Agenda item

This report provides an update on the Council Newbuild Housing and Acquisition Strategy established in 2021 and sets out the priorities for delivering more Council owned homes of all tenures.

It includes the acquisition of the Harbour Sail, a 12-storey high-rise building in Poole, under the Council's New Build Housing and Acquisition Strategy (CNHAS) Programme 4a (subject to satisfactory warranties and no incumbrance to lettings). The building comprises 32 leasehold flats currently owned by Stonewater Limited. The acquisition is intended to provide temporary accommodation as part of the Council’s broader housing strategy.

The Portfolio Holder for Housing and Regulatory Services presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'B' to these Minutes in the Minute Book. The report provided an update on the Council Newbuild Housing and Acquisition Strategy established in 2021 and set out the priorities for delivering more Council owned homes of all tenures. The report included the acquisition of the Harbour Sail, a 12-storey high-rise building in Poole, under the Council's New Build Housing and Acquisition Strategy (CNHAS) Programme 4a (subject to satisfactory warranties and no incumbrance to lettings). The building comprises 32 leasehold flats currently owned by Stonewater Limited. The acquisition was intended to provide temporary accommodation as part of the Council’s broader housing strategy.

The Board noted that 105 properties had been acquired but only 46 of these had been let. There was potentially a significant financial impact of acquiring those properties and at the same time still paying for people to be housed in bed and breakfast accommodation. If the pace of acquisition continued there would need to be a strong project management plan in place to ensure that the properties were turned around in a timely fashion. The Plans would be shared with the Board once they were available

It was noted that responsibility for the programme was shared across a number of different services and the Board asked about the capacity of the Council to be able to do the work required in order to get properties into a condition that can be let. The Portfolio Holder was asked about how the organisation was set up to accommodate this and who had overall responsibility for ensuring the finances were used effectively The Portfolio Holder advised that responsibility was shared but was taken extremely seriously, it was noted that when there had been issues resources were relocated in order to try to reduce void periods. It was important to be flexible in order to improve delivery.

In response to a query around the Seascape acquisition for Assured Shorthold Tenancies programme it was noted that the immediate need was to reduce the numbers of families in Bed and Breakfast accommodation which the temporary accommodation was focused on. The Seascape lets were longer term to provide stability and help encourage people to settle into paying rent regularly. 

It was noted that the MTFP paper set out the debt of the Council as being in the mid-range compared to other local authorities. It was noted that the viability of an acquisition programme always needed to be considered, especially in light of the current level of interest rates.

Queries were raised about the quality of properties being purchased and the time taken to let them. It was noted that properties were purchased in various different conditions and therefore the time taken to have them ready for let was varied. It was questioned whether the programme had had an impact on the market. There was a need to ensure that properties were not clustered in specific areas. The financial feasibility was gone through to ensure that each property purchase on its own was viable. It was noted that a number of properties had only recently completed. There had been a flow of properties coming through since February 2023.

A request was made to benchmark on voids against other local authorities. The Portfolio Holder undertook to look into this. However, it was noted that not many authorities had similar programmes, and it may be difficult to get any relevant information on this.

An issue was raised with a specific property acquisition which had led to the sitting tenants facing eviction to allow the sale to proceed. The Board was advised that this situation was a one-off and any properties brought in the future would need to be vacant prior to purchase.

The Board asked about the level of tenant turnover. When people were being placed within temporary accommodation, previously people were in bed and breakfast accommodation for several months. The Council worked with those accessing temporary accommodation to get something more permanent within the different housing sectors.

The Board asked for the overall number of temporary accommodation units. The Portfolio Holder undertook to provide this information. It was noted that there was a need to build more affordable homes and that even though accommodation was originally purchased at some point as temporary accommodation it could still be repurposed for other usages.

The Board requested to go into exempt session to consider information within the exempt appendix to the report it was therefore:

RESOLVED that under Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act and that the public interest in withholding the information outweighs such interest in disclosing the information.

The meeting adjourned at 7:50pm and resumed at 7:58pm in exempt session.

During exempt session questions were raised and responded to concerning the sale of the Harbour Sail property and the rationale for the Council purchase of it.

The meeting returned to public session and consideration was given to the recommendations outlined in the Cabinet report.

RESOLVED that the Overview and Scrutiny Board recommend that Cabinet support the recommendations as set out in the report as follows:

Recommend to Council to Approve: 

a)

                   I.          The Acquisition of Harbour Sail including 32 leasehold flats for temporary affordable housing in accordance with the budget outlined in the exempt report attached at Appendix 4.

                 II.          Approval to proceed with the acquisition and delivery of 16 homes by March 2026 under the LAHF3 programme. 

b)    Approve the delegation to the Chief Operations Officer in consultation with the Director of Finance and the Director of Law & Governance of authority to enter contracts related to activity set out in this report.? 

RECOMMEND to Audit and Governance Committee to recommend to Council:

c)    Increasing the authorised borrowing limit of the Council to accommodate the budget set out in the exempt report at Appendix 4 for the purchase of Harbour Sail.

Voting: Unanimous