Cabinet Member for Housing
Minutes:
22.1 Councillor Hadingham introduced paper MC/22/7 and proposed the recommendations detailed in the report.
22.2 Councillor Eburne commented on the hard work which had been put into the development of the plan. Councillor Eburne enquired whether the intention was to move the housing stock from social rent to affordable rent which would be more expensive, and requested more information with regard to the seven scenarios referred to in the report.
22.3 The Assistant Director for Housing confirmed that there was no plan to move from social rent at this time and provided additional details of the scenarios referred to in the report. The Assistant Director advised Members that the plan would be an ongoing process and would be reviewed and developed regularly.
22.4 Councillor Scarff referred to scenario two detailed in the report and asked how ambitious the Council would be in seeking opportunities to achieve grant funding from central government to decarbonise the existing housing stock.
22.5 The Assistant Director for Housing advised that the Council had been successful in applying for grants through the Suffolk Climate Change Partnership, and work with the Energy Saving Trust has provided clear data regarding the current housing stock which will ensure the Council is well placed to apply for funding opportunities.
22.6 In response to a question from Councillor Field regarding benchmarking data relating to void properties, the Assistant Director for Housing advised that the Council has recently joined the data comparison provider Housemark and provided details of the data collected which is currently being validated and scrutinised.
22.7 The Assistant Director for Housing responded to a further question from Councillor Field regarding possible rent increases and commented that this would be a decision which would need to be made over the course of the budget setting process.
22.8 Councillor Stringer asked why the issues of minimum space standards, access to public transport services, and wider benefits to the community within in the built form and uses had been identified as issues to aspire to and not which will be done. The Assistant Director for Assets and Investments advised that the details of each situation had to be considered and this would mean a degree of flexibility would be required when considering housing delivery.
22.9 Councillor Geake queried the graph on page 40 of the report and asked why there was a future reduction in the number of social units in the stock figure. The Assistant Director for Housing explained that the graph allowed for future sales of council housing but did not allow for stock being built and therefore showed an overall reduction.
22.10 The Assistant Director for Housing went on to outline the various tenant satisfaction surveys being undertaken and the work which would be carried out as a result of these.
22.11 In response to a question from Councillor Mellen, the Assistant Manager – Strategic Properties provided clarification that the approach to building would be a fabric first approach to build properties which are energy efficient and less costly to tenants.
22.12 Councillor Mansel stated that it appeared that the number of social housing rents were diminishing while the number of shared ownership and affordable rent properties were increasing.
22.13 The Assistant Director for Housing stated that right to buy would affect the number of social housing rents, but officers would explore as many opportunities to build as many social rents as possible.
22.14 Councillor Whitehead commented that replacing right to buy properties was important financially to prevent having the same management costs on a smaller base.
22.15 Councillor Matthissen asked how the turnover of housing staff and vacancy levels were being controlled.
22.16 The Chief Executive replied that it was not possible to control but was being managed and he would circulate accurate vacancy rates outside of the meeting.
22.17 Councillor Eburne commented that the Neighbourhood Planning Team needed to be increased.
22.18 Councillor Carter asked how best quality housing could be ensured and what would happen with properties that could not be improved.
22.19 The Assistant Director – Housing stated that properties were assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Supporting documents: