Agenda item

The Housing Overview & Scrutiny Committee support the revised Private Sector Housing Renewal & Improvement Policy, including the proposal to introduce equity loans and repayment loans at an interest rate of 4% for the first year.

The Director of Community Services introduced the report to seek the support of Housing Overview & Scrutiny Committee for a revised Private Sector Housing Renewal & Improvement Policy including the proposal to introduce equity loans and also repayment loans at an interest rate of 4% for the first year. 

                        He detailed the background to the report and explained that the current policy had been implemented on 1 April 2010.  The format of the new policy had been substantially altered to make it easier to read and understand and also to minimise duplication which existed within the previous policy.  The existing policy had moved the Council from providing traditional housing grants, to a system of interest free loans for all assistance, with the exception of Disabled Facilities Grant which remained mandatory;paragraph 2.04 detailed the number of loans which had been granted and the value of those loans.  Approval was given to tender for a suitably qualified organisation to manage a portfolio of interest bearing and equity loans last year.  The successful organisation which won the tender was Street UK Ltd.  A Task and Finish Group was formed and a series of meetings were held and the valuable contributions from the group contributed to the formation of this draft Policy. 

The Director detailed the four themes which the policy centred around and he explained that the review of the existing policy identified that there were gaps in provision which existed and these were detailed in the report.  Discussions had been held with Street UK Ltd and they had recommended that interest rates for the repayment loans be set at 4%.  On the issue of Empty Homes Support, the Director explained that Welsh Government had committed £10m to an empty homes recyclable loan fund.  The fund would provide interest free loans to property owners who wished to renovate an empty property for the purpose of rent or sale; £2.4m had been allocated to the North Wales authorities. 

                        Councillor A.M. Halford commented on the work which had been undertaken but said that she did not feel that the Policy was easier to read and understand.  She highlighted page 23 in particular where it appeared that the wording had been duplicated and commented on the final sentence at the bottom of the page where it was reported that the loan had been suspended.  In response the Housing Renewal Manager said that he had felt that a table form for the wording was more effective and that summary leaflets were to be produced for each category in addition to the policy document.  He confirmed that the Council’s empty homes loan was suspended until such time as the additional resources from the WG houses into homes initiative were spent.  A failure to spend this money could result in Flintshire losing out.  However, the suspended loan had to be included within the Policy document to prevent the need to return to Cabinet at a later date to reintroduce that particular loan. 

            Following questions from Councillor G. Hardcastle on Street UK and Independent Financial Advisors, the Housing Renewal Manager said that 57 English authorities used Street UK Ltd and with the inclusion of Flintshire, Denbighshire and Gwynedd Councils, this brought the total up to 60.  He added that on the issue of Independent Financial Advisors, there was an initial cost for residents but experience had shown that there had only been a 30% take up of this facility.  A loan administrator who operated in Wales had not bid for the contract.

RESOLVED:

The Housing Overview & Scrutiny Committee support the revised Private Sector Housing Renewal & Improvement Policy, including the proposal to introduce equity loans and repayment loans at an interest rate of 4% for the first year.