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

Tenancy Strategy8.8 The analysis of equality impacts of the adoption of the TenancyStrategy on protected groups as defined by the Act shows that:1. There are likely to be positive impacts on age; disability protectedgroups. These may arise from older people and disabled peoplecontinuing to be granted ‘lifetime’ tenancies as opposed to fixed termtenancies for other need groups.2. There are likely to be negative impacts on age; disability; pregnancyand maternity and race protected groups. These may arise fromgranting fixed term tenancies and also charging affordable rents whichare closer to market rent (as opposed to target social rent) for youngerpeople and can be mitigated for certain groups (such as care leavers)but cannot be mitigated for any other protected groups because of theCouncil’s commitment to adopting fixed term tenancies. Adopting suchtenancies does not preclude tenancies being renewed if tenancyconditions are met.Homelessness Strategy8.9 The analysis of equality impacts of the adoption of the HomelessnessStrategy on protected groups as defined in the Act show that:Conclusion1. There are likely to be positive impacts on the age; disability;marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; sex protectedgroups. These may arise from the adoption of a proactivehomelessness strategy which is focused on preventative actions and aHousing Allocation Scheme that centres on applicants meeting one ormore of the reasonable preference criteria.2. There are likely to be negative impacts on age; race protectedgroups. These impacts may arise from the Council’s intention to useprivate rented accommodation to discharge its homeless duties. It istherefore likely to have a high impact on these protected groups. Theseimpacts can be mitigated by ensuring that the private rented housingmeets CLG homelessness guidance regarding suitability and qualitygrounds as set out in statutory regulations which have yet to bepublished. The impact of placing applicants from protected groups inthe private rented sector itself cannot be mitigated because thesegroups are highly represented amongst the current cohorts ofhomeless people.8.10 Members are advised that there are likely to be positive and negativeimpacts following the adoption and implementation of the housingstrategy documents described above. The expected impacts may notPage 357