Issue - meetings

To receive and consider report 38/09 of the Head of Health and Housing.    

The committee considered report 38/09 of the Head of Health and Housing.  The report looked at the impact of the economic recession on social housing providers and the implications of various interventions made by the government in response.  The report also looked at local impacts and the council’s response to the challenges. 

It was reported that the global economic crisis had caused an unprecedented impact on the housing sector.  The council was experiencing the same impact as authorities across the South East.  This was affecting delivery of new affordable housing and the future for some low cost home ownership schemes.  A drop in home ownership had increased demand in the rented sector, putting waiting and transfer lists under increased pressure.  The impact of the mortgage-lending crisis had also affected the registered social landlords (housing associations).  Sales of shared ownership homes had slowed considerably due to lending restrictions and reduced valuations and  as a result demand for housing advice and assistance had increased markedly. 

It was reported that the council was seeking ways to work with its registered social landlord partners, housing developers and the Housing and Communities Agency to unlock major sites to maintain delivery of affordable housing during the economic recession and also to ensure that the council was in a good position to meet demand in the event of economic conditions improving.  To assist, the government had introduced several measures including:

·        increasing stamp duty

·        assisting housing associations offering shared ownership, shared equity or sale and rent back options

·        assisting housing associations to increase their housing stock

·        assisting first time buyers with incomes below £60,000

·        offering “kick start” funding to help major housing sites to progress

·        helping local authorities to build new council homes, although this was aimed at authorities that had kept their housing stock. 

The committee noted the positive steps.  Furthermore, it was noted that the council had managed to restrict the numbers of applicants placed in temporary accommodation through effective homelessness prevention measures.  The five district housing authorities had secured £30,000 in government funding for a joint initiative with the other Oxfordshire district councils aimed at homelessness prevention and reduced use of temporary accommodation.  In addition, the council had secured £38,000 government funding to provide advice aimed at preventing homelessness through avoiding repossession and the provision of hardship loans.  Supplementary funding was available to the Citizens’ Advice Bureau to offset the cost of specialist debt advice.  One councillor queried whether funding was also available for the Independent Advice Centre at Wantage.  The head of service agreed to investigate whether the centre was accredited to give such advice and therefore eligible to receive funding on a case-by-case basis. 

It was reported that having achieved the targets for reward grant funding from Local Area Agreement 1, the council was continuing to work with its neighbouring district councils in Oxfordshire towards further reward grant available through Local Area Agreement 2.  This additional funding would enable the Oxfordshire Housing Partnership to assist directly with future housing projects.  The committee noted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9