Housing Strategy - Claire Linnane, Housing Strategy & Partnerships Manager
Proposed new homes – David Markham, Head of Major Works
Minutes:
Southwark Housing Strategy to 2043
Claire Linane, Housing Strategy and Partnerships Manager presented.
Housing strategy vision
Principle 1 - delivering new homes - key actions:
- 11,000 new council homes by 2043 (1,500 by 2018) and 100s more shared ownership (including intermediate)
- 20,000 net new homes in the next 10 years of which 7,000 will be affordable homes, ensuring these will be genuinely affordable to our residents
- Unlocking a number of housing sites in key locations across Southwark such as Canada Water and Old Kent Road
- Working in partnership to develop good quality, well-managed privately owned and rented homes.
Principle 2 – improving housing quality – key actions:
- Providing all council homes with a quality kitchen and bathroom. Along with other improvement work to make homes fully fit for years to come
- Ensuring all homes are built to the highest standards of quality and design
- Introducing a private licensing scheme for private landlords in the centre of the borough in 2015, using the Southwark rental standard.
Principle 3 – empowering residents – key actions:
- Establishing a fund for residents to carry out their own minor repairs and put in place an independent leasehold / freehold management company so people can make independent representations to the council when quality falls short
- Rewarding resident contributions and promoting good neighbourliness through the housing heroes programme alongside establishing a strategic tenant federation to support tenant involvement and share good practice across all tenures
- Providing a menu of options to enable all residents to participate in decisions about management of their housing, whatever their time constraints.
Principle 4 – being more than a landlord – key actions:
- Enabling older people and people with disabilities to live independently in their communities by building lifetime homes, extra care sheltered housing, exploring other specialist housing options, and adapting properties
- Helping those that wanted to downsize to a smaller home through schemes such as Smart move and homeswaps
- Providing quick and easy access to quality financial and debt advice, and working with schools to engage young people early to face the realities of finding a home in London
- Providing tenancy sustainment services to support people at risk of losing their homes.
For more information – www.southwark.gov.uk/housing strategy
A Strategy to deliver 11,000 new council homes
Presentation by David Markham, Head of Major Works and New Homes Delivery.
The Direct Housing delivery programme was set up to develop 1,000 new council homes by 2020 using the affordable housing fund (in-lieu payments and retained right-to-buy receipts). Now the intention is to build a further 10,000 over the next 30 years, with 1,500 by 2018.
Guiding Principles:
- Ensure the affordable housing fund is used towards appropriate affordable housing provision.
- Build the right kind of affordable homes to meet a range of priority needs, at good value – both build cost and running cost.
- Build high quality and well integrated homes geared to their management and maintenance as long term assets.
- Develop, primarily, on council owned land to maximise value for money.
- Make 50% of the new rental homes in each development available to tenants living on an estate within an agreed boundary.
Phase One:
- Project management team and architects appointed in 2013.
- Planning consent for all schemes
- Willow Walk on site and due to complete in March 2015.
- Enabling works undertaken on remaining phase one sites, with main work due to commence beginning of 2015 on the remaining sites.
- Most will complete by March 2016.
Phase Two:
- 5 Capacity studies completed for phase 2 with the remaining sites underway.
- Consultation with residents in early 2015.
Hidden Homes Programme:
- Aim was to create new residential homes from redundant spaces on existing housing estates. Types of sites included in the programme are disused nurseries, laundries, pram or store sheds, redundant community halls, ex rent offices and loft or drying rooms.
- Delivery would be in conjunction with major investment works to blocks or individually through Saltash, one of the council’s housing partner contractors.
- Progress: 20 units produced, ranging from 1 to 5 bedrooms.
- All new homes provided through this programme would be let to a household on the housing register.
Private Rented Sector Property
Presentation by John Daley, Private Sector Housing Licensing Manager
- Southwark had about 27,500 private rental properties which accommodate about one quarter of all residents in the borough.
- The market was suffering from an imbalance in supply and demand which means a landlord could let virtually anything.
- Properties were often unsafe, overcrowded and poorly managed with landlords exploiting tenants. Standards were slipping and the density of occupation was increasing.
- The proposal was to licence all HMOs (houses in multiple occupancy) in the borough, about 10,000, as well as about 1,200 single family dwellings.
- Licensing would help to reduce anti-social behaviour, property condition and safety. It would also target the bad landlords in the borough.
Consultation on the proposals would run until 14 March 2015.
In response to questions on the three presentations, the following points were made:
- All new council homes for rent would be at target social rent.
- There were about 600 empty homes in Southwark. Some were on the Aylesbury Estate and some were empty due to the death of the tenant. For the remainder, the maximum council tax was charged, but the number of empty homes in the borough was not a huge problem.
The chair thanked officers for their presentations.