Issue - meetings

(a)       That the new allocations policy for Flintshire County Council be supported;

(b)       That the continued involvement in the regional project and the contribution of £10,000 in 2014-15 for the Regional Project Officer post be supported;

(c)        That the phased implementation of the new allocations policy and register in Flintshire as detailed in the project plan be supported;

(d)       That the Committee receive an update report in September 2014; and

(e)       That the comments made in relation to people who have left the armed forces under Discharge as of Right be conveyed to the Steering Group.  

The Community Support Services Manager introduced the report to update Members on the development of the Single Access Route to Housing (SARTH) Project across the North East Wales sub region and to seek support to continue with the project and implement the policy locally. 

She detailed the background to the report, explaining that in 2011, the Welsh Government supported a project to explore the options for a sub regional common housing register and policy.  In November 2012, Cabinet gave approval for Flintshire to put the policy out to public consultation.  Members were invited to attend a workshop in April 2013 as part of that consultation and an update report had been circulated to Members in July 2013 providing feedback on the consultation results.  The overall aim of the SARTH was to simplify access to a range of affordable housing options which was transparent, legal, efficient and accessible to all sections of the community.  From a customer perspective, the policy would result in a simpler scheme than the current points based scheme and applicants would be given reasonable preference determined by a banding scheme which listed people in date order of their application within each band; the categories for reasonable preference were detailed in the report.  The Community Support Services Manager explained that applicants who were not in the categories entitled to reasonable preference would not be given any priority in the banding scheme and would not be recorded on the housing register, however advice and assistance would be provided to assist those applicants in finding affordable housing that met their needs. 

On the issue of a regional policy and register, the Community Support Services Manager explained that the development of a regional register to support the policy was more complex and required an IT system to be purchased or developed.  Some work had been carried out to consider the most appropriate IT solution to support the policy but there had been no financial commitment from all partners to contribute to a regional system at this time.  Flintshire County Council was committed to continuing with the regional project but a local register would support local service delivery which was closely aligned to the existing housing options teams.  It had taken the step towards delivering the enhanced service by piloting a Central Housing Register Team.  The proposal was that the Central Housing Register Team and the Housing Options Team join to form a ‘Housing Solutions Model’ which would deal with all requests for housing by assessing an individual’s requirements and needs, and advising them on the most suitable option.  The Community Support Services Manager explained that from 2015, the Local Authority would have a duty to provide full advice and assistance to all those who approached the Council in housing need.  This early work would assist Flintshire County Council to manage the additional burden of the legislation change without needing to invest in additional staff resources. 

A review of the Medical Panel had suggested that lower level issues be assessed by the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33