The Cabinet Member for Housing introduced the update which included the updated Quarter 3 figures. These were summarised as follows:

·       The total number of Affordable Housing delivered was 145, which included 33 affordable rent, 48 social rent and 64 shared ownership;

·       the number of Housing options the Council were statutory responsible for at the end of December 2021 was 323 households;

·       the number of rough sleepers in temporary accommodation was 45;

·       the number of private sector housing with Disabled Facilities Grants (DFG) referrals was 175;

·       DFG referrals completed were 101;

·       DFG budget spend was £1,089,199 and £1,697,079 had been committed;

·       long-term properties put back into use were 45;

·       had served 103 enforcement cases with 23 notices being served;

·       a further one new application for Licensable Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO’s) had been made taking the total to 5;

·       £20,374 had been spent on the winter warmth grants;

·       1373 Home Improvement enquiries had been made to the service;

·       588 jobs had been completed by the handy-man scheme;

·       154 health referrals;

·       67 hospital discharge works completed;

·       112 health and safety checks completed; and

·       384 preventive cases completed.

Further to the updated figures, the Cabinet Member for Housing told the Committee that Kent County Council’s (KCC) draft budget had been released and included proposals to cut the contract for Kent Homelessness Connect Contract which provided additional services for vulnerable people and had created concerns from the Cabinet Member and officers on the impact this had on the Borough if the service disappeared. He spoke of having conversations with those that administered the contract to gather the impact that the removal of the contract would have. The Cabinet Member for Housing was preparing a letter to KCC with all the Council’s concerns and worries about the cut of this service, but he understood the position KCC were in with their budget in these difficult times. 

Members considered the update and raised points which included:

·      The cut from KCC was devastating and asked if other Councils were in a similar situation?;

·      even though KCC had proposed to remove funding, they had committed to £4m spend on putting empty homes back into use;

·      how many DFG bids were still waiting to be actioned?;

·      how were the 45 homes that had been put back into use been funded and what was the cost?

·      what percentage of the winter warmth grant had been used?; and

·      how many homes have been created as a result of the new administrations housing policy?

The Leader advised Members that a meeting had been scheduled with all District Leaders and the KCC Leader to discuss the recent cut in housing services and he hoped that KCC would listen to the comments made in the meeting and withdraw their proposal.

The Cabinet Member for Housing responded to the questions raised and said he did not have the DFG figures, or the winter warmth percentage used to hand. He told Members that there was no cost for putting homes back into use, as all 45 of the homes were already built and fit for purpose, the only cost incurred was officers’ time. The Cabinet Member for Housing said that he would get official figures of the number of homes the administration had created circulated to Members.

The Head of Housing and Community Services added that the Covid-19 pandemic had created pinch points in the DFG system and that, although the number of waiting households were zero, this might not be the true figure. She added that labour shortages and required Occupational Health Assessments had also created problems with getting housing applications completed.