Item 9 - West Dunbartonshire Housing Emergency Declaration Action Plan Update
West Dunbartonshire Council · 26 February 2025
Back to Housing & Communities Committee — 26 February 2025 and its agenda
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WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL Report by the Chief Officer - Housing and Employability Housing and Communities Committee - 26 February 2025 ___________________________________________________________________ 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 Declaration 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 Chief Officer, Housing and Employability will provide a verbal summary of the Housing Summit held on the 10th February and future actions, and (iii) Note 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 the 1st May 2024 Housing and Communities Committee unanimously agreed to declare a Housing Emergency in West Dunbartonshire. The reasons behind the motion being raised was due to the extreme pressures facing housing and homelessness service in meeting statutory duties. 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, Progress in reducing the number of empty homes (council voids); and The construction of new council homes at the following development sites Clydebank East, Mount Pleasant, Pappert and Gilmour Avenue. Item 9
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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 households on the Council’s housing waiting lists, 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 sixty-eight 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 Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme funding of around 24% in 2024/25, 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 eight local authorities have followed suit and made a housing emergency declaration (South Lanarkshire, West Lothian, Angus, Scottish Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Aberdeen, East Renfrewshire and East Lothian). Therefore 13 of 32 Scottish local authorities have declared housing emergencies, including four of the six housing stock transfer authorities who do not fulfil a landlord role. 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, and Theme 4 - Strengthen the Financial viability and capacity of the Housing Revenue Account and associated Housing and Homelessness budgets. 4.2 There have been five Project Board meetings in total since the declaration. The project board agreed further progress will be made via existing governance arrangements and reported to the Housing Emergency Project Board. To date there has been progress on all the 61 actions, with nearly half either being fully completed or at least 50% complete.
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4.3 To assist with further progress a Housing Summit was held on 10th February 2025 gathering over eighty key stakeholders with an aim to work on solutions to help end the emergency but also improve housing options long term within West Dunbartonshire Council. The Housing Summit aimed to extend the range of agencies with an active focus on the housing emergency, including homelessness prevention and increasing the supply of new homes. The Chief Officer, Housing and Employability will provide a verbal summary of the event and actions which will be taken forward as a result of the summit. 4.4 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 4.5 The Housing and Communities Committee Convenor wrote to the Housing Minister requesting the reinstatement of the funding cut to the Affordable Housing Supply Programme funding. While we await the full details of the Scottish Government Budget the draft announcements seem to indicate that this request will be met, and additional funding will be available to the delivery of new homes through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme. The Council will receive notification of their Resource Planning Allocation in March 2025. The Council supported by tenant prioritisation has continued to deliver much needed new homes and is currently on site in a number of development sites across the local authority area (Clydebank East, Gilmour Avenue, Pappert and Mount Pleasant), the delivery of these new homes is supported by The Council’s buyback scheme targeting addressing housing need in West Dunbartonshire. Make Best Use of Existing Stock 4.6 There has been positive progress around void performance within the Council’s housing stock and in partnership with others we are working to reduce the delays caused with energy supply issues in Council void homes. A review has begun of all Council leased properties to ensure best use of stock. Further work has taken place around maximising use of Homeswapper to meet housing needs. The new repairs policy has now been agreed and to be rolled out from 1st April 2025. Enhancing Housing Access and the prevention of homelessness 4.7 In partnership with the Violence Against Women Partnership a refreshed approach has been delivered to assist with preventing negative housing situations including a refreshed housing pathway for WDC tenants who flee domestic violence. Progress made around a public awareness campaign on homelessness and significant progress has been made around actions to reduce children in temporary accommodation. Strengthen the Financial viability and capacity of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and associated Housing and Homelessness budgets
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4.8 A number of actions are being taken forward through the Housing Emergency Project Board and the HRA Value for Money group which now meets on a weekly basis to help strengthen the financial health of the Housing Revenue Account. Council Officers are also part of a national conversation with the Scottish Government, COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) and ALACHO (Association of Chief Housing Officers) to investigate the possibility of HRA debt relief to enable local authorities to build or acquire more social rented homes. 4.9 We continue to monitor the key performance indicators developed to help monitor the progress made through the action plan which will signify an end to the current emergency declaration. Progress against these will be reported to the May meeting of the Housing and Communities Committee 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. 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.
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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. • Our Communities - Resilient and Thriving • Our Environment - A Greener Future • Our Economy - Strong and Flourishing • Our Council - Inclusive & Adaptable Peter Barry Chief Officer, Housing and Employability Date: 13th February 2025 ___________________________________________________________________ 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 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, February (available 3rd February 2025)
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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 Housing Emergency Action, Equalities Impact Assessment Screening, June 2024 Wards Affected: All