Issue details
Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) R3
In December 2022, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) launched the Local Authority Housing Fund. This was a £500 million capital fund for local authorities in England to obtain accommodation for families with housing needs who have arrived in the UK fleeing the war in Ukraine and families on Afghan resettlement and relocation schemes. The reason for this was to help ensure that those communities who had been generous in welcoming new arrivals were not ‘penalised’ with longer social housing waiting lists.
Last year, Thanet District Council was awarded £694,000 as part of the second round of the LAHF project (approved by Cabinet members on 16th November 2023) and now it has been awarded £619,500 as part of the Government’s £450m two-year expansion to the scheme which aims to provide local authorities with a longer-term pipeline of support and to unlock more new supply and developments.
Given Thanet District Council’s proactive acquisitions programme, it has been able to
secure the four properties that are required of it through the criteria for round 3. These homes have been secured through Vistry at Westwood Point.
Thanet is purchasing four properties: three x 3-bedroom properties (one for TA and two medium-sized resettlement properties) and one x 4-bedroom property (again, for the resettlement element).
Decision type: Key
Reason Key: Expenditure or Making one-off Savings anticipated to be £250,000 or more*;
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Wards affected: Thanet Villages Ward;
Notice of proposed decision first published: 08/05/2024
Decision due: 16 Jul 2024 by Overview & Scrutiny Panel
Decision due: 25 Jul 2024 by Cabinet
Lead member: Councillor Rob Yates, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services Cllr-Rob.Yates@thanet.gov.uk
Lead director: Chris Blundell
Contact: Zoe Harrison, Financial Systems, Income and Payments Manager Email: zoe.harrison@thanet.gov.uk.
What the decision will mean: Approval to spend £1,255,000 to acquire the four dwellings for the scheme (one for TA and three for matching for the LAHF project)
Decisions
- 26/07/2024 - Local Authority Housing fund (LAHF) Round 3 funding
Agenda items
- 16/07/2024 - Overview & Scrutiny Panel Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) R3 16/07/2024
- 25/07/2024 - Cabinet Local Authority Housing fund (LAHF) Round 3 funding 25/07/2024
Documents
- OSP report
- Cabinet report