Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendations.

Councillor Bibby introduced the report and explained that Welsh Government (WG) required that each Local Authority (LA) develop a Housing Needs Prospectus to be updated on an annual basis.

The Chief Officer (Housing and Communities) reported that the current prospectus had been reviewed and an updated draft developed for approval. The format and content had not changed significantly to alter the direction of travel set out in last year’s prospectus. The changes identified in the report reflected the increasing demand for social housing from the housing register and homelessness duties including significantly increased demand for temporary accommodation which was impacting on the homeless prevention team and the Councils revenue budget.

The report provided the annual update on the Council Housing Needs prospectus in order to ensure, that as part of the WG Grant framework, the LA identified their priorities for Social Housing Grant, in addition to providing a clear and concise summary of housing need and demand.

In response to a comment from Councillor Hughes, the Chief Officer (Housing and Communities) explained that further breakdowns on void management were being looked into which would provide further analysis on properties that there was little demand for.

The report had been submitted to Community and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee and there were no comments on the recommendations.  A Task and Finish Group had been established and would report back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in December.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the content of the draft Flintshire Housing Need Prospectus be approved; and

(b)       That it be noted that the Local Housing Strategy 2019-2024 was due for review next year.