Purpose

To approve receipt of funding and seek Council
approval for match funding

Content

RESOLVED
 
KEY DECISION
 
That the Executive:
 

a)   
Approved that the Council enters into an agreement
with the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities
(DLUHC) to acquire 11 homes during 2023-2024 to deliver additional
housing for families in temporary accommodation and Afghan
resettlement schemes.

 

b)   
Approved the proposal to accelerate the capital
programme from 2024/25 and 2025/26 into 2023/24 for the
homelessness prevention capital programme, to enable North
Northamptonshire Council to provide the required match funding
against the central government grant for this programme.
 

c)   
Delegated authority to the Executive Member for
Housing, Communities and Levelling Up in consultation with the
Executive Director for Adults, Health
Partnerships and Housing to take any
decisions and actions necessary to complete the
programme.

 
 
Reasons for Recommendations:
 

·      
Provide sustainable
housing to those on Afghan resettlement schemes at risk of
homelessness so that they can build new lives in the UK, find
employment and integrate into
communities. 

 

·      
Reduce local housing
pressures beyond those on Afghan resettlement schemes by providing
better quality temporary accommodation to families owed
homelessness duties by the Council. 

 

·      
Reduce emergency,
temporary and bridging accommodation
costs. 

 

·      
Reduce impacts on the
existing housing and homelessness systems and those waiting for
social housing. 

 
·      
To increase the overall supply of
affordable rented housing available in North Northamptonshire,
which meets the corporate objective of enabling safe and thriving
places.
 

Alternative Options Considered
 

·      
Do nothing – if the Council does not
participate in this programme, it will not receive the funding
allocation and the challenge of finding onward settled
accommodation for refugees will remain. This challenge is already
putting pressure on stretched homelessness services. Those refugees
who present as homeless are still owed a statutory homelessness
duty by the Council and need to be placed in costly nightly paid
temporary accommodation and then progressed through Keyways on to
the housing register.

 

·      
Commit to delivering a smaller number of homes
– whilst this may be easier to
achieve, the government grant allocation will reduce
proportionately and less homes will be acquired into our temporary
accommodation stock. Ultimately fewer additional homes will be
available to the Council to use as affordable housing for our
residents in the longer term.