A presentation from Rhonda Ward - Head of Adult Care Operations Wiltshire Council which will provide a housing update and an offer to work with the Area Board and the local community, including the parish councils, on the delivery of new housing to meet local needs.
Minutes:
Rhonda Ward - Head of Adult Care Operations, Wiltshire Council gave a presentation that outlined Wiltshire Council’s housing offer for Affordable Housing in the Pewsey community area.
Points made included:
National Policy Context
· Increase owner-occupation including low cost options.
· Make best use of existing social housing stock.
· Reduce burden on public sector (housing benefit bill).
· Increase supply of new homes.
· Promote independent living in the community.
Wiltshire priorities
· Ensuring there are a range of housing options available to meet needs.
· Promoting home ownership housing.
· Enabling provision of homes for the most vulnerable.
· To help people to achieve independence and choice enabling them to live at home for longer.
· To improve the quality and make best use of existing stock.
Next steps
· Commissioning research at community area level.
· Developing housing strategy & agreeing priorities.
· Work with local communities & partners to understand local need and deliver new homes.
· Consider options to increase choices for those not able to meet needs in open market.
· Respond to national policy changes
Questions raised from the floor included:
Why if there is a surplus housing stock in Wiltshire are local people not being offered these properties, it appears that refugees are being offered them.
Many tenants living in Pewsey would like to move to smaller properties but cannot because suitable smaller properties are being offered to people living outside of the community area.
It was agreed that Rhonda Ward would refer the questions that had been raised to Wiltshire Council officers who could give a full answer and these would be feedback to the Area Board.
The Chairman thanked Rhonda Ward for her presentation.
Affordable Housing Questions & Answers which were raised at the 7 March Pewsey Area Board meeting
1.Why if there is a surplus housing stock in Wiltshire are local people not being offered these properties, it appears that refugees are being offered them.
The homes we have provided for our refugees is accommodation that has been advertised to Wiltshire residents first but has not been allocated due to a lack of interest.
For example since the introduction of the bedroom standard, many of our providers have struggled with allocating 1st and 2nd floor 2 bed properties as these properties have previously been allocated to single and couples with a 1 bed need, which is no longer possible to do as it would be unaffordable to them, and families prefer 2 bed houses with gardens. We also have a number of age designated sheltered properties that are often advertised on a number of occasions before we are able to find a suitable tenant.
2.Many tenants living in Pewsey would like to move to smaller properties but cannot because suitable smaller properties are being offered to people living outside of the community area.
Social housing in Wiltshire is allocated through the councils adopted allocation policy. As explained within the policy in Section 9, all applicants who join the housing register are required to have a local connection to Wiltshire, unless they are part of the local connection exclusion group. Priority will always be given to applicants with a local connection to a town or parish in the first instance
A local connection will be based on the following criteria:-
· A person who is resident in that area. The residency will need to be permanent and have lived in the area 6 months out of the last 12 or 3 years out of the last 5, or
· A person who is in permanent paid employment or has a fixed term contract for a minimum of one year or permanent offer of paid employment in the area, or is self employed and works predominately in the area or
· A person with close family (grand-parents, parents, legal guardian, adult children or brothers and sisters) who have lived in the parish or town for 5 years or longer.
If no applicant can be found who has a local connection to the parish, town or neighbourhood plan area, the second allocation will be to any household with a connection to any surrounding parish or town. If no local connection can be found to the surrounding area then the property will be awarded to the applicant with the highest band and oldest date of application. Any tenant in Pewsey who is currently in social housing and needs to downsize would be eligible to join the register and be considered for any vacancy that meets the households needs. I would therefore encourage those households in Pewsey to make contact with the Homes4wiltshire team to process a housing application