Agenda item

The Chairman reported receipt of the following notice of motion from Cllrs Howard Marshall and Brian Dalton as follows:

1.    “That this Council recognises the acute demand for housing in Wiltshire, given the 16,245 persons on the  waiting list for social housing, as well as the need for growth and development.

2.    Council recognises that of the 16,245 applicants seeking social housing in Wiltshire, 4,022 are currently identified as Gold or Platinum banding applicants, who are in urgent need of housing or re-housing due to threats of violence, urgent medical needs, severe overcrowding, and other similar problems.

3.    Council further acknowledges that the cost of providing emergency accommodation can be disproportionate to the cost of providing good-quality social housing. (FOI request has been submitted, more info on costs soon).

4.    Council regrets that there are currently in excess of 5,000 empty homes in wiltshire, of which 1,751 are long term empty homes, and calls on the executive to prioritise the appointment of an empty homes officer. Council recognises the cost of making an empty home habitable is usually significantly less than building a new home from scratch.

5.  Council recognises that neighbouring local authorities have had success with Empty Homes Officers, including Bristol City Council, which has brought over 250 long term empty homes back to the market in the last 6 months, compared to Wiltshire’s 79 homes brought back to market in the last year.

6.   Council therefore calls for the immediate appointment of an Empty Homes Officer, for which funding has already been allocated, to ensure that unused houses are brought back into the market as soon as possible.”

Having been moved and seconded, Councillor Marshall was invited to speak to his motion.

The Chairman moved that the motion be debated and this was duly seconded by the Vice-Chairman and on being put to the vote, it was

Resolved:

That notice of motion no.26 be debated

At the Chairman’s invitiation, Cllr John Thomson, Cabinet member for Adult Care, Communities and Housing responded to the motion during which he proposed alternative motion as an amendment, details of which were displayed on screen at the meeting. Having considered the amendment, Cllrs Marshall and Dalton, movers of the original motion, agreed to accept the amendment. A discussion then ensued on the motion as amended. Following debate, the amended motion was put to the vote and CARRIED and it was therefore

Resolved:

That motion no.26 be adopted as amended as follows:

1. That this Council along with most councils recognises that there is high demand for housing in Wiltshire and that is why this is a priority in the Council’s Business Plan and why it maintains a housing register on which there are currently 16,445 applicants of which 9145 are regarded and classified as being in housing need.

2. Council recognises that of the 16,445 applicants seeking social housing in Wiltshire, 4,022 are currently identified as Gold or Platinum banding applicants, the largest banding of which is Gold that includes people with insecurity of tenure (people under notice from current landlord), people of no fixed abode, people with high support needs and people lacking two or more bedrooms.

3. Council acknowledges that the cost of providing emergency accommodation can be disproportionate to the cost of providing good-quality social housing. The Council recognises that it has an excellent record in reducing costs having effectively eliminated the use of Bed and Breakfast for homelessness since May 2009, greatly reduced the use of private sector temporary housing and cut the homelessness hostel accommodation by half over the last two years. This has been achieved through the effective use of other housing options to avoid homelessness including the key tool of the “Wilts let” rental bond scheme that provides for homeless households to access private sector lets that in some cases will bring empty homes back into use.

4. Council acknowledges that there are currently a total of 5,446 empty homes in Wiltshire, which is a reduction from the previous year and equates to around 2.7% of our total stock which is significantly better than the national average of 4.1%. However the Council recognises that the overwhelming majority of these homes are short term empty homes that could be empty for as little as a couple of days, and therefore the main focus is on long term empty homes that are empty for 6 months plus. The Council therefore endorses the current approach to empty homes which includes the channelling of funding into the setting up of a lettings agency that will have a very practical and direct impact on the number of long term empty homes and a review of the need for recruitment to the post of Empty Homes Officer.

5. Council recognises that neighbouring local authorities may have had success with Empty Homes Officers, including Bristol City Council but notes that Wiltshire contains the second highest number of homes of any council in the South West, 198,963 (ONS Mar 2009) and this is followed by Bristol with 183,843 (ONS Mar 2009). The Council notes that Wiltshire has fewer long term empty homes than Bristol, 0.85% as compared to Bristol’s 1.03% and that past work on empty homes has put Wiltshire in a slightly better position than Bristol.

6. Council therefore welcomes the action being taken to minimise the numbers of empty homes and notes that these compare well with the national and regional averages and performance with other large authorities but asks the Deputy Leader to investigate all options for ensuring that unused houses continue to be brought back into the market as soon as possible, by utilising the funding already allocated including

             i.          developing a lettings agency that can bring private sector homes back into use by making them available to homeless people and others from Homes 4 Wiltshire

            ii.          exploring the financial incentives that can be made available to landlords who are prepared to bring back into use a home that can be committed to a housing applicant for a specified number of years

           iii.          conducting a review of the priorities for the post of Empty Homes Officer and an appointment will be made by the end of November 2011.