Cabinet considered the report of the interim head of development, regeneration and housing. This set out an approach to provide temporary housing accommodation for the period 2017 to 2022. The report proposed deleting the £920,000 capital budget to purchase four homes in Abingdon and instead to create a capital budget of £885,000 to convert the council’s two hostels into self-contained units. This would reduce the projected revenue costs by £25,000 per annum.
The Scrutiny Committee had welcomed the proposal. Councillor Debby Hallett addressed Cabinet, reporting that Scrutiny Committee’s recommendations had been incorporated and thanked the officers for their work on this.
Cabinet considered the options:
1. Refurbishing the two hostels in their existing configuration of shared accommodation.
2. Reconfiguring the Wantage hostel only into self-contained units, selling the Faringdon hostel and purchasing replacement units.
3. Reconfiguring the Faringdon hostel only, selling the Wantage hostel and purchasing replacement units.
4. Selling both hostels and purchasing equivalent accommodation.
5. Reconfiguring both hostels into self-contained units.
Cabinet preferred option 5 as existing shared bathroom and toilet facilities in the hostels were unsuitable for housing homeless families and individuals. The council had a duty of care to homeless applicants placed in temporary accommodation. Therefore, Cabinet considered that both hostels should be reconfigured into self-contained units.
RESOLVED: to
(a) approve the approach to temporary housing accommodation provision as set out in the report of the interim head of development, regeneration, and housing;
RECOMMENDED: to Council to
(b) delete the current capital budget provision of £920,000 for the estimated costs of purchasing four two-bedroom houses in Abingdon;
(c) create a capital budget of £885,000 to convert the council’s two hostels into self-contained units; and
(d) note that by approving recommendation (c) above, this will result in a reduction in the revenue budget of £25,000 per annum.