Agenda item

S Whelan introduced the item to members and ran through the key aspects of the report. The HPA sets out the increased responsibility of the Council with regards to producing a brownfield land registry, land demand and permission in principle. The housing aspects of the Act include a potential decrease in affordable housing with an increase in homelessness and councils will be forced to sell off their high value properties. The Welfare Reform Act states there must be a 1% rent reduction every year for the next four years and it is predicted to have a £30 million impact on budgets and in 2020, it will affect the amount of money available for new build properties. On 29^th November 2016, this report went to Cabinet who noted the financial impact it would have on the year 2017/18 and agreed not to change policy on starter homes until further regulations are provided by central government.
The brownfield land registry will have a two year staffing cost attached. It is hoped that the register will be set up in 2017-19 and this register will include all sites capable of delivering five or more units.
The welfare benefit cap will start at households earning £30,000 or more per annum and this leaves a lot of unknowns as the regulations from government are still awaited.
The table in the report sets out the Act in more detail in seven parts. Part one deals with starter homes. These will be offered to people under the age of 40 with a 20% discount on homes under £250,000 however there are rumours that this could change. Part two-five deals with housing and regulations of landlords. Part six deals with planning policies – there is a threat from government that private companies may be able to process development management applications.
The Housing White Paper should be implemented by the March budget.

Questions and answers

Councillor Hicks asked if Pay to Stay no longer applied.
S Whelan said that government regulations were needed to clarify and there are rumours that starter homes could change significantly.

Councillor Hicks asked if this could be presented back to committee when government had finalised the Act.
S Whelan said yes.

Councillor Anderson congratulated officers on keeping track on the Act especially as it hasn’t been dealt with via a White Paper and it’s all very confusing. A Stratgeic Housing Land Assessment was completed a few years ago and would this be used as a starting point for the brownfield land register.
C Taylor said there had already been discussions about using this as a starting point. However, this did not include smaller sites.

Councillor Riddick said he did not understand how a 1% rent reduction could lead to an increase in homelessness. Surely a rent reduction would mean rent would be more affordable.
S Whelan said the 1% rent reduction along will a benefit cap on those earning over £30,000 will be a real squeeze on households.
Councillor Hicks asked if this include private rent.
S Whelan said yes.

Councillor Anderson asked Councillor Marshall if she could remember when she was involved in housing if the increase in homelessness was due to the right to buy. He said he thought Housing Association tenants had always had the right to buy.
Councillor Marshall said they haven’t always been able to but was unsure when it started.
Councillor Hicks suggested that it was the discount offered that had changed, not the ability to have the right to buy.
Councillor Marshall said that Pay to Stay had not gone away but it was still very unclear on when it would be introduced.

Outcome

That the Strategic Planning and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee note the report and thank officers for their hard work on writing the report and keeping track of difficult government legislation.