Issue - meetings

(a)       That the aspirations for developing the housing service be supported;

(b)       That the development of proposals to establish a housing company for consideration at a future Cabinet meeting be supported; and   

(c)        That a workshop be arranged to provide additional information on the proposals and that all Members be invited.         

The Head of Housing introduced a report to explain potential long term strategic aspirations for housing provision in Flintshire and to seek support in principle to the establishment of a housing company that could be instrumental in delivering this vision. 

The Council had a range of housing services for which there had been positive improvement at a time when residents of the County were facing increasing difficulty in accessing affordable housing due to economic pressures, welfare reform and the challenges in accessing mortgage finance.  The number of new homes being developed to meet emerging needs had been stagnant for the last few years despite planning approvals being provided and land being available for development.  Officers, with the support of Senior Members, were working on a number of new initiatives to meet local needs and grow the Council’s service delivery offer and had found that a number of new opportunities could not be taken forward satisfactorily due to the constraints placed on the Council through its current arrangements for service delivery.  The Head of Housing detailed the potential service developments which included:-

• private sector leasing – exploring leasing options with private landlords but there were currently limits on the tenancies the Council could offer
• elderly homes owners who were prevented from accessing more suitable accommodation (for health reasons) as they received insufficient priority on the Council’s waiting list 
• regeneration schemes – when looking at homes to be developed, the Council wanted to be able to offer assured rather than secure tenancies but again there were limits on the tenancies that could currently be offered
• gifted units – the benefit of this arrangement was that the Council had properties it could let to meet local needs for social and affordable housing

Discussions had been undertaken with colleagues from Legal and independent advice had been sought and one possible way to deliver several of these aspirations would be to establish a housing company, which was detailed in paragraph 3.09. 

            The Head of Legal and Democratic Services said that there were implications to setting up a housing company but added that once the issues raised had been addressed and the Council was satisfied with the level of protection and flexibility it provided, there was no reason it could not be undertaken. 

            Councillor Peter Curtis queried what would happen if a property was leased from an elderly person and they were re-housed and their property was let but the elderly person then passed away.  He also said that landlords would prefer to have a say of who their property was let to and felt that the proposals were a good idea but raised concern about possible problems.  In response, the Head of Legal and Democratic Services said that mechanisms would need to be in place to bring the tenancy to an end if the homeowner passed away and the family wanted to sell the property.  He said that the provision of a management company would allow for greater flexibility to do this than was currently  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19