Report of the Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration

This report sets out proposed new affordable housing policies for the Council.

The Committee considered a report of the Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration, which set out proposed new affordable housing policies for the Council.

The Executive Member referred to the main points and themes within the report which included:-

·                The affordable housing context for the City;

·                The challenges the Council’s affordable housing policy needed to address;

·                The opportunities that were available to the Council to invest in and deliver more housing;

·                An overview of funding new affordable homes;

·                A range of policy ideas proposed to deliver a step change in the number and tenure of affordable homes being built across the City;

·                The additional resources needed by the Council to deliver the proposed policy ideas;

·                Associated risks affecting Manchester’s affordable housing supply;

·                Other considerations that would be required to be taken into consideration in shaping and taking forward these policies; and

·                Next steps.

The Committee had been invited to comment on the report prior to its submission to the Executive on 12 December 2018.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committees discussions were:-

·                The was overwhelming support from Members in relation to the proposed polices;

·                It was felt that the good collaborative work with Registered Providers needed to continue in order to deliver suitable social rented properties;

·                It was hoped that the proposed establishment of new vehicles to enable residents to own their own homes would be fast tracked into a reality;

·                What was being done to avoid the stigmatization of Housing Affordability Zones as being referred to as new ‘council estates’:

·                Would it be possible to commit to building more Council homes than what was being lost through Right to Buy;

·                Consideration needed to be given to the design of future properties to ensure that these were zero carbon developments;

·                Would the proposal to unlock smaller sites and developments within wards across the city to develop a local strategy and solution to positively encourage a range of tenants to downsize not conflict with the priorities of other Executive Members and the use of that land;

·                There was a need to address the number of Council homes being sold under Right to Buy before new Council houses were built;

·                Reassurance was sought that older people and those who were vulnerable would not be pressured into downsizing their council properties

·                It was felt that the proposed policy in relation to community housing development should not be restricted to just three pilot areas, and it should also offered to those areas and communities that wanted this type of development;

·                What were the timescales for the finance and legal considerations of the policy proposals to be taken into account;

·                How would the Council deliver the proposed 3000 new homes if the Total debt cap was not lifted;

·                How would the proposal to bring the HRA back into balance interact with the proposed policies;

·                Had a team been identified to undertake the feasibility study of housing in the city centre and if so what progress had been made; and

·                Was it envisaged that there would be a net gain in social housing as part of the proposed policies.

The Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration welcomed the support from the Committee and thanked all the Members who had been involved in developing the proposed policies and agreed that continued collaboration with Registered Providers, both existing and new, was key as they played an important role within neighbourhoods and local communities.  She commented that the Council had committed to being a zero carbon organisation by 2038 and that a zero carbon approach to future housing development would be key to this but also there was also a need to address this within the Council’s existing housing stock.

The Executive Member explained that there was a clear approach to the development of the Housing Affordability Zones which was about building mixed and sustainable communities, rather than large single tenure developments.  She advised that it was her ambition for the Council to be able to get to a point where it had a net gain in the number of Council homes it was building within the next 10 years.

The Executive Member commented that she was passionate about community led housing and would welcome working with community groups across the city that were interested in producing these type of developments in order to do as much as was possible to support.  She explained that there was ongoing discussions with other Executive Members around the prioritisation of use of council land assets, and reassured the Committee that the report was clear as to what she felt the prioritisation of the assets should be used for.  She agreed with the comments around addressing the sale of Council homes under Right to Buy and was exploring how the Council could take council house building outside of the Right to Buy but this needed further development

The Executive Member reassured the Committee that the downsizing of residents in Council homes needed to be led by the needs of older people but acknowledged that there as an opportunity to offer a better fit for residents within the Council’s existing housing stock.

The Executive Member advised that the financial and legal considerations would be taken over the forthcoming months and a report was due to be submitted to the Executive on this in February 2019. 

The Director of Housing and Residential Growth advised that an Action Plan for the tackling HRA deficit was in process and more detailed work would be undertaken and reported back through Scrutiny in February/March 2019.  He also advised that to replace the loss of Right to Buy social rented properties solely with new social rented properties would be unaffordable within the current constraints of the HRA. 

The Executive Member advised that she would provide more detail to City Centre Councillors on the proposed feasibility study of housing in the city centre.  The Director of Housing and Regeneration commented that a review of the Total debt cap would take place in 2020 by Government.  Currently the Council had opened discussions with Homes England around a case to Government about the importance of the proposed policies which presented ambitious plans for housing development.

Decision:

The Committee:-

(1)          Welcomes and fully supports the proposed policies outlined by the Executive Member;

(2)          Endorses the recommendations contained within the report that the Executive:-

·           endorse the affordable housing policy proposals as set out in section 5 of the report; and

·           note that officers will consider the financial and legal consequences of these policy proposals and report back to Executive in early 2019

(3)          Requests that the report on  financial and legal consequences of these policy proposals is submitted to the Scrutiny Committee prior to its consideration by the Executive; and

(4)          Requests more detail be provided to all Committee Members on the proposed feasibility study of housing in the city centre.