Purpose

The council has successfully secured
indicative allocations of £8.4m and £1.062m from the
GLA's Refugee Housing Programme and DLUHC's Local Authority Housing
Fund Round 2 respectively.

The purpose of both funding sources is to acquire new housing to
support refugee resettlement and relocation programmes.

In order to benefit from this grant funding, the council is
required to contribute match funding and to complete all
acquisitions by the end of the current financial year.

This report requests urgent approval of match funding budgets for
both programmes and a series of delegations to enable the council
to act quickly in acquiring vital new homes within this
timeframe.

Decision

That the Leader of the
Council:
 
1.        
Notes the Director of Finance’s approval to
accept grant funding from the Refugee Housing Programme and the
Local Authority Housing Fund Round 2

 
2.        
Approves the creation of a capital budget of
£16,800,000 for the Refugee Housing Programme, to be partly
funded by £8,400,000 capital grant from the GLA;

 
3.        
Approves the creation of a further capital budget of
£2,655,000, of which £1,062,000 will be partly funded
by capital grant from DLUHC’s Local Authority Housing Fund
Round 2;

 
4.        
Approves the acquisitions under these budgets and
delegate authority to the Strategic Director of Economy, in
consultation with the Director of Finance, to select and complete
acquisitions of properties under each capital acquisition budget
and approve associated expenditure;

 
5.        
Notes that each individual acquisition will require
a delegated authority report seeking approval from the Strategic
Director of Economy, in consultation with the Director of
Finance.