Item 12 - REVISED Housing Emergency Action Plan
West Dunbartonshire Council · 20 November 2024
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WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL Report by the Chief Officer, Housing and Employability Housing and Communities Committee: 20 November 2024 ___________________________________________________________________ Subject: West Dunbartonshire Housing Emergency Declaration Action Plan 1. Purpose 1.1 The purpose of this report is to provide members with an update on the Housing Emergency Action Plan (HEDAP) which was formulated to address the emergency following the Council’s housing emergency declaration on 1st May 2024. 2. Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that the Housing and Communities Committee: (i) Note the progress to date and the implementation of the key actions of the Housing Emergency Declaration Action Plan as summarised in section 4.1 – 4.6 of this report and in the action plan update within Appendix 1 of this report; (ii) Note the intention to hold a Housing Summit in early 2025 and that the Chief Officer, Housing and Employability will continue to bring an update report to future Housing and Communities committee meetings regarding the housing emergency declaration. 3. Background 3.1 On 1 May 2024 Housing and Communities Committee unanimously agreed to declare a Housing Emergency in West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC). The reasons behind the motion being raised was due to the extreme pressures facing housing and homelessness service in WDC. 3.2 This was despite positive achievements of the service to help manage the acute housing need in West Dunbartonshire including the following: • 262 households prevented from experiencing homelessness, • Significant progress in reducing the number of empty homes (council voids) • The construction of new council homes at the following development sites Clydebank East, Mount Pleasant, Pappert and Gilmour Avenue. 3.3 Despite this, housing demand has increased rather the expected reduction and therefore and the following metrics highlight the pressures on the housing and homelessness systems within West Dunbartonshire. • Over five thousand on the Council’s housing waiting lists, ITEM 12 (REVISED)
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• 274 households in temporary accommodation awaiting an offer of permanent housing, of those households eighty-nine have children within them, and • the anticipation of more than 1100 new homeless assessments to be made during the 2024/25 reporting period. 3.4 As reported previously to committee the Council has been unable to fulfil all our statutory duties under homelessness legislation and has incurred 68 breaches of the Unsuitable Accommodation Order (UAO) following 274 households being placed in Bed & Breakfast Accommodation during 2023/24. 3.5 The increased supply of new social homes is the key element to help address the demand pressures, The funding cut to the wider Affordable Housing Supply Programme funding of around 24%, significantly contributed to the Housing Emergency Declaration. 3.6 West Dunbartonshire Council were the fifth local authority to declare a housing emergency following declarations made in Argyll and Bute, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Fife. Since the West Dunbartonshire declaration, a further seven local authorities have followed suit and made a housing emergency declaration (South Lanarkshire, West Lothian, Angus, Scottish Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Aberdeen and East Renfrewshire). Therefore 12 of 32 Scottish local authorities have declared housing emergencies, including four of the six housing stock transfer authorities. 3.6 Significantly on the 15th of May 2024, the Scottish Government declared a National Housing Emergency in the Scottish Parliament although the implications of this are not known at the time of writing. 4. Main Issues 4.1 The action plan has four main themes they are as follows: • Theme 1 – Deliver and maintain More Homes - West Dunbartonshire approach to the delivery of affordable housing. • Theme 2 – Make Best use of existing stock. • Theme 3 - Enhancing Housing Access and the prevention of homelessness. • Theme 4 - Strengthen the Financial viability and capacity of the Housing Revenue Account and associated Housing and Homelessness budgets.
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4.2 There have been three Project Board meetings in total since the declaration. Some progress to date includes key performance indicators being agreed to help monitor the end to the emergency. To date there has been progress on all the 61 actions as follows. Completed 4 In progress/on track 57 Missed target date 0 The project board has agreed further progress will be made via existing governance arrangements and reported to the Housing Emergency Project Board. A full progress report is attached as Appendix 1 of this report and some highlights are summarised in the sections below: - Deliver and maintain More Homes - West Dunbartonshire approach to the delivery of affordable housing. 4.3 Key actions include the Housing Convenor having written to the Housing Minister to reinstate the funding cut to the Affordable Housing Supply Programme funding and to express disappointment to the Scottish Government regarding our funding allocation of the £40 million acquisition funding (£309k (0.77%)) and temporary accommodation funding of £2million (£15k (0.75%)) and our concerns over the distribution formula used which favoured council areas with higher population levels rather than the homelessness pressures. The homelessness statistics bulletin published in September highlighted that West Dunbartonshire continues to have the highest rate of homelessness in Scotland at a rate of 235 homelessness presentation per 10,000 people considerably higher than the national average figure of 131. The Council’s new Strategic Housing Investment Plan has also been developed and will be presented to the Housing and Communities Committee in November 2024. Excellent progress has also been made with respect our More Homes approach and the first handovers have been achieved at the Clydebank East development site. Make Best Use of Existing Stock 4.4 Progress includes the action to work in partnership with others to address delays caused with energy suppliers and the introduction a pre letting process for transfer applicants. Both have made significant progress and are near completion. A new Empty Homes Strategy has also been developed and will be submitted to the Housing and Communities Committee in November. Enhancing Housing Access and the prevention of homelessness 4.5 Progress has included the establishment of the Access to Housing have been which will be used to drive forward these actions within this theme. The transfer
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led approach for new builds has been established and is being rolled out therefore is now complete. The online common housing application form has made significant progress and nearing completion once formal approval is given by our Registered Social Landlords (RSL) partners. Strengthen the Financial viability and capacity of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and associated Housing and Homelessness budgets. 4.6 These actions are being discussed and taken forward via the HRA Value for Money group with the key aim of strengthening the Housing Revenue Account to help deliver housing and regeneration priorities. 4.7 To further help tackle the housing emergency we plan to host a housing emergency summit in early 2025. The aim is to gather key stakeholders in a local and national context to strengthen partnership working and to find further solutions in the short and long term. 4.8 It has also been agreed for our RSL partner involvement their contribution will come through the Strategic Housing Provider Forum and as a result the frequency of these meetings have been increased to ensure accelerated progress. 4.9 In addition to the actions that have formulated the Housing Emergency Declaration Action Plan a number of key performance indicators have also been introduced and will be reported to the Housing Emergency Project Board on a quarterly basis. These KPIs are designed to help signify the ambition to exit the current housing emergency status within West Dunbartonshire. 5. People Implications 5.1 Initial analysis of the action plan do not indicate any people implications. However, many of the actions involved are additional tasks not within current remits therefore may lead to additional staffing resources which we would seek for approval at futures committees if required. 6. Financial and Procurement Implications 6.1 The Housing Emergency Declaration Action Plan (HEDAP) will need to be considered within the context existing resources available to West Dunbartonshire Council across both the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA). There is currently no additional Grant or Subsidy funding available to Councils because of declaring a Housing Emergency. 6.2 The Housing Emergency Project Board will consider how existing resources can be utilised to ensure delivery of the HEDAP. This will include a review of Core Budgets and any Temporary Funding Sources which may be utilised. 6.3 If we are unable to increase supply and reduce demand will lead to continued pressures on temporary accommodation and ultimately Bed & breakfast use which has financial implications. Any funding reviews and subsequent implications would be brought to future committees.
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6.4 There are no procurement implications to note. 7. Risk Analysis 7.1 Regular breaches of statutory homelessness duties partly triggered the declaration of the Housing Emergency, and it is highly probable these will continue without focussed, cross Council and Partnership action led through the Housing Emergency Project Board. 7.2 The Council is also likely to experience significant legal, regulatory, and reputational risk due to shortages of housing supply and related services. Mitigation of these risks are included within the HEDAP, and these will be managed through the Housing Emergency Project Board. 8 Environmental Sustainability 8.1 The delivery of new homes is within the approved More Homes zero carbon approach. Our current and future approach to strategic housing asset management will continue to prioritise a ‘zero carbon’ approach to decision making and deliverability and this will be done the aims of the Housing Asset Management Strategy and the Council’s Climate Change Strategy. 9. Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) 9.1 An EIA has been carried out and there are no negative equalities impacts due to this update. A separate EIA screening will be conducted for any policy changes because of the implementation of the HEDAP. 10. Consultation 10.1 The draft Housing Emergency Declaration Action Plan (HEDAP) was consulted with a range of key stakeholders including the West Dunbartonshire Tenants and Residents Organisation. The implementation of the HEDAP is predicated on a consultative and collaborative focus and several key stakeholders are represented on the Housing Emergency Project Board. 11. Strategic Assessment 11.1 Having considered the Council's strategic priorities, this report contributes significantly to all strategic priorities. Peter Barry Chief Officer, Housing and Employability Date: 6th November 2024 ___________________________________________________________________ Person/s to Contact: John Kerr – Housing Development and Homelessness Manager, Housing Development and Homelessness Team, Housing and Employability, telephone: 07793717981, email: john.kerr@west-dunbarton.gov.uk
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Claire McKay – Housing Development Co-ordinator, Housing Development and Homelessness Team, Housing and Employability, email: Claire.Mckay@west- dunbarton.gov.uk Appendices: 1. Housing Emergency Action Plan, October 2024 Background Papers: Housing Emergency Declaration, Housing and Communities Committee, May 2024 Report to Housing and Communities Committee; Housing Emergency Action Plan Homelessness Statistics Bulletin, Scottish Government, September 2024 Wards Affected: All