Agenda item

The Chairman invited Graham Hogg, Director of Housing at Wiltshire Council, to give a presentation on Housing issues in Salisbury.

The Council’s housing service provided more than just social housing; other teams included home energy efficiency, housing strategy, private housing liaison, and support to disabled people, such as grants for facilities. 

Homelessness – Graham explained that work in this area focussed on preventing homelessness, by delivering options and alternatives to people becoming homeless.  This could involve working with tenants to prioritise household budgets to cover rent, or mediation between teenagers and parents to avoid young people leaving home.  Work was also undertaken to prevent victims of domestic abuse from having to leave their homes, potentially by installing a secure “sanctuary room” with a telephone link in case of a threat to their safety.  It was noted that a high proportion of Wiltshire homeless persons were in the southern part of the county, although Graham was pleased to report that in April 2009 the Council had eliminated use of Bed and Breakfast as temporary accommodation, and had reduced the overall number of households in temporary accommodation.

Homes 4 Wiltshire – The service for allocation of social housing was a unique partnership of 31 Housing Associations and Wiltshire Council.  The process was currently based on choice, whereby all vacant properties were listed and published each week.  Anyone on the housing list could register their interest for suitable properties, and applicants would be prioritised based on their need.  However, the government had recently announced proposals to permit changes to the current system.

Graham commented that there were 12,000 households on the list, approximately half of which were in the “bronze” (lowest) category of need.  Each week, around 45 properties became available across Wiltshire.

New Homes – Wiltshire Council was currently in the top ten councils in the UK for providing new social housing, with approximately 600 units becoming available in the last year.  This had been achieved through working with the Housing Associations, and with funding from private developers.

The Chairman thanked Graham for the presentation, and sought questions and comments from the floor:

• It was noted that the Planning Committee always sought to ensure mixed tenure of social and private housing in new developments.

• In response to a question regarding Anti-social behaviour, Graham reported that Housing Associations had procedures to evict tenants who regularly caused anti-social behaviour.  In addition, the government was proposing to introduce a new mandatory grounds for eviction on this basis.

• Responding to a question on the income received from rents, Graham clarified that this was around £24 million per year, of which £8 million had to be paid to the government as “negative subsidy”.  However, the subsidy system would end in around 12 months, with Councils being given the option to take out a loan to buy their way out of the subsidy.   This may permit further capital investment in more social housing stock.

• Graham noted that empty houses were primarily a private sector issue, as Housing Associations and council housing was turned around fairly efficiently.  The Chairman requested that anyone aware of an empty property should report it to their local Councillor

• 95% of the 12,000 households registered on the Housing list, were people with a local connection to Wiltshire.  The remainder consisted largely of people who were originally from Wiltshire and who wanted to move back.  Councillors commented that this fact should be publicised to address the perception that a large amount of social housing was taken up by people moving in from outside Wiltshire.

• In relation to tenants with alcohol abuse problems, Graham commented that in general, support could only be provided to those who sought help.  There was also an element of reliance on the voluntary sector in relation to this issue.

• Graham reported that it was hoped that new Council homes would be provided in Pembroke Road; this was to be funded direct from Wiltshire Council.

It was suggested that Graham be invited back to a future meeting of the Area Board, to update on some of the proposed changes to the applications process, and also to the negative subsidy arrangements, once it was known how these would operate in future.