Cabinet Agenda Item 31
Subject: Progress report about delivering our Housing Strategy
Date of meeting: 16 July 2026
Report of: Cabinet Member for Housing
Lead Officer: Corporate Director Homes & Adult Social Care
Contact Officer: Diane Hughes
Tel: 01273 293159
Email: diane.hughes@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Ward(s) affected: All
Key Decision: Yes
Reason(s) Key: Is significant in terms of its effects on communities living or working in an area comprising two or more electoral divisions (wards).
1.1 The Brighton & Hove Housing Strategy (2024-29) was agreed by Full Council in October 2024 and sets out the vision on how best to deliver the city’s housing objectives based around the following five priorities:
· Improve housing quality, safety, and sustainability
· Deliver the homes our city needs
· Prevent homelessness and meet housing need
· Promote improved health and wellbeing for all
· Provide resident focused housing services
1.2 The strategy contributes to the delivery of all four strategic outcomes in the Council Plan 2023 to 2027. It contains actions that will help us create a city to be proud of, a fair and inclusive city, and a healthy city where people thrive. It also contributes to our goal of being a responsive council with well-run services. The action plan focuses on our efforts to deliver accessible, affordable, and high-quality homes for everyone in Brighton & Hove. This report provides an update on the progress made towards our objectives during 2025-26 and confirms actions for 2026-27.
2.1 That Cabinet consider and note the progress made towards the ambitions set out in the Housing Strategy 2024-29 and agrees actions to be undertaken in 2026-27 as set out at Appendix 1.
Context and background information
3.1 The Housing Strategy sets out a long-term vision linked to a programme of work designed to tackle the city’s housing challenges and priorities. In the second year (2025-26), 37 strategic actions were identified. Some were stand-alone pieces of work with others covering activities that will continue throughout the lifetime of the strategy. 22 of these actions are complete with the remaining 15 progressing. Where work is continuing into 2026-27 these actions are included in the Year 3 action plan at Appendix 1.
Priority 1: Improve housing quality, safety, and sustainability
3.2 Ensuring the safety and quality of our council homes remains a priority for the council. Helping residents live in well-maintained, healthy homes is a key investment objective, supported through our Housing Revenue Account (HRA) capital programme. In 2025/26 we invested over £44m in improving existing council homes, including increasing our investment in damp and condensation measures as well as our overall investment in planned and major capital works, in addition to sustainability and health & safety measures. In 2026/27 this figure rises to £54m.
3.3 This year the council has made steady progress towards achieving compliance with the housing safety and quality standard. This progress means more homes are meeting the required safety standards more consistently, ensuring residents are safer in their homes. We have continued to engage with the Regulator of Social Housing with regular updates to Cabinet and Place Overview & Scrutiny Committee to ensure ongoing oversight and accountability. The last update was considered at Cabinet on 14 May 2026.
3.4 We have continued to move away from a reactive approach to a structured compliance model with progress being made across all key safety areas. We have:
· Achieved 100% Fire Risk Assessments (FRA) across all building types and reduced the number of remedial actions during the year from 2,294 to 1,466 (of which 1,464 are low risk actions). In tandem we have also targeted intervention and investment to ensure fire safety for example through the Bristol Estate upgrades, fire alarm commissioning and progress with developing Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPS) with vulnerable tenants.
· Made positive progress with water safety with completed risk assessments up to 96.7% from 64% over the year with 1,061 overdue actions. We recognise that we are not yet where we should be on water safety and this remains a top priority.
· Made steady progress with our electrical testing programme which is on track to reach compliance by the end of 2026. 97% of homes have had an electrical test certificate (within 5 years of issue) alongside 86% of communal areas.
· We are compliant across gas safety, smoke alarm detection and asbestos management.
3.5 To support this progress and embed the learning from our root cause analysis, we have created a Housing Improvement Plan (Safety & Quality) which outlines how we will be a great landlord that tenants can have confidence in. Development of the plan was supported by our five pillars in the Learning Organisation Framework, bringing together the impact we want to have on resident experience, what the regulator expects through the consumer standards and what the housing service must do to deliver safe, good quality homes and a resident-focused, data-led reliable service.
3.6 Steady progress was made in reducing the responsive repairs backlog, with volumes declining through the first half of 2025/26. However, proactive activity to support compliance with Awaab’s Law significantly increased demand, with 8,287 jobs outstanding by the end of March. The impact of the proactive activity has driven substantial follow-on work across multiple trades, while increased engagement with residents to raise awareness of how to report repairs has also contributed to higher demand. Addressing and reducing this level of outstanding works will be a key priority for the service in the year ahead.
3.7 Featuring prominently in our work programmes has been a commitment to tackling damp and mould within our own homes. Our identified capital investment budget for condensation & damp works for 2025/26 to 2029/30 is £7.166m. Awaab’s Law has provided the council with the opportunity to do things differently. To achieve the requirements, we have:
· Ensured we have embedded an approach of early identification and intervention resulting in faster response times to ensure safer living conditions.
· Significantly increased activity before the law came into force, completing 1,100+ damp and mould jobs between July–Sept 2025 with damp technicians carrying out initial investigation surveys on first visit, identifying root causes (not just symptoms) and setting out clear follow-on works and timescales.
· Set up a new specialist team in October 2025 focused specifically on damp and mould. This included specially trained technicians who carry out fast inspections, undertake initial treatment with structured follow-up reporting to residents as required.
· Produced a Damp & Mould Policy with feedback from tenants helping to shape the final policy.
3.8 We have continued to be committed to our net zero ambitions. We are installing on average 6-8 new solar Photovoltaic (PV) systems each week with over 930 now installed across the housing stock. We have also begun our retrofitting programme with 16 of our least efficient homes now achieving minimum EPC ratings. We completed the decarbonisation of our Seniors Housing scheme Walter May House which will create warmer, more comfortable homes for our tenants with lower energy bills. In addition, we are scoping out a council wide strategic energy partnership to support the journey to net zero.
3.9 Continued investment in our housing stock is key to ensuring our assets are well maintained and our five-year programmes for major and planned capital works commenced. In May 2026 Cabinet approved our Asset Management Plan which is a one‑year operational framework for managing and investing in council housing stock and estates. Knowing our stock and our assets is key to this. With less than 20% of our stock having up-to-date condition data we recognise that we need to accelerate the programme and we have committed to completing a full stock condition survey on our homes over the next two years. This will create reliable evidence base and drive our future investment decisions, leading to improved quality of homes over time.
3.10 The future of the eight blocks within the three master planning areas has continued at pace this year with programme updates considered by Cabinet in July 2025 and March 2026. A Section 105 consultation took place with residents in the autumn, with 58% response rate. This was an extensive and multi-layered consultation which played a direct role in shaping the final recommendations to redevelop the eight blocks, serve initial demolition notices and adopt a formal rehousing policy and local lettings plan. Resident engagement and input remain at the heart of next steps for redevelopment of the three sites.
3.11 Improving the safety, quality and management of the private rented homes is an important priority for the city. During the year:
· 450 requests for assistance were received
· 1,093 visits took place
· 179 homes improved through our interventions.
We started preparing for the introduction of the Renters’ Rights Act in May 2026 and updated our Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy. This was agreed in April 2026 and ensured we had a legally compliant enforcement framework for the Renters' Rights Act, it strengthened action against non-compliant landlords and created a more consistent approach to housing enforcement across the city.
3.12 We moved into the second year of our five-year licensing schemes; across all schemes 8,694 homes are in our licensing schemes with 3,882 now fully licenced. These schemes are already helping to improve property conditions with officers ensuring compliance with licence conditions and addressing hazards that they identify. The team continue to investigate unlicensed properties with 440 unlicensed properties investigated, building on the 70 under investigation at the end of March 2025. As a result of further investigation by the Enforcement Team, 197 of these cases resulted in a licence application and 30 were exempted with the other properties under review.
3.13 The council is continuing to support and oversee the remediation of fire safety defects in private sector residential blocks, in line with Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government expectations. This includes working with Registered Providers, managing agents and freeholders to ensure appropriate access to government funding, particularly through the Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS), which is intended to accelerate the remediation of unsafe cladding and associated external wall system defects in high to medium‑rise buildings. The council’s role focuses on enabling progress, providing intelligence, and maintaining oversight where risks are known and over the past year the council has inspected 275 buildings in the city.
Priority 2: Deliver the homes the city needs
3.14 A core aim of the Housing Strategy is to deliver at least 2,000 affordable homes over the lifetime of the strategy. We will achieve this through delivering our own supply and by working with Registered Providers and developers to increase the supply of affordable housing across the city. In the first two years of this strategy, we have delivered 684 homes and have started on site with our two largest affordable housing schemes at Flintfield Drive, Moulsecoomb (222 homes) and Sackville Road (306 homes).
3.15 In terms of affordable housing, the last 12 months have seen 458 completions across all delivery partners. This delivery means more households are able to access settled accommodation, they experience shorter waiting times to be rehoused, and there is greater stability for residents. Delivery will accelerate each year with forecasts showing that we are on course to meet our ultimate target of at least 2,000 new affordable homes by 2029. The current pipeline for the year ahead includes a mix of new build and acquisitions for the council.
|
Year |
Investment |
Sites/acquisitions |
Target delivery |
|
2026/27 |
£72m |
Buy backs (130), Frederick Street (4), Former Hollingbury Library (9), Mixture of other small sites (16) |
159 |
|
2025/26 |
£48.6m |
Brickfields (28), Palace Place (11), Pocket Plots (1), Buy backs (118), St Aubyns (6)
|
164 - 44 of these homes will be used for TA |
3.16 The council has successfully bid for fourth round of Local Authority Housing Fund grant funding receiving £9.2 million, which means the council has received £16.4m across all four rounds. This continues to enable us to purchase homes for council owned temporary accommodation and to also provide housing to resettle Afghan families further supporting our commitment to being a City of Sanctuary. In total since the start of the resettlement programme we have resettled 51 households (238 individuals). The council has also submitted an expression of interest to take part in a Local Authority–led pilot to provide housing solutions for asylum seekers, testing more sustainable, community-based accommodation approaches and reducing reliance on hotel use.
3.17 Beyond this year the council has a longer-term pipeline of over 470 homes. We know that the need is acute with 2,200 households in temporary accommodation and over 5,000 households on the Housing Register. To deliver on our ambitions we need to sustain momentum, look at all options to unlock delivery and work with partners to deliver on the full diversity of housing required by all residents to thrive in the city. This includes ensuring that we engage with the Local Government Reorganisation programme and Sussex and Brighton Combined County Authority (SBCCA) and its Strategic Place Partnership with Homes England to maximise opportunities for funding, delivery, and influence.
3.18 Building on our successful partnership with Hyde ‘Homes for Brighton & Hove’, a further site at Sackville Road is currently under construction which will deliver 306 new homes by March 2029. Further sites are being reviewed to help the partnership meet its initial objective to deliver 1,000 lower cost homes in the city.
3.19 As well as new supply we want to make best use of our current homes, and we continue to work to reduce under occupation, freeing up family sized homes to let. In 2025/26 30 households moved under the Tenant Incentive Scheme, meaning 51 homes have been made available for families since the strategy was agreed. We have increased communications to promote the scheme and reach households and will be drafting a downsizing strategy in the next year,
3.20 Empty homes, second homes and short term lets continue to impact on the local housing market, reducing the supply of permanent accommodation in the city. A 100% council tax charge on homes empty over one year and on second homes is in place to act as a deterrent to keeping homes empty. We have worked with owners to bring 313 homes back into use over the past year with 458 homes back in use since the start of this strategy.
3.21 The current Government have acknowledged the impact short term lets can have and are considering their options regarding a national registration scheme and the introduction of a new planning use class. We have participated in a research project with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to support the roll out of these proposals and expressed an interest in becoming an early pilot authority for the government’s short‑term lets registration scheme.
3.22 The council agreed to a new Affordable Housing Planning Advice Note in March 2026 to support delivery of City Plan policies. This emphasises a strong commitment to maximising affordable housing provision, reflecting significant local need. In addition, we will be launching a new Brighton & Hove City Plan process with a summer 2026 scoping consultation, building on earlier engagement to shape long-term development under the new national planning system.
Priority 3: Prevent homelessness and meet housing need
3.23 We have built on the Homelessness Transformation Strategy which seeks to improve the customer journey for people facing homelessness and maximising opportunities to prevent homelessness. This has included additional investment in our front door for homelessness, which is now moving to work within an early intervention space and support priorities for preventing homelessness and move on from temporary accommodation. This approach is evidenced by strong performance under the prevention duty, with successful preventions and early intervention achieved for over 500 households in 2025/26.
3.24 A key strategic aim is to reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation (TA), ensuring residents have access to stable housing and addressing the unsustainable financial cost of providing TA. Success in doing so is linked to homeless preventions and increasing our prevention outcomes is key to ensure we can bring overall TA levels down. Whilst we have not succeeded in bringing down our reliance in 2025/26 (an increase to 230 households to 2,200 at the end of March 2026) the rise is reflective of both local pressures and broader national challenge leading to a disproportionate high demand for TA locally. In response to this, in April 2026 Cabinet considered a report on TA which introduced a programme of reform to stabilise costs and improve outcomes by moving Brighton & Hove’s TA system away from expensive emergency provision towards a more sustainable, higher-quality, locally controlled model.
3.25 The Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy (2025–2030) was developed through a structured, multi‑stage process with a strong emphasis on resident and lived‑experience input, ensuring that real experiences shaped the final priorities and actions. The strategy sets out a clear approach to preventing homelessness and through delivery of the strategy residents will experience more consistent support and improved access to services. The final strategy was approved by Cabinet in December 2025, setting out a five‑year plan focused on prevention, improving TA, and providing joined‑up support. Delivery will be monitored through a partnership governance model with defined outcomes, multi-agency oversight, and regular reporting through the council decision-making structures.
3.26 Supporting our most vulnerable residents is essential to ensure a better quality of life. We have expanded our provision of women only TA as part of our commitment to improve safety, dignity and outcomes to women experiencing homelessness. We have achieved this through new permanent TA provision alongside interim and commissioned arrangements to ensure access to safe and appropriate TA at different points in the housing journey.
Priority 4: Support improved health and wellbeing for all
3.27 It is important we enable residents to live in their own homes as long as possible, and the council deliver adaptations across the range of tenures to help enable this. We have delivered:
|
Year |
Investment |
Disabled Facilities Grants |
Adaptations to council homes |
Total major adaptations delivered |
|
2025/26 |
£4.53m |
131 |
347 |
478 |
|
2024/25 |
£4.49m |
171 |
232 |
403 |
3.28 Work is also underway for the implementation of the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023. The act places a duty on local housing authorities to produce supported housing strategies to understand current availability and future need for supported housing. The council has commissioned a needs assessment in partnership with other Sussex local authorities to inform the strategy which is due for completion in 2027. The council has also taken active steps to minimise subsidy loss on exempt accommodation.
3.29 We want to ensure that residents can live in safe and well-maintained neighbourhoods and feeling safe in their homes is key. To support this, we have:
· Agreed and launched our Hate Incidents Policy for council housing.
· Established weekly estate inspections providing regular oversight on estate conditions and early identification on issues.
· Ensured there is a consistent visible presence on our estates through our Neighbourhood Officers enabling earlier intervention on neighbourhood and ASB concerns.
· Created an ASB action plan which will strengthen our responses to ASB through early intervention, joint working and targeted estate-based activity.
· Continued to deliver the popular Estate Development Budget delivering physical improvements alongside activities to improve residents’ physical and mental wellbeing.
3.30 Through the integrated care teams we have implemented the Sussex highest and ongoing needs programmes setting up five multi-disciplinary teams working with risk data to target those residents with the highest health and care needs. This enables them to deliver a proactive care service that prevents unnecessary hospital admissions and builds links between Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and supported housing. We also continued delivery of the Brighton & Hove Mental Health and Housing Plan which has including weekly case meetings and established a provider forum. We have continued funding for hospital discharge support services and increased support and accommodation in the city for those with mental health support needs. This helps to improve health and housing outcomes for some of the most marginalised people in our community.
Priority 5: Provide resident focused housing services
3.31 Our aim is to be a Great Landlord. To achieve this, we have a suite of programmes in operation to support us to achieve this ambition. This includes the work to deliver against the Regulator of Social Housing consumer standards, Creating Great Homes Together Improvement Plan and the Housing (Safety and quality) Improvement Plan.
3.32 To be a Great Landlord we need to ensure tenants’ views are at the heart of decision making in landlord services and ensure a wide range of voices are heard and listened to. We have built on last year’s work and co-produced the Creating Great Homes Improvement Plan with residents. A number of pieces of work has started to deliver tenant priorities including complaints handling, restarting estate inspections and consulting on the tenant and repairs handbook.
3.33 Our latest STAR survey results showed positive progress with tenant perception of our services:
· 71% of respondents are satisfied with the service provided by the landlord (up 4%)
· 77% of respondents indicating that we treat them fairly and with respect (up 1%).
· We identified that last year that more work needs to be done to ensure we listen and act upon views noting that only 53% of respondents thought that we do. In the latest survey 63% indicated that we do, an increase of 10%. Whilst more needs to be done this is an encouraging reflection on some of the changes we have made.
3.34 Housing has an award-winning approach to apprenticeships and a strong track record of supporting local recruitment. The service supports 23 full time apprentices in a range of trades, with colleagues completing apprenticeships alongside their existing job roles. Our Housing Repairs & Maintenance Team have produced a video to promote diversity and inclusion in our apprenticeship programme and visited secondary schools in the city to promote this career option to young people.
3.35 Working in partnership to deliver the council’s Adult Learning Disability Strategy an autism awareness training video was produced for our repairs and maintenance service. Specialist supported living service for autistic and neuro divergent people with assessed eligible social care needs are now being sourced though our approved provider list.
3.36 Providing resident-centred services is key. Examples of this work include:
· Our trauma informed approach continues to be embedded in practice with reflective practitioners in place and a further 18 members of staff receiving training this year.
· We have signed up to the LGBTQ+ Housing Pledge committing to equality, inclusivity, and safe housing for LGBTQ+ people and we’ll be submitting our evidence in support of this pledge in May 2027.
· Bridging Change run a regular community group for black and racially minoritised communities at our Leech Court Seniors Housing Scheme. The group was launched in 2025 and continues to grow in participation.
4. Analysis and consideration of alternative options
4.1 All actions that the council commits to within the Housing Strategy need to be resourced with budgets allocated. This will ensure that an action plan is delivered. In addition, utilising partnership and external funding opportunities will be essential in delivering against the ambitions and the council will work creatively and collaboratively with partners to bring forward options for delivery.
5. Community engagement and consultation
5.1 Tenants deserve to be heard, respected, and involved in decisions affecting their homes. A culture of genuine engagement leads to better services and stronger communities. The increased use of different methods over the past year and improvements in tenant perceptions of our services is to be welcomed. As we enter the second year of our operational plan we need to deliver against tenant priorities which will be overseen by a working group and achieve the actions identified through the Creating Great Homes Together programme. A longer-term vision for the service also needs to be delivered through producing a Tenant Engagement Strategy.
5.2 The Year 3 Action Plan is reflective of feedback provided by residents on the Housing Strategy and the key areas of focus. Our priorities have also been driven by ongoing customer insight and areas of concern that have been highlighted to us by our tenants. We are using this feedback to continuously refine and improve the services we provide. As well as our tenants we need to ensure all other residents can input and contribute ensuring that we actively include and amplify the voices of minoritised groups in relevant decision-making processes.
5.3 This report was also considered and discussed at People Overview & Scrutiny Committee on 14 July 2026.
6. Financial implications
6.1 The financial implications of implementing this strategy from 2026/27 onwards will be incorporated into the budget-setting processes and managed within the established budget constraints. The financial impacts must be accommodated within the budget approved in February 2026.
6.2 Detailed gross budgets and funding for 2026/27, covering Housing General Fund services and the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), are outlined in the February’s budget report. Significant elements of the strategy depend on financial and other resources from partners such as Homes England and MHCLG to ensure successful delivery.
6.3 The 2026/27 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.
6.4 The 2026/27 budget has been set with associated savings and mitigation measures to address identified pressures, including those relating to TA demand and cost management.
6.5 The strategy continues to face a range of financial risks, including:
· sustained pressures within Temporary Accommodation and the need to better understand and separate HRA and General Fund cost bases;
· the affordability and pace of property acquisitions, including the impact on borrowing capacity and associated revenue costs (management, repairs and financing);
· increasing compliance and service delivery costs; and
· the need to ensure that borrowing remains sustainable and does not compromise the ability to maintain existing housing stock.
6.6 A range of savings and service pressure mitigation measures are in place and will be monitored through Targeted Budget Management (TBM) processes. Investment has included:
· 2025/26 spend of £48.6m on new supply rising to £72m in 26/27
· 2025/26 spend of £44m on improving our homes rising to £54m on 26/27
· £0.4m budgeted for a pilot scheme in 2026/27 as an alternative to right to buy
Any variances will be reported corporately and addressed through in-year management action where possible, with longer-term implications reflected in future budget setting and financial planning.
Name of finance officer consulted: Ferrise Hall Date consulted 09 June 2026
7.1 Under the Homelessness Act 2002, local housing authorities must formulate a homelessness strategy and keep it under review. Authorities can modify their strategies when circumstances change (such as new housing l legislation, market shifts, or changes in partner organizations) and must consult relevant voluntary or public organizations before doing so. This report therefore is part of the statutory requirements. There has been some significant new legislation such as Awaab's law, and this has been addressed in the report.
Name of lawyer consulted: Simon Court Date consulted 26 May 2026
8.1 The Housing Strategy was developed with an acknowledgement that housing inequality exists in Brighton & Hove, The vision of the Housing Strategy is ‘Homes for everyone’ and 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.
8.2 An Equalities Impact Assessment was completed when the strategy was drafted and a review of how we have addressed and delivered against our findings so far is included at Appendix 2.
8.3 As we have developed the new strategies and policies (listed below) equalities considerations have been embedded in both their design and their delivery. Consultations we have undertaken have includes equalities monitoring questions to understand how those strategies and policies could affect our residents and documents have included guidelines or actions to address disproportionate effects on residents with specific needs based on their protected characteristics. This will ensure the services provided close gaps on the affected communities.
· Homelessness & Rough Sleeping Strategy
· Hate Incident Policy
· Housing Allocation Policy
· Vulnerability and Reasonable Adjustments Policy (in progress)
8.4 The services we are providing are also offering positive outcomes for people with protected characteristics, making a real change on these resident’s life:
· Older people living in Seniors Housing: Extensive engagement through annual reviews, scheme meetings, referrals to partner services and, wellbeing contacts and workshops.
· Families and young people: Delivery of 262 new family homes (2–5 beds) and development of a 29-unit supported housing scheme for young people.
· Disability: Significant major adaptations delivered to enable residents to remain in their homes (900 households benefiting in two years), Autism awareness video produced for repairs staff. Supported living provider framework and brokerage function in place.
· LGTBQ+: Housing Pledge has been set up, helping LGBTQ+ residents have input at executive/strategic level in addition to increase visibility and LGBTQ+ training within the council.
Residents with intersecting protected characteristics:
· Refugees and Asylum seekers: 48 households (235 individuals) resettled through Afghan Resettlement Programme
· Multi Compound Needs: Multi Compound Needs service model developed to deliver integrated services across housing, health, and homelessness.
· Women: Women‑only accommodation has been made available to ensure women victims from Domestic and/or Sexual Abuse have access to safe and appropriate temporary accommodation at different points in the housing journey.
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 Housing Strategy outlines steps we are taking to address sustainability and zero carbon challenges in new and existing stock in Brighton and Hove. Taking a multi-tenure approach, our offer is shaped by working in partnership with others to deliver ambitions.
10.1 Having 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.
10.2 The Health Counts 2024 survey highlighted cost of living and housing concerns for respondents. 86% of respondents were taking at least one action due to increases in the cost of living with around one in five respondents (21%) fairly or very worried about their housing conditions e.g. damp, cold, leaks etc. There are also concentrations of areas with higher levels of worries about housing conditions – 27% of those living in the most deprived areas worry compared to 10% living in the least deprived areas
10.3 38% of respondents recorded high anxiety scores. This increased to 46% of those in the most deprived 20% of areas, compared to 29% of those in the least deprived areas. This increased significantly to 72% for respondents living in temporary or emergency accommodation. It was also identified that those who live in social housing face substantially higher health risks with regards to four key areas – disability, smoking, recent self-harm and suicide. This insight highlights the clear link between housing and wellbeing and the importance of the actions we are taking through the strategy to tackle inequality.
11.1 The Housing 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 provide 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.
13.1 Progress is beginning to be made across all the Housing Strategy priorities. Whilst there remains a lot of work to do to meet our ambitions, the proposed action plan for 2026/27 provides the platform for continuing to make the required progress.
Supporting Documentation
Appendix 2 Review of Housing Strategy Equalities Impact Assessment