Issue - items at meetings - Presentation from Cllr Bill Randall, Chair of the Brighton & Hove Strategic Housing Partnership

41.1    Cllr Randall spoke to the committee about the working of the Strategic Housing Partnership (SHP).

41.2    Cllr Randall outlined some of the major housing challenges facing the city. These included:

• Homelessness – with the number of people applying for temporary accommodation and the number of rough sleepers both up significantly in the past few months.

• Social Housing – inadequate to meet demand, particularly in terms of family homes. The SHP is actively engaged with city Registered Social Landlords (RSLs), but the new national rent regime requiring RSLs to charge 80% of market rates for rent will make RSL properties unaffordable for many local people.

• Student Housing – family homes being converted to student accommodation; nuisance problems associated with some homes in multiple occupation (HMOs); lack of dedicated student housing (especially for students at Brighton University). Cllr Randall noted that both city universities were now fully engaged with this issue and taking more responsibility for problems associated with their students. The council was looking to use planning law to check the spread of HMOs, but needed to be circumspect to avoid legal challenge.

• Private Rented – vacancies in the sector silting up, and significant recent rent increases.

• Housing Benefit – imminent changes to the benefit system likely to exacerbate housing problems, particularly for young people.

• New homes – very little activity either nationally or locally. The council is looking to encourage new building on two city sites: Circus Street and Preston Barracks.

• Empty Homes – looking at reducing the number of empty council properties (currently around 70, although part of this has been necessitated by the development of Seaside Community Homes and the requirements of its financing). Also looking at how best to deal with private sector empty properties.

• Supporting People – recognising the importance of Supporting People grants and seeking to protect Supporting People activities as much as possible in the current financial climate.

• Extra Care – increasing demand for a range of supported housing options for older people.

• Tenants – greater tenant involvement in making decisions about their housing, both in terms of council tenants and people in the RSL or private sector.

41.3    Asked whether he would consider remaining as SHP Chair when he takes up mayoral duties in May 2012, Cllr Randall told members that he would certainly consider doing so if asked.

41.4    In response to a question on the sub-letting of social housing, Nick Hibberd, Head of Housing and Social Inclusion, told members that tenancy fraud was a priority for the Housing service. Housing and the council’s Audit service worked to together to investigate potential sub-letting, either on the basis of tip-offs from members of the public or cross-checking housing records with benefits’ data. Although not a problem on the same scale as in some London boroughs, sub-letting was a significant issue and was not tolerated. The council did prosecute suspected fraudsters, although this was a tricky process as it was typically not easy to collect evidence sufficient for a conviction.

41.5    The Chair thanked Cllr Randall for attending and answering members’ questions.