Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Director of Resources and Housing which provides an update on the progress of the Council Housing Growth Programme, sets out proposals for the delivery of further new Council housing across the city and presents the proposed rent setting approach for the Council Housing New Build Programme.

The Director of Resources and Housing submitted a report which provided an update on the progress of the Council Housing Growth Programme, set out proposals for the delivery of further new Council housing across the city and presented the proposed rent setting approach for the Council Housing New Build Programme.

Members welcomed the speed at which the Council had acted in this area, following the lifting of the cap on Council borrowing to deliver new homes via the Housing Revenue Account. 

The Board welcomed the establishment of a Local Housing Company, with Members noting the benefits and flexibility that the formation of the company would bring. In response to a Member’s enquiry, it was highlighted that the delivery of affordable housing via this model need to not be wholly focussed upon the city centre, however, the number of appropriate sites as designated via the Site Allocations Plan in the city centre was highlighted.

Regarding the expansion of the property acquisition programme, Members were advised that a report on this was scheduled to be submitted to the Board in July.

Members highlighted the need to work with local communities on such matters in order to ensure that the Council housing provision established by this programme looked to meet the bespoke needs of each area.

RESOLVED –

(a)  That the progress made to date on delivering the Council Housing Growth Programme, be noted;

(b)  That the additional sites, as listed in Table 2 of the submitted report, for the delivery of new build Council housing, be noted;

(c)  That the proposed investment, as outlined in Table 5 of the submitted report, be approved, with approval also being given to inject the balance of funding £17.5m into the programme for the delivery of c.176 new build Council houses as part of the Council Housing Growth Programme (with it being noted that £16.1m was injected as part of the February 2019 capital programme), and that support be provided for any funding bids to optimise the funding mix for each scheme;

(d)  That the application of the proposed rent setting principles and the approach to future Council housing new build developments, as set out in the submitted report, be approved, and that decisions on rent setting for each individual housing scheme be delegated to the Director of Resources and Housing;

(e)  That it be noted that a report will be submitted to Executive Board in July 2019 on the Property Buyback/Repurchase Programme.