2.
Recommendations
2.1
That Cabinet recommends the draft Housing Strategy 2024 to
2029 set out at Appendix 1 to go to Full Council for
approval.
2.2
That Cabinet agrees the Year 1 Action Plan set out at
Appendix 2.
2.3
That Cabinet receives a report on the delivery of the
Housing Strategy 2024 to 2029 on an annual basis.
3.
Context and background information
3.1
Over the last decade Brighton & Hove has been
significantly impacted by the national housing crisis. There is a
shortage of homes which meet the needs of our residents and rents
and house prices are increasing faster than incomes. Although we
experience many of the same housing problems as elsewhere, there
are additional pressures because of the city’s unique
character and history.
3.2
We know that we need to make the most of the
housing that we already have. Around eighty per cent of the homes
that will exist in 2050 have already been built. Many properties,
across all types of tenure, need work to ensure that that they are
suitable, safe and sustainable, both now and in the future. There
have also been major legislative and regulatory changes impacting
social housing landlords following the Grenfell Tower tragedy. This
means that the council must invest in improving the quality of its
homes and estates and to prioritise building and fire safety
improvements.
3.3
The private rented sector provides accommodation
for a third of the city’s households. We will continue to
work with landlords to improve standards in the private rented
sector, using our powers to enforce essential work where
necessary.
3.4
Improved energy efficiency plays a major role in
reducing the city’s carbon footprint. It also reduces costs
for households, helping tackle the cost-of-living crisis. We will
invest in improving the energy efficiency of council homes and,
where possible, support other residential property owners to make
improvements.
3.5
Achieving the right mix of market and affordable
housing types is a significant challenge for the city. Pressure on
land for development is high and many potential sites are hard to
develop. We
want to increase the supply of high-quality homes that meet the
needs of our communities. We will work to increase the number of
affordable homes, in particular additional council homes, using the
full range of levers at our disposal. We also want to create places
where people are proud to live. As part of our programme to provide
new homes we will incorporate the physical and social
infrastructure for people to thrive. This includes working with our
partners to achieve safe, healthy and inclusive
neighbourhoods.
3.6
The Homelessness Reduction Act (2017) changed our
legal duties towards households facing homelessness. We must
increase our effectiveness in preventing homelessness and reduce
the number of households in temporary and emergency accommodation.
This is not only unsuitable for many, but also places significant
pressures on the council’s budget. We have a duty to focus
our assistance on people in urgent housing need, including those
fleeing domestic abuse and people sleeping rough.
3.7
The city has seen an increase in people with more
complex support needs, including the need for various forms of
supported housing. This includes the growing number of older
people, people with physical or learning disabilities, people with
autism and people with mental health and substance misuse needs.
Housing, adults and children’s services and the NHS need to
work better together to support people to be more resilient and as
independent as possible. Through promoting healthy housing for our
residents, the strategy contributes to the Council Plan priority of
better health and wellbeing for all and reducing health
inequalities.
3.8
The Council Plan commits us to becoming a
responsive council with well-run services. The Social Housing
(Regulation) Act (2023) regulates the activities of social housing
providers including the council and sets standards for their
conduct and performance. It aims to give tenants a real voice and
requires landlords to be more transparent about their performance.
This means we need to get better at listening to and engaging with
our residents. We have work to do to ensure that our housing
services are accessible, fair and inclusive. We are also clear that
to deliver improved services and better housing outcomes we must
collaborate with our local and regional partners.
3.9
The strategy and accompanying action plan outline
the council's contribution to improving housing outcomes in the
city, but it acknowledges that we cannot achieve this on our own.
The strategy is also a call to action. We urge our partners,
residents and communities to work with us to deliver our ambitious
long-term vision of homes for everyone in Brighton &
Hove.
3.10
The draft Housing Strategy 2024 to 2029 is at
Appendix 1. It is accompanied by an action plan for the current
financial year (Appendix 2). The action plan will be updated
annually with the development of the action plan for 2025/26
scheduled to begin in the autumn. A progress report for 2024/25
will accompany the refreshed action plan for 2025/26. Key areas of
progress to date on the Year 1 Action Plan are outlined
below:
Improve housing
quality, safety and sustainability
·
£13.9 million allocated to health &
safety improvements.
·
Additional HMO licensing implemented July
2024.
·
Selective licensing implemented in September
2024.
·
300 solar panels installed on council
homes.
Deliver the homes
the city needs
·
Construction to begin on 294 new affordable homes
to rent and 137 new homes in design phase.
·
20 long term empty homes back into use, on track
to exceed target of 35.
·
54 homes being bought back into council ownership
and 21 homes at St Aubyns approved.
Prevent homelessness and meet housing
need
·
New housing allocations policy to be
approved.
·
55 vulnerable tenants helped to sustain their
tenancy.
·
New Supported Accommodation through Single
Homelessness Pathway commissioned.
·
16/17 year-old and Care Leavers’ Housing
Protocols to be approved.
Support improved
health and wellbeing for all
·
Work started on 28 supported homes for people with
acquired brain injury and/or physical disabilities.
·
£3.97 million allocated for housing
adaptations.
Provide resident
focused housing services
·
STAR survey of tenants & residents.
·
Roll out of trauma informed practice
training.
·
18 Local Authority Housing Fund units already
secured, a bid for a further 25 units agreed.
3.11
The proposed priorities and areas for improvement
in the draft strategy have been developed through cross-directorate
engagement within the council and were tested earlier in the year
with members of the Housing & New Homes Committee and policy
committee chairs. We have also engaged with strategic partners,
including registered social housing providers and local NHS trusts.
Further engagement took place during eleven weeks of public
consultation. A report on the main themes arising from the
consultation and the council’s initial response is at
Appendix 3.
3.12
Sources of evidence used to produce the housing
strategy include data from the Census, the Joint Strategic Needs
Assessment, the Strategic Housing Market Assessment 2023, the STAR
survey of council tenants, and a range of housing service and
performance data. We have also drawn on evidence from relevant
needs assessments and other plans and strategies. Consideration of
the equality impacts of the proposed priorities and areas for
focused action can be found in Appendix 4.
3.13
A report to the Housing & New Committee 13
March 2024, prior to public consultation, can be found on the
council website
here.
4.1
The Deregulation Act (2015) repealed the Secretary
of State’s power to require local housing authorities in
England to produce a housing strategy. The option of not producing
a housing strategy was tested with members of the Housing & New
Homes Committee and policy committee chairs. Members agreed to
proceed with production of the strategy. The vision of the housing strategy is ‘Homes for
everyone’. An updated housing strategy and action plan
is key to delivery of this Council Plan priority.
5.
Community engagement and consultation
5.1
Findings from council and partner consultation and
engagement exercises were used to inform the development of an
initial draft housing strategy. This included consultation and
engagement on the Adult Learning Disability Strategy (2019), care
needs assessment for adults under 70 (2019), older people’s
housing (2019), Homelessness & Rough Sleeping Strategy (2020),
review of Area Panels (2022), the Autism Strategy (2023),
Additional and Selective Licensing (2023), Community Safety
Strategy (2023), the STAR survey of council tenants (2023),
Antisocial Behaviour Strategy (in development), Violence Against
Women and Girls Strategy (in development).
5.2
Formal consultation on the draft housing strategy ran for
11 weeks from 18 March to 2 June 2024. When the consultation
closed, we had received 347 responses. Of these, 294 were from
members of the public, including 265 from residents of the city. 53
responses were submitted on behalf of groups, networks and
organisations. Most were received through Your Voice, the
council’s online consultation platform. A small number of
responses were sent by email or post. For comparison purposes, 208
responses were received over a two-stage formal consultation on the
Housing Strategy 2015 to 2020. Most of these were from
professionals and organisations.
5.3
The consultation report at Appendix 3 summarises
key themes and issues arising from the consultation.
The
consultation report also sets out the council’s response to
the feedback. There was strong support for the proposed priorities
and areas for focused action. There was also detailed feedback on
the content of the strategy. Action arising from this feedback has
led to one or more of the following: feedback to consultees on work
already underway; amendments to the draft strategy; inclusion of
actions in the accompanying action plan; and identification of
issues where the council may wish to lobby central government for
additional powers or resources.
6.
Financial implications
6.1
Implementation of the Year 1 Action Plan for
2024/25 will need to be managed from the resources available during
this financial year. The financial implications arising from the
implementation of this strategy from 2025/26 onwards will need to
form part of the budget setting processes and be managed within
budget constraints. In addition, the strategy may have budgetary
impact on other service areas across the council which will need to
be quantified as the strategy is implemented. Significant elements of the strategy rely on
financial and other resources from partners to ensure successful
delivery, including but not limited to Homes England, MHCLG and
the NHS.
6.2
The gross budgets for 20204/25 for both Housing
General Fund services and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) are shown
below:
|
Housing
General Fund Services
|
24/25
Gross Budget
|
|
Expenditure
|
£'000
|
|
Adaptations
|
0.783
|
|
Homemove
|
0.130
|
|
Housing
Options
|
3.113
|
|
Private
Sector Housing
|
0.950
|
|
Rough
Sleepers and Supported Housing
|
6.971
|
|
Strategy
& Supply
|
0.241
|
|
Temporary
Accommodation
|
26.527
|
|
Travellers
|
0.495
|
|
Grand
Total
|
39.211
|
|
Housing
Revenue Account
|
2024/25
Gross Budget
|
|
Expenditure
|
£'000
|
|
Housing
Investment & Asset Management
|
5,664
|
|
Housing
Management & Support
|
7,192
|
|
Housing
Strategy & Supply
|
1,495
|
|
Repairs
& Maintenance
|
18,648
|
|
Tenancy
Services
|
14,864
|
|
Major
repairs Reserve
|
16,516
|
|
Capital
Financing Costs
|
8,825
|
|
Contribution
to / (from) reserves
|
3,266
|
|
Total
Expenditure
|
76,470
|
6.3
The 2024/25 HRA capital programme reflects the
required investment in Health & Safety, Building Safety and
Fire Safety compliance alongside the planned maintenance,
improvement programmes, major capital projects to council housing
as well as new supply projects, linking investment plans to the
Housing Strategy. Implications arising from the strategy for
2024/25 will need to be managed within the resources approved for
2024/25. Capital budgets are reported to Cabinet as part of the
council’s Targeted Budget Management (TBM) process with
variations reported and approved as part of the main TBM report.
The budget setting cycle for 2025/26 will further reflect the
required investment based on latest information provided through
surveys and due diligence work being undertaken, the implications
from the Housing Strategy will be included within the 2025/26
proposals.
6.4
New projects, in particular New Supply projects
are bought to cabinet on a case-by-case basis when approved these
are added to the HRA capital programme in year.
6.5
The total opening capital programme budget for
2024/25 is £89.735m, the breakdown of which is outlined in
the table below.
|
Housing Revenue Account Capital Programme
|
|
Opening Budget
£'000
|
|
Health & Safety
|
|
13,914
|
|
Major Works
|
|
19,495
|
|
Planned Works
|
|
8,463
|
|
Sustainability
|
|
9,275
|
|
Other
|
|
3,157
|
|
New Supply
|
|
35,431
|
|
Grand Total
|
|
89,735
|
Name of finance officer consulted: Monica
Brooks Date consulted 5
September 2024
7.1
Under Part 2A of the Council’s constitution,
adoption of the Housing Strategy is reserved to Full Council as
part of the Policy Framework.
Name of lawyer consulted: Simon
Court Date consulted 20 August
2024
8.
Equalities implications
8.1
The vision of the housing strategy is ‘Homes
for everyone’. This is derived directly from the Council Plan
2023 to 2027 and forms part of the council’s vision for a
‘Better Brighton & Hove for all’. It is anticipated
that the housing strategy will lead to improved outcomes relating
to the condition and supply of housing across the city as well as
promoting resilience and improved health and wellbeing. The
strategy also outlines the council’s commitment to work with
communities and a wide range of partners. Such partnership working
is particularly important as the council only owns a small
proportion of the city’s housing stock.
8.2
The anticipated benefits are expected to
particularly affect those who are currently not suitably housed.
This includes many of those covered under protected characteristics
as defined by the Equality Act (2010). It will also impact those
with intersecting characteristics and people with care experience
which the council has determined should be treated as a protected
characteristic.
8.3
Consideration of the equality impacts of the
proposed priorities and areas for focused action in the housing
strategy is at Appendix 4. The Equality Impact Assessment contains
10 recommendations with associated actions cross referenced to the
Action Plan.
9.
Sustainability implications
9.1
Housing is one of the largest contributors to the
city’s CO2 emissions. Reducing the energy used to build, heat
and operate homes is key to achieving our Net Zero ambitions. The
draft Housing Strategy includes measures to improve the energy
performance of council homes, support property owners to improve
their properties and to enforce energy performance standards in
line with legislation. It also seeks to ensure that the delivery of
new homes is resource efficient and has minimal impact on the
natural environment and identify opportunities to enhance the
environment.
9.2
Helping residents
to live in well-insulated, efficiently heated, healthy council
homes addressing fuel poverty issues remains a key long-term
objective, which is supported through the HRA capital programme.
The five-year programme sets out resources of £30.800m; an
average investment of £6.160m per annum. This includes
investment in making improvements to communal and domestic heating
systems as well as identifying opportunities to install energy
efficient & low carbon heating systems. The council’s
solar PV programme is also being taken forward.
10.
Health and wellbeing implications
10.1 Poor quality, unaffordable, inappropriate or lack of
housing directly impacts people's ability to maintain their health,
well-being and independence. Measures to improve housing quality, tackle health
and safety hazards, improve the environment and increase community
cohesion will have a positive impact on health and contribute to
tackling health inequalities.
Other Implications
11.
Procurement implications
11.1 The Best Value Duty
requires the council to seek continuous improvement in the way it
exercises its functions, considering a combination of economy,
efficiency, and effectiveness. The draft strategy aims to maximise overall value,
including social value through our procurement and other
activities. We encourage the use of local suppliers and contractors
as well as identifying other opportunities to add value, for
example, our in-house repairs and maintenance service provides
opportunities for work experience and apprenticeships to local
people.
12. Crime &
disorder implications:
12.1 The strategy reinforces the continued need for
services to support rough sleepers and those experiencing domestic
abuse, and, on improving joint working with the police and other
partners to ensure issues of harassment and hate crime are tackled
effectively. It also identifies the need to create safe homes and
neighbourhoods and to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour on our
estates.
13.
Conclusion
13.1
The draft housing strategy has been amended following
public consultation. An action plan for the current business year
sets out more detailed measures to improve housing outcomes in the
city. This report seeks support from the cabinet for the strategy,
including aspects which require cross-directorate collaboration or
work with external partners.
Supporting Documentation
None
Appendices
1.
Housing Strategy 2024 to 2029
2.
Action plan 2024/25
3.
Consultation report
4.
Equalities impact assessment
