Issue - meetings

The provision of new homes to meet the needs of local people was a key priority. Pressures on both social and affordable rented housing and on the private rented sector were increasing and new solutions were required. The council had already committed resources from the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) to new build and acquisition programmes and would have provided over 150 new homes through this work by 2020/21.

The proposal in this report, recommending the principle of a wholly owned housing company, would provide an opportunity to supplement this work with additional housing development or acquisition programmes. The idea was not to replace the existing and future HRA programmes but to supplement them with additional homes paid for with an additional source of funding.

Central government’s expectation was that council owned social and affordable homes were held within Housing revenue Accounts. However, Housing companies provided an opportunity to provide additional homes with greater flexibility about tenure and rent, so that market rent or sub-market rent options could also be considered.

Once the principle of setting up a housing company was agreed, further work would be required to prepare detailed proposals about how the company would be structured and its activities controlled by the Council. It would also be necessary to prepare detailed business plans setting out the spending proposals, cash flow and delivery programmes of the proposed company.

The report identified the key controlling documents required for the company and recommended an initial budget of £50,000 for this work to be completed. This proposal represented an opportunity to expand on the Council’s current work to provide new homes, with additional programmes and greater flexibility.

Councillor Everitt spoke under Council Procedure Rule 20.1.

Councillor Game proposed, Councillor Ashbee seconded and Cabinet agree to:

1.  Support the purposes for setting up a housing company to:

a.  Enable the delivery of new homes, that would otherwise not be delivered, with the ability to directly acquire land and construct homes;

b.  Acquire homes with the aim of improving conditions, management standards and affordability for the benefit of residents;

c.  Supplement existing housing programmes and funding within the council’s HRA;

d.  Offer a wider range of housing tenures and costs, in addition to existing provision;

e.  Create a financially viable and sustainable vehicle for the acquisition, development and management of housing;

f.  Such other purposes which are ancillary to the above purposes.

2.  Allocate an initial set-up budget for the housing company of £50,000, to be funded from the Business Rates Equalisation Reserve, and delegate authority to the Deputy Chief Executive to approve expenditure against this budget.