Agenda item

To receive a report on affordable housing in Selby District.

The Committee received a presentation and report from the Housing Service Manager which updated them on the allocation of housing in the district.

Members noted that the North Yorkshire Home Choice Policy was the Council’s policy used to allocate our council owned housing and linked to the wider sub-regional Housing Strategy and Tenancy Strategy, the Homelessness Strategy and our own Tenancy Policy.

Officers explained that the allocations policy was delivered in partnership with other local authorities and registered providers across North Yorkshire, and was is focused on meeting housing need, making the best use of stock and supporting sustainable tenancies. Choice Based Lettings worked by the public advertisement of all available social housing vacancies, allowing applicants to select the home they were interested in through a bidding process.

The Committee noted that there was a single unified ‘housing register’ that covered the whole partnership area and a single policy for determining eligibility to the register and/or determining the level of priority of applicants. The prioritisation of bids for advertised properties was on the basis of priority banding, with bids for properties ranked in order of Housing Need (e.g. priority banding); local connection to the partnership area; household size and time waiting. Councils consulted with housing associations that they had nomination agreements with over new schemes or major changes in policy, and summaries of the allocation scheme had to be published.

Members acknowledged that the policy made it clear that some landlords could restrict who was eligible to bid on some properties; any such restrictions were stated in the advert. There were a number of restrictions, including specially adapted properties for those with an identified physical disability or a mobility need, Section 106 (S106) properties where there was a legal agreement between Local Authorities and developers linked to planning permissions and applicants meeting specific conditions, minimum age criteria, rural area restrictions to applicants with a local connection to a parish, sensitive lets where a landlord could manage specific local housing issues and carry out additional checks on applicants, local letting initiatives that enabled landlords to allocate particular accommodation to people of a particular description, and priority band restrictions in local authority areas of high demand.

The Committee understood that in some cases, properties could not be advertised but offered directly to an applicant; any  such direct offers were approved by a senior manager and were monitored by the North Yorkshire Home Choice Partnership Board on a quarterly basis.

Members had previously expressed concerns around inward migration; as such, Officers acknowledged the importance of the needs of Selby district residents being met and provided feedback on the use of the rural area restrictions. 

Officers gave a presentation which explained further the demand for affordable housing and homelessness across Selby district, affordable housing delivery, the acquisition of empty homes and Right to buy and buy backs, the allocation of affordable housing through North Yorkshire Home Choice, local lettings and the rural area restrictions and the new Affordable Housing Delivery Strategy timeline.

Members were pleased to note that a new Affordable Housing Development Strategy was currently being developed and would be brought to Policy Review Committee for consultation in due course.

The Committee asked a number of questions regarding housing around variations to S106 Agreements and comments on planning applications from the Housing Team, the advertising of rural area restrictions, the future of the Home Choice scheme once York City Council had left and the acquisition of empty homes. Officers confirmed that seven empty homes had been acquired by the Council so far, and that there was a list of around 20 to 30 properties that were long term empty which the Council had identified.

The Committee asked that an update report on empty homes be brought back to them at a future meeting.

RESOLVED:

To note the report and presentation of the Housing Service Manager and asked that an update report on empty homes in the district be brought back to a future meeting of the Committee.