Purpose

To consider the report of the Cabinet Member
for Housing seeking approval for the adoption of a selection
rationale and accompanying methodology for the future management of
certain void Housing Revenue Account (HRA) properties. The report
will outline an approach to ensuring best use of housing assets and
reinvestment of resources to support the delivery of the
Council’s Decent Homes and housing improvement
objectives.

Decision

(i) 
To approve the adoption of the selection rationale, as the
framework for identifying suitable HRA assets for disposal subject
to a detailed business case.
(ii) 
To delegate authority to the Director of Housing following
consultation with the Executive Director of Resident Services,
Director of Finance and the Cabinet Member for Housing to proceed
with five pilot sales of under-performing Void properties, each of
which would be based on a detailed business case.
(iii) 
To grant permission to continue with the wider programme of
disposals only following a comprehensive evaluation of the outcomes
and lessons learned from the initial pilot sales.

Reasons for the decision

1. 
The Council currently faces an estimated circa £75M gap
between cost of improving HRA homes to a Decent Homes standard and
the budget available – the council’s current
performance on decent homes is among the worst in the country.
There are a range of measures being proposed to address the gap,
these include selected asset sales.
2. 
This report sets out the rationale for the disposal of Housing
Revenue Account (HRA) assets where the cost of repair and
re-letting is significantly outweighed by the financial and
strategic benefits of sale. It outlines a methodology for
determining where disposal provides better long-term value than
repair. Due to limited internal capacity to refurbish these
properties and the requirement to return them to social rent, there
is no viable business case for the Council to undertake these
works.

Alternative options considered

(i) 
To approve the new Southampton City Council Housing Strategy
2026-2031.
(ii) 
To note the feedback from formal consultation on the Housing
Strategy and how feedback will be used, presented in Members Room
Document 1.