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

Building a Housing Ladder of Opportunity - Housing StrategyHomelessness Strategy: Tackling the worst impacts of economic andsocial polarisation3.16 The Council has a statutory obligation to produce and implement ahomelessness strategy. Just as the Council is keen to create incentivesfor people on low to medium incomes, it is also keen to ensure thatthere is a safety net for those who are unable to fend for themselves.Such people may include victims of domestic violence; people withmental health or dependency issues; people with major health issues;and, households with vulnerable children. In addressing the needs ofthe homeless and those threatened by homelessness, the Council willneed to continue effective cross-departmental working, particularlythose responsible for supporting people funding, to ensure a holisticand effective strategy is in place to prevent homelessness wherepossible.3.17 More detail on how the Council intends to adopt and implement thisapproach is set out in its Homelessness Strategy.Asset Management and Estate Regeneration3.18 In recent years, the Council’s housing stock has benefited from circa£200m of decent homes resources, it nonetheless requires significantongoing investment. The Council estimates that this could entail anannual average of c £30m expenditure over the next five years alone.The programme of work that the Council has in place seeks to build onthe achievement of the decent homes programme, maintaining thestandard whilst addressing the backlog of works that were not coveredby that programme.3.19 The Council intends to adopt a forward looking, funded and deliverableasset management strategy and has already begun the process with areview of its sheltered housing stock. In the absence of any significantpublic capital funding, the Council intends to be innovative and radicalin its approach to regenerating its estates. When considering individualsites – whether vacant/poorly used sites, individual blocks or wholeestates, the Council will take into account the following factors:• Asset Management Appraisal• Redevelopment opportunities with adjacent land owners and/ordevelopment agencies, helping to ensure that new investmentbenefits local residents• Unpopularity of housing with residents (e.g., high levels oftransfer requests)• Opportunities to deliver a wider mix of tenures to increasecommunity sustainability in line with Core Strategy and LondonPlan policies.3.20 The over-arching objective of the Council’s asset managementapproach will be to reduce social and economic polarisation by16Page 376