The Regeneration and Economy Overview and Scrutiny Committee will receive an update report (Document “J”) on Affordable Housing – REPORTTO FOLLOW.

(Julie Rhodes – 01274 431163)

Council Standing Orders – Part 3A of the Constitution: Due to the non-availability of Document “J” five clear working days before the day of the meeting, the Appropriate Officer will report the reasons for its non-availability  to the meeting.

The Strategic Director, Regeneration presented a report (Document “J”) which provided an update on the progress being made with the Council’s Affordable Housing Programme and also advised the Committee of the forthcoming procurement of contracts, associated with the delivery of the programme, which had a value in excess of £2 million.

In presenting the report the following matters were highlighted:

·         The Council had, to date, completed the development of 176 affordable rented properties.

·         The 2015/18 Programme would deliver a further 157 units across six sites, which included 18 providing temporary accommodation for homeless people.

·         Two of the six sites would provide cross-subsidy funding through a proportion of the properties being sold on the open market.

·         Four of the schemes were already on-site.

·         A key feature of the programme was that it would pay for itself; the rental income would fund the housing management role and repayment of borrowing. In addition there would be a small surplus from Year 5 onwards which would fund on-going maintenance.

·         £3 million New Homes Bonus would also be generated.

Photos of the completed developments were displayed and details of the schemes provided.  It was noted that all the homes had been built to very high standards and that one of the schemes had brought empty homes back into use.

Apologies were offered to the Committee as two of the associated contracts, in excess of £2 million, had been awarded without prior submission to Members. A Member of the Committee pointed out that this was not the first time that such matters had not been reported to Overview and Scrutiny before the event and this was a matter of concern.

The Director responded to questions from Members as follows:

·         In terms of the sites that would provide cross-subsidy funding from sales; they had been chosen on the basis of where the highest yield would be realised. These receipts would be used to subsidise development across the district.

·         On the Baildon site 33 of the 70 properties would be available for rent at an affordable rent, which would be 80% of market rent.  Efforts had been made to maximise the number of rental properties that would be available but the receipts from the sale of these properties was needed to deliver the programme.

·         Consultation had been undertaken on Government proposals to change New Homes Bonus from a six year to a four year programme.  The Authority had provided a response to the consultation exercise but no results had been published at this stage. It was anticipated that any such change would have been noted as a potential risk by the Director of Finance.

·         There had been three bidders for the housing management role contract.

·         A number of Housing Associations had been granted funding by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to build 756 affordable properties across the district; this total included the 139 to be built by the Council.  The total figures for the district and the numbers of such properties that would be provided under the requirements of Section 106 legal planning agreements associated with private developments could be provided after the meeting.

·         Officers always pushed for the on-site provision of affordable units when planning applications were under consideration.

·         In terms of the ‘Great Places to Grow Old’ Programme and Neville Grange, it was believed that Adult Services were leading this initiative with support from Housing.

Resolved –

That Document “J” be welcomed and that a further update report be presented to the Committee in 12 months time.

ACTION:       Strategic Director, Regeneration