities.

Despite current legislation giving the Mayor of London the lead role in housing strategy-making in London, the Secretary of State retained a power to require local housing authorities to produce and keep up-to-date a housing strategy reflecting local needs and priorities. The Local Authority has a duty to ensure that its own housing strategy is in general conformity with the Mayor of London’s housing strategy.

Thus, there was no alternative to reviewing and revising the Council’s Housing Strategy.

Other options considered:

Develop bespoke approaches to housing issues as they arise rather than produce a detailed Housing Strategy – REJECTED. It was arguably self-evident that without a strategic approach to major housing issues which typically required (a) cross-service working, (b) financial investment, and/or (c) relatively long development phases, poor decision-making can result, with resultant poor use of resources. If the Council faced housing and related challenges in the borough, such as caring for an aging population, while at the same time making efficiencies, strategic planning was essential.

Cabinet:

1.    Approved the draft Housing Strategy and in particular the proposed key priorities for tackling homelessness, promoting new affordable housing development, meeting older people’s housing needs, promoting quality in the private housing sector, and providing more supported housing to meet identified need – detailed in section 4 of this report –subject to further consultation within the Council, and with partner organisations and residents.

2.    Delegated authority to the Cabinet Member for Housing to consider all of the consultation responses and to make amendments to the key priorities and/or the content of the Housing Strategy, unless any amendment has financial implications in which case further recommendations will be made to Cabinet.