Agenda item

Kate Bell, Housing Strategy Officer:

a.    presented a report which advised the Policy Scrutiny Committee of the results of the external consultation on the draft Housing Strategy 2020-25.

b.    reported that the consultation for the draft Housing Strategy was launched on 26 October 2020, inviting comments by 11 December 2020.

c.    reported that feedback had been very positive regarding the detailed evidence base within the draft Housing Strategy and the range of actions proposed to meet Lincoln’s housing need over the next five years.

d.    highlighted that specific areas commented on as part of responses received had focussed on the following:

·         the provision of student accommodation;

·         city centre living and mixed use residential areas;

·         community land trusts;

·         private rental accommodation.

e.    invited members’ comments and questions.

Comment: A concern raised at the Lincoln Tenants’ Panel meeting was the effect allocating housing to the homeless and rough sleeping was having to those on waiting lists for housing in the city.

Response: The Council had a duty of care to any person who presented themselves as homeless.

Question: When working with Housing Associations, did the City Council take advantage of nominations rights and was there any feedback in that respect?

Response: The Council did actively encourage use of nominations rights and would be taking advantage of this. Affordable and social housing were scarce resources so it was important to make the best use of them in the city.

Question: Were developers being encouraged to provide opportunities for apprenticeships as part of procurement agreements with the Council?

Response: On Council-owned land and developments managed by the City Council it was much easier to provide such opportunities. One of the obstacles was the longevity required as part of an apprenticeship scheme, which the nature of work associated with developments could not always facilitate.

Question: There appeared to be a shortage of three and four bedroomed properties in the city in terms of affordable and social housing stock. How many more of these properties were expected to be delivered in the city over the next five years?

Response: The specific number of two, three and four bedroomed properties scheduled for delivery in the city was set out in the Strategy, supported by specific demand for each size of property.

Question: What information was being collected via Hometrack and how would this information be used?

Response: Hometrack would provide the Council with details on private sector rents in specific areas and track respective movements. This would provide evidence to substantiate rent increases and decreases and provided an important evidence base for the Council to work with.

Question: Did any consideration go into a person’s circumstances and the physical location of their support network, for example, when offered housing? This related to an example whereby a resident was offered housing in the north of the city when their support network was located in the south of the city.

Response: This was a very difficult issue to balance and the Council was always bound by what accommodation was available at the time. With families, use of temporary accommodation was not appropriate unless it was an emergency, which also presented some challenges. There had been an increase in people presenting themselves as homeless given the unprecedented nature of the current circumstances and specific ‘next steps’ accommodation was being developed to accommodate these individuals. These were purpose built, one-bedroomed, facilities. People in need of housing would always be matched to the most appropriate use but, given the restrictions in respect of stock in the city, this was challenging.

Comment: Affordable housing rents were dictated by private sector rents as opposed to social housing, however, it was due to rent increases in the private sector that led people to present themselves as homeless in some cases.

Response: It was acknowledged that affordable rents were linked to the private rental sector, whereas social rents were prescribed. Other than the amount of rent paid, the conditions of a tenancy agreement would be exactly the same for a tenant in an affordable rented property or socially rented property.

Comment: The Allocations Policy should include a condition that a person could demonstrate an association with the city within a two year period to qualify for a council house. The Tenants’ Panel was concerned that people who, for example, ‘sofa-surfed’ in the city and had been residents of the city all their lives were on waiting lists for long periods of time, whereas people outside of the city could present themselves as homeless and be offered accommodation. The city had significant resources available to support homeless people, rough sleepers and some of the conditions associated with people who found themselves in these situations, which made Lincoln attractive to them.

Response: The Council had duties under legislation to respond to people who presented themselves as homeless. However, accommodation offered to these people was temporary and not on the basis of a full-time tenancy, which would lessen the impact on those people included on the Council’s wait list for housing. Allocations would always be made on the most appropriate type of accommodation for a person’s circumstances.

Question: There had been instances whereby vacant flats had been used to accommodate homeless people, which were located in or around buildings where the elderly or vulnerable lived. Unfortunately cases of anti-social behaviour had been reported as a result of the allocation. Could more consideration be given to those properties used to accommodate the homeless in this respect and where they were located, taking into consideration the nature of people already living there, even given the short-term nature of the tenancy?

Response: 15 next step properties would be funded to provide this short-term provision which focussed on helping people understand how to live independently.  The example referred to above must have been an older allocation on the system, which was not part of this new scheme. It was acknowledged that further consideration should be given to existing tenants and residents to avoid problems such as those put forward in the example.

Comment: The provision of purpose built student accommodation was supported, which would have a knock on effect on the private rented sector in some areas and free up properties that had been houses in multiple occupation for some time. It was hoped that this would assist in rents being reduced in Lincoln.

Response: Projections from the University of Lincoln were that it did not anticipate any further growth apart from the Medical School, with purpose built accommodation for students generating some movement in terms of those students in the second and third years of University as opposed to the first year who traditionally lived in student accommodation. There was a perception that a lot of student accommodation in the city, particularly newly built units, were empty and that there was not enough demand. It was reported that this accommodation had specifically been designed for students in their second and third years so would start to be used during the next academic year.