To consider a presentation giving an overview of planned development of a new Housing Allocations Policy for West Northamptonshire.
Decision:
RESOLVED: That the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee
a) Recommended that work to develop the new Housing Allocations Policy explores the potential for West Northamptonshire Council to apply a broader definition of overcrowding than the statutory definition.
b) Recommended that the relevant successor Overview and Scrutiny committee agrees to carry out pre-decision scrutiny of the draft Housing Allocations Policy.
Minutes:
The Assistant Director Housing and Communities advised that WNC was currently working to develop a single Housing Allocations Policy to replace those of the predecessor authorities. The external consultant supporting this work then presented an overview of the legal requirements and local considerations, highlighting the following points:
· The Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 defined social rented housing as homes for rent, sale and shared ownership at sub market rates for people whose needs could not be met by the commercial housing market.
· All local authorities were required to operate a scheme for the allocation of social rented housing regardless of whether they still owned and managed housing stock. WNC was in the position of having transferred stock in some parts of the authority but not in others.
· Social rented housing could only be allocated to people who had a permanent right to reside in the UK. Local authorities were also required to give priority to specified circumstances, including people who were homeless or who needed to move on medical or welfare grounds.
· Beyond the specified requirements local authorities had the flexibility to determine qualification criteria and arrangements for allocating housing that best suited the area. Arrangements should reflect the priorities of local homelessness and tenancy policies and also provide a seamless service covering both the local authority and social landlords.
· WNC still owned around 11,500 social rented homes, which were managed by Northamptonshire Partnership Homes (NPH). NPH had previously administered housing allocation functions in the former Northampton Borough area, whereas they had been administered in-house in Daventry and South Northamptonshire. South Northamptonshire Council had used a direct matching model whereas the other two predecessor authorities had used a choice-based lettings approach.
· WNC now needed to develop and implement a common authority-wide model that used common processes and IT systems.
· Demand for social rented housing from 1987 to 2022 showed peaks and troughs reflecting changes in national requirements. There was a steady upward trend over recent years but still below the peak level reached in 2008.
· There were around 26,000 social rented homes in West Northamptonshire of which 56 per cent were owned by housing associations. Two providers owned the majority of these.
· There were around 5,000 applicants on the housing register. Just under 50 per cent of these waited under a year to be allocated social rented housing.
· WNC needed to have new Housing Allocations Policy in place by 1 April 2024. Current work should result in the production of a draft scheme that could be scrutinised in June 2023 before seeking Cabinet approval in July for public consultation ahead of a final decision in November 2023.
The Committee considered the presentation. The external consultant provided additional information in response to points raised by members during the course of discussion as follows:
· Members of HM Forces and veterans were given specific additional priority regarding housing allocations by law, whilst local authorities could also choose to add to this. In practice, this involved a relatively small percentage of people on the housing register.
· The full draft pre-consultation Housing Allocations Policy should be available for consideration by Overview and Scrutiny in June 2023.
· Modern social rent housing consisted of general needs housing and supported housing for specific clients such as older people. There were two rates of rent, which were set by a national regulator: social rent at approximately 50 per cent of the market rate and affordable rent at approximately 80 per cent of the market rate. The new WNC Housing Allocations Policy would set out these differences clearly.
· The role of councillors in relation to housing allocations was to set the overall policy and to advocate for their constituents. Councillors were legally prohibited from having a more direct role in decisions or reviews relating to individual allocations. The process was subject to various oversight and complaints processes that should help to support its effectiveness.
· WNC would need to make arrangements for service officers to have access to professional advice on health conditions that could affect priority for housing allocations.
The Assistant Director Housing and Communities provided additional information in response to points raised by members during the course of discussion as follows:
· WNC was using external expertise to provide an independent third-party view about how best to deliver the housing allocations function in future. The external consultant had been engaged through a formal procurement process and offered the best value option.
· When new social housing was built the rent rate was generally set at a level that would pay back the capital cost over a certain period of time. It could be very challenging to change the rate at a later time. West Northamptonshire could benefit from having more properties available at social rent rates but this was challenging to achieve. WNC could consider these kind of issues as part of prospective work on its future tenancy strategy.
· Work on the development of the Housing Allocations Policy would include modelling the impact of different local choices and scenarios.
· WNC was currently operating two different legacy IT systems supporting housing allocation functions. Pragmatically, it was likely that the current work would result in one of these being adopted as the common system. WNC could then consider the best system to meet its overall needs in the longer term.
· The current work by WNC was informed by a good knowledge base, including knowledge of the experience of other local authorities that had made similar changes in the past.
· Service officers would liaise with Democratic Services concerning potential arrangements for scrutiny of the draft Policy ahead of the Cabinet meeting in July. The Cabinet Member for Housing, Culture and Leisure had also proposed that workshop sessions for all councillors on the development of the new Policy could be useful.
Members made the following points during the course of discussion:
· The development of the new Housing Allocations Policy represented a complex piece of work to a relatively tight timescale.
· Overview and Scrutiny should have the opportunity to carry out pre-decision scrutiny of the full draft Policy before it was agreed for public consultation.
· There was a significant issue in Northampton with homes that were occupied at a level that represented overcrowding in practice but was below the statutory definition of overcrowding. The Committee should recommend that work to develop the new Policy should explore the opportunity for WNC to apply a broader definition of overcrowding.
· WNC should adopt systems that would meet both its short- and long term needs as far as possible, to minimise the amount of change experienced by service-users. It was important to recognise that this was a function involving people.
· Councillors would benefit from having clear information about how the new Policy operated to use when helping constituents as part of the communications strategy supporting its implementation.
The Committee considered any recommendations regarding the development of the new Housing Allocations Policy that it wished to make at this point. The Committee was also invited to consider the opportunity to recommend to its successor that it agreed to carry out further scrutiny of this topic.
RESOLVED: That the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee:
a) Recommended that work to develop the new Housing Allocations Policy explores the potential for West Northamptonshire Council to apply a broader definition of overcrowding than the statutory definition.
b) Recommended that the relevant successor Overview and Scrutiny committee agrees to carry out pre-decision scrutiny of the draft Housing Allocations Policy.