Agenda item

Report from the Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:

1.    Notes the significant progress made since 2018 through the implementation of the Housing Delivery Programme, including the completion of the 600^th new Council home in September 2024.

2.    Approves the purchase of homes from any of the schemes identified in Exempt Appendix 2.

3.    Notes that authority to purchase homes in line with the Housing Acquisitions Policy was delegated to the Assistant Director for Housing following Cabinet approval on 16 October 2023.

4.    Approves an increase to the number of new homes the Council has authority to purchase under the Housing Acquisitions Policy (utilising the delegations referred to in Recommendation 3) from ‘up to 100 homes’ to ‘a minimum of 100 homes and not exceeding the approved budget’.

5.    Approves the proposal to change the requirement for separate Cabinet approval for individual Council housing development sites from ‘more than ten homes’ to ‘more than fifteen homes’.

6.    Agrees to continue to receive an update on the housing development programme every six months.

Consideration was given to the report which was the latest six-monthly update to Cabinet on the latest developments and future plans for the Council’s Housing Delivery Programme. There were over 7,000 households on the Council's housing register. The Council's ability to meet this demand continued to be eroded by the Right to Buy, which had seen 1,041 Council homes sold between January 2018 and November 2024. As such, there was a clear and continuing need for more affordable homes across the Borough, an issue further exacerbated by  the current cost-of-living crisis. The Council continued to address this need through delivery of the Housing Delivery Programme, with a target to deliver hundreds of new homes between January 2018 and March 2026.

The programme combined development on Council owned land and the acquisition of new and existing homes. Through the Housing Delivery Programme, which started in 2018, the Council expected  to deliver 1,000 new Council homes across the Borough by Summer 2027. The Council had been very successful in using its land and resources to build and acquire new Council homes and was making significant progress on the delivery target, notably reaching the 600th Council home milestone in September 2024. Overall, from 1 January 2018 to 30 November 2024, the Council had successfully delivered 630 new Council homes consisting of 495 homes for rent and 135 homes for shared ownership. In addition, the Council had also built 125 new homes for market sale. An updated photographic summary of delivery along with a selection of quotes from tenants was provided at Appendix 3.

34 properties had been acquired since December 2023 and the latest position on these was included at exempt Appendix 2. In addition to the 34 acquired properties, sales were agreed on a further 40 properties. Whilst there was a risk that a small number of these might not progress to legal completion, it was anticipated that the majority would legally complete during the financial year 2024/25. The forecast costs for these 40 properties was lower than the estimated costs and so it was anticipated that more than 100 homes would be acquired within the original budget of £18m. Cabinet was therefore asked to approve a change in the programme target to ‘a minimum of 100 homes’ rather than ‘a maximum of 100 homes’, as long as the overall budget provision was not exceeded.

The Council had continued to review its approach to procurement to respond

to changes in market conditions and maximise what could be delivered in the

current programme timeframe. Based on feedback from extensive market engagement (undertaken in the first half of 2024), and in response to a volatile and uncertain construction sector, the majority of the remaining new build schemes on Council owned sites were to be procured on a two-stage design and build basis. This would allow the Council to review scheme costs before entering into construction contracts, whilst working with contractors to develop the best design solutions to maximise value for money on what were typically constrained brownfield sites. Any sites which were forecast to deliver more than ten homes required separate Cabinet approval (with early forecasts based on indicative site capacity layouts). Several sites had been presented to Cabinet over recent years which had forecast to deliver over ten homes. However, it was not until early design work had been completed and a scheme had been granted planning permission that the number of homes to be delivered on a site was more certain. There was a need for increased flexibility during the ‘design stage’ to allow appointed contractors to optimise scheme designs and progress schemes more efficiently in to the ‘build stage’ without undue delay which could contribute to increased costs. Cabinet was therefore asked to approve a change to the requirement for separate Cabinet approval on individual sites from ‘more than ten homes’ to ‘more than fifteen homes’.

During the meeting it was noted how important the Housing Delivery Programme was for the people of Rotherham and how it was making and would continue to make a huge difference to resident’s lives.

Resolved:

That Cabinet:

1.    Note the significant progress made since 2018 through the implementation of the Housing Delivery Programme, including the completion of the 600th new Council home in September 2024.

2.    Approve the purchase of homes from any of the schemes identified in Exempt Appendix 2
.

3.    Note that authority to purchase homes in line with the Housing Acquisitions Policy was delegated to the Assistant Director for Housing following Cabinet approval on 16 October 2023.

4.    Approve an increase to the number of new homes the Council has authority to purchase under the Housing Acquisitions Policy (utilising the delegations referred to in Recommendation 3) from ‘up to 100 homes’ to ‘a minimum of 100 homes and not exceeding the approved budget’.

5.    Approve the proposal to change the requirement for separate Cabinet approval for individual Council housing development sites from ‘more than ten homes’ to ‘more than fifteen homes’.

6.    Agree to continue to receive an update on the housing development programme every six months.