Agenda Reports Pack (Public) 15/10/2012, 19.00 - Meetings ...

1. SUMMARY1.1 Cabinet approved a report on 21 May 2012 to publicly consult on fourrelated housing strategy documents under the generic heading of‘Building a Housing Ladder of Opportunity’. This report seeks approvalfrom Cabinet to formally adopt the four documents followingconsultation and implement the respective actions and policies set outin each.1.2 The over-arching draft document is the Housing Strategy, setting theoverall ‘direction of travel’ to the Council’s future housing approach. Theother three draft documents – Housing Allocation Scheme, TenancyStrategy and Homelessness Strategy – are geared towardsimplementing the changes set out in the Housing Strategy document.More detail on the content and approach is set out below.1.3 The four housing strategy documents were the subject of a consultationprocess. A summary of the online survey and a further summary ofindividual responses are attached as annexes to this report. Thesecomments have been considered and key changes (and other mattersto note) that are proposed to be accepted are set out in Section 4 ofthis report. In summary, there was strong support for the three HousingStrategy objectives:- Deliver economic and housing growth: 65% agreeing compared to18% disagreeing- Tackle economic and social polarisation: 55% agreeing comparedto 20% disagreeing- Manage a better, streamlined service: 59% agreeing compared to22% disagreeing1.4 More detail on consultation responses can be found in Sections 3.6 –3.12 of this report.2. THE FRAMEWORK SET BY THE HOUSING STRATEGY AND HOWTHE OTHER DOCUMENTS FIT TOGETHER2.1 The Housing Strategy is attached as Appendix A. A cross cutting themeof all the Council’s future work on Housing will be our ambition to Builda Housing Ladder of Opportunity. A cross cutting theme of ourhousing approach is to increase home ownership. The Council aims toachieve this in a range of direct ways, such as through the reinvigoratedright to buy to council tenants; increasing discount market saleopportunities in new housing developments; delivering new housingthrough the Local Housing Company; promoting shared ownership andother ‘First Steps’ opportunities such as slivers of equity in Councilhomes. Our broader objective is to treat affordable housing as a valued,integrated and more accessible segment of the housing market, playingPage 341