Agenda item

Decision

RESOLVED to

It is recommended that Cabinet:

1.             Agree to accept the £588,000 of Local Authority Housing Fund grant

2.             Use the LAHF grant to part fund the purchase six further units of temporary accommodation, with one to be prioritised for Afghan resettlement households.

3.             Seek approval from full Council to allocate £0.9m of the additional income from the Second Homes Premium (both from the County Council and District Council elements) as match funding for the LAHF grant.

4.             Give delegated authority to the Section 151 Officer, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Peoples’ Services, to agree the actual purchases of up to six properties (within the identified budget limits).

Reasons for the decision:

To seek approval for the Council to accept the LAHF grant and use the grant to help acquire further homes to use as temporary accommodation

Cllr W Fredericks, Portfolio Holder for Housing & Benefits, introduced this item. She explained that the Council had been successful in bidding for Round 3 funding through the Government’s Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF). It was proposed to use the £588,000 of LAHF grant to help purchase a further six units of Temporary Accommodation for homeless households. Through negotiations with the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, the Council had been given permission to purchase our initial request of six homes in the LAHF grant agreement, meaning that the Council would receive £588k grant for six homes, but the purchases would all be exempt from Stamp Duty.

The Chairman invited members to speak:

Cllr Dr V Holliday said that she welcomed the proposals. She said that the report referred to management and repair costs as part of the ongoing costs and queried whether there was a business case underpinning the proposal.

The Housing Strategy & Delivery Manager replied that there was a business case which compared the cost of  between using paid for nightly bed and breakfast temporary accommodation versus NNDC housing stock and it showed a considerable saving as well as an improved quality of experience. She added that an external ‘value for money’ review had been carried by the East of England Local Government Association (EELGA) which supported NNDC’s investment in temporary accommodation. Cllr Fredericks added that the housing benefit received by claimants went towards the maintenance of the properties. It was anticipated that there would be 31 such properties in total by the end of year.

Cllr C Cushing referred to the £900k allocated from second homes council tax income for housing projects and asked about the level of risk associated with this funding stream as it was only an estimate. Cllr Fredericks replied that the £900k was a conservative estimate and it was anticipated that it was likely to be nearer to £1.3m. The additional money would go towards funding the building of affordable homes in the district. The Chairman added that spending on nightly temporary accommodation had been hugely reduced.

Cllr L Shires, Portfolio Holder for Finance, said that when the income from the second homes council tax was calculated, a variation of approximately 35% was factored in to avoid over-estimating so she was confident that the level of risk was low.

It was proposed by Cllr W Fredericks, seconded by Cllr T Adams and

RESOLVED to

It is recommended that Cabinet:

1.             Agree to accept the £588,000 of Local Authority Housing Fund grant

2.             Use the LAHF grant to part fund the purchase six further units of temporary accommodation, with one to be prioritised for Afghan resettlement households.

3.             Seek approval from full Council to allocate £0.9m of the additional income from the Second Homes Premium (both from the County Council and District Council elements) as match funding for the LAHF grant.

4.             Give delegated authority to the Section 151 Officer, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Peoples’ Services, to agree the actual purchases of up to six properties (within the identified budget limits).

Reasons for the decision:

To seek approval for the Council to accept the LAHF grant and use the grant to help acquire further homes to use as temporary accommodation