Agenda item

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

Recommendations:-

1.    That Cabinet note that the Housing Allocation Policy has been reviewed and updated in line with current legislation.

2.    That Cabinet approve the updated Housing Allocation Policy as attached in relation to changes to eligibility criteria and outlined at 3.1 to 3.14.

3.    That Cabinet approve the updated Strategic Tenancy Policy as attached in relation to issuing of fixed term tenancies to new tenants of specialist housing and outlined at 3.15.

Consideration was given to the report which proposed further adjustments to the Council’s Housing Allocation Policy which had been in place since October 2014 and the Strategic Tenancy Policy had been approved by Cabinet in December 2012.

The adjustments had been proposed as a result of lessons learned over the past 12 months and the outcomes of a recent benchmarking exercise within the sub-region. As such, the Policy would be refined and would allow for further improvements in how the Council helps those in greatest housing need. The proposed amendments would also ensure that the Council’s Policy reflected the Government’s taskforce recommendations to accommodate people faced with rough sleeping and consider the steps required so they remain off the street permanently, thus preventing repeat homelessness. The changes would also ensure that the Council could respond appropriately to changing demand so that households were considered for the most appropriate type of accommodation.

The proposed changes were shown in Appendices 1 and 2 and detailed in paragraphs 2.2 to 2.26 of the report. The key changes were:

·        Changes to ensure that children were considered for appropriate homes

·        Changes to assist with homelessness assessments

·        Changes to ensure local homeless people are given greater preference

·        Changes to reduce the number of categories in Band 1

·        Changes to amend time limits

·        Changes to ensure new, purpose built, older persons accommodation is let to older people 

·        Changes to stop repeat homelessness 

The report had been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board as part of the pre-decision scrutiny process. The Board fully supported the recommendations.

Resolved:-

1.  That Cabinet note that the Housing Allocation Policy has been reviewed and updated in line with current legislation.

2.  That Cabinet approve the updated Housing Allocation Policy as attached in relation to changes to eligibility criteria and outlined at 3.1 to 3.14.

3.  That Cabinet approve the updated Strategic Tenancy Policy as attached in relation to issuing of fixed term tenancies to new tenants of specialist housing and outlined at 3.15.