Report of the Strategic Director (Growth & Development)

Following the implementation of the revised Manchester City Council Part VI Scheme for the Allocation of Social Housing on 3^rd November 2020, there is a risk that new social housing developments could find significant numbers of potential tenants with support needs and concentrating dependency in a very localised area.

In order to create genuinely mixed communities in new build developments and enabling local people the opportunity to get a new local home it is necessary to put in place a strategic response in the form of a New Build Local Lettings Policy (LLP) for all new developments of social homes to be let at social or affordable rent.

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) which proposed a strategic response in the form of a New Build Local Lettings Policy (LLP) for all new developments of social homes to be let at social or affordable rent.

The Committee was invited to comment on the report prior to its submission to the Executive.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• Background information;
• Developing sustainable communities;
• The proposed New Build Local Lettings Policy, which would apply only to “general needs” properties at first let;
• The effect of restricted lettings; and
• The equalities impact of the policy.

Key points and queries that arose from the Committee’s discussions included:

• To welcome the report and recognise the important issues it addressed;
• That the name might suggest that it applied to all new build properties;
• Had the percentage allocated to each of the three categories been modelled to check it met the needs of the housing register; and
• Why was living in an adjacent ward taken into account under criteria (i) in the second category but adjacent wards were not taken into account under the other criteria in this category.

The Head of Strategic Housing reported that it was not possible to reflect the numbers on the waiting list.  He explained that this policy was an attempt to deal with the new social housing which was becoming available and that the split between the three categories had been agreed with Ward Councillors for Miles Platting and Newton Health, where new social housing had been built.  He informed Members that the purpose of this policy was to create a standard lettings policy that could be used for any new build social housing but that it could be adapted for new developments in particular areas, where this was agreed with local Ward Councillors, including amending the criteria in relation to adjacent wards.  A Member commented that it would be useful to have a data-informed approach to the split between the three categories.  The Head of Strategic Housing stated that he would look into this.  He explained that in 2020 any priority relating to working households had been removed from social housing allocation but that a number of Members had highlighted the importance of mixed communities, including working households, leading to the proposal for 50% of lettings in new builds to be allocated to working households.

The Executive Member for Housing and Development reported that it was useful to have this standard policy as a baseline but that it could be tailored for individual developments, recognising that needs varied across the city.

The Chair commented that it was not clear from the report that this was a standard template which could be adapted for different developments in different parts of the city and suggested that this be made clearer in the report before it was submitted to the Executive.

Decisions

To commend the New Build Local Lettings Policy to the Executive, subject to:

• The information submitted to the Executive providing greater clarity that this is a standard template and that the allocation policy can be adapted for individual developments.
• Improved quantitative information being provided to the Executive when they consider this item.

[Councillor Richards declared a personal and prejudicial interest, having been involved in the development of this policy when she was an Executive Member and left the room for this item.]