Agenda item

Ashely Jackson, Head of Housing and Planning introduced the report and made the following comments:

• Council had recently approved an accelerated affordable rented housing development programme of at least 400 new homes, constructed or acquired, by 2027;
• Officers were contacted by Millwood Homes, who were required to deliver five new affordable homes, as part of their development at Reading Street, Broadstairs;
• This requirement was set out in the Section 106 obligations for the development. They were however unable to secure an affordable housing provider to deliver these homes;
• The capital cost for the five homes is £800k and £50k for associated costs;
• On paragraph 2.5 there was a slight difference in the cash flow deficit from year one it should read £8.1k with a breakeven point in year 13;
• As the homes had been designated as affordable homes in the planning consent and section 106 agreement, they had been designed specifically for that purpose and accordingly were considered appropriate for the HRA;
• This was in line with the needs of households on the council’s register or those living in temporary accommodation;

·  There was a significant level of need for one bedroom homes, as well as for larger family homes. The unit sizes and the mix of dwellings were as follows:

? one x one bed flat;

? one x two bed flat;

? Three x three bed houses.

• Officers were therefore proposing that the new homes be let in accordance with the Council’s adopted Allocations Policy.

Councillor Whitehead, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing also made comments as follows:

• Members were being asked to consider and respond to the proposal that were going to be forwarded to Cabinet regarding the purchase of 5 homes at Reading Street, Broadstairs;
• The purchase of these homes was part of the Council’s accelerated housing delivery strategy, ensuring that Section 106 homes were delivered;
• This was also to ensure that the social housing part of developments came to fruition and did not disappear, as this was much needed housing for the district;
• As this was a revenue strategy above else, it had already been established that the HRA would benefit from these acquisitions;
• The capital cost for these properties is £800,000, with 50,000 provided for associated costs and this provided one x one bed flat, one x three bed flat, three x three bed houses;

• Social housing in Thanet is often inaccessible for renters; property and rental costs in Broadstairs are significant, and acquiring social housing within Broadstairs is often challenging;
• It was important to ensure that all of the Isle is accessible to residents and that local individuals and families should be able to remain where their local connections were. Acquisitions such as this would support that aim;
• The Housing team had done some work relating to this proposal, being able to deliver genuinely affordable properties in an ever increasing property market, that would otherwise have been lost was essential;
• Being able to deliver affordable housing in an area that was often harder to access for those on lower incomes was incredibly important.

Members asked questions and made comments as follows:

• These were good proposals. Why was it that the council was considering purchasing one bed dwellings and not dwellings for families?
• This development was of a high standard. How closely did the Council monitor housing standards during construction of these properties?
• Was there a timeline for delivery of these properties?

Ashley Jackson and Councillor Whitehead responded to Member questions and comments as follows:

• Currently the need for one bed dwellings was higher than for family dwellings on the housing waiting list;
• The growth of the Council’s housing stock through the development of the 400 dwellings would mean recruiting additional officers for the housing team;
• These were properties built to a high standard and there were retentions built into the agreements. Officers also monitored development progress.

Members noted the report.