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

Building a Housing Ladder of Opportunity - Housing Strategytenure predominates and where housing aspirations and needsare met1.3 Hammersmith & Fulham is a polarised borough has some of the mostdeprived neighbourhoods in the country and is ranked the 13 th mostdeprived borough in London. In 2010, the GLA published the Childrenin Poverty report which shows the proportion of children living infamilies in receipt of out of work benefits or of tax credits where theirreported income is less than 60% of median income. According to thatmeasure, 35% of children in the borough were in poverty in 2008; thisis the 10 th highest in London. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2006report Local Affordability Issues for Working Households Buying theirFirst Home showed that 75% of households with occupants aged under40 who would not normally be able to access social housing, could notafford to buy properties in the lower quarter of house prices in theborough. Through its Building a Housing Ladder of Opportunity workprogramme, the Council intends to give greater housing priority to thiscohort of housing need, who up until now have had minimal access tothe housing ladder.1.4 The Council is committed to ensuring that the borough’s residents havemaximum opportunities to access home ownership opportunities as ameans to alleviating economic and social polarisation. Continuing tofacilitate the delivery of low cost home ownership products, such asdiscount market sale and shared ownership/equity will continue to bepart of the council’s strategic housing approach. Maximisingopportunities from the Government’s reinvigorated right to buyprogramme will be a simple and effective way of tackling economic andsocial polarisation in disadvantaged areas. The Council intends todevelop and implement a ‘slivers of equity’ approach whereby tenantswho wish to exercise their right to buy gain an additional discountthrough meeting their tenancy obligations in an exemplary way as wellas making community contributions as set out in the Housing AllocationScheme. The Council will work with the Mayor of London to achievethis objective. In tandem, the Council intends to pursue ‘part’ right tobuy / part ownership approaches to council housing to help deliverwider social and economic objectives.1.5 The Council through its new Housing Allocation Scheme intends thathouseholds who are working or otherwise making a communitycontribution and those who can demonstrate a local connection withthe borough should get greater priority in the housing register. Thecommunity contribution will include ex-services personnel who meetthe reasonable preference criteria. The Council also intends to adopt amore flexible approach to tenure, with the adoption of fixed termtenancies to ensure available affordable rented housing is used to itsmaximum value. The Council must have regard to the housing needsand aspirations of the vulnerable, disabled and the elderly, ensuringthat there is a robust connection with statutory health responsibilitiesthat local authorities are being vested with.5Page 365