North Yorkshire Council

 

Care and Independence and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee

 

7 December 2023

 

Draft North Yorkshire Housing Strategy 2024-29 Consultation

 

Report of the Corporate Director Community Development

 

 

1.0       PURPOSE OF REPORT

 

1.1       The purpose of this report is to present progress on the Draft North Yorkshire Housing Strategy 2024-29 and to seek comment from the Care and Independence and Housing Committee as part of the official period of consultation, prior to consideration by the Executive on 19th March 2024.

 

2.0       BACKGROUND

 

2.1       A housing strategy is one of the fundamental strategic documents a local authority will adopt. Whilst there is no longer a statutory duty to do so, local authorities are encouraged to have an overarching strategic document which outlines their ambitions, priorities, and targets, a plan for how they will fulfill their role as a strategic housing authority. This enables the authority to demonstrate to residents, partners, funding bodies and government its strategic planning and organisational governance.

 

2.2       A housing strategy is separate to the Local Plan, it does not deal with the designation of land for housing development, nor does it set any directives on what housing development should look like or town planning considerations.

 

2.3       A housing strategy should provide a high-level evidence-based set of priorities and framework for how the local authority will improve housing conditions, access to housing and enforce standards across all tenures, how new homes will be enabled, how it will deliver landlord services and how residents will be supported to stay in their own homes.

 

2.4       This framework then provides the basis for the Housing Service and others, to conduct service planning, to develop specific actions plans to address identified priorities and to develop policy which supports its ambition.

 

NORTH YORKSHIRE

 

2.5       Alongside the housing challenges of delivery and household economic pressures faced at a national level, North Yorkshire contains diverse housing markets with varying housing needs and specific local challenges, such as:

·         an ageing population, 

·         significant inequalities in health and social outcomes,  

·         sparsely populated rural communities and pockets of deprivation, 

·         a low wage economy, 

·         Increasing reliance on temporary accommodation for homeless households and associated spend.

·         housing affordability and access to good quality homes, 

·         improving the energy efficiency of our housing stock and reducing fuel poverty, 

·         the impacts of Climate Change on our population and communities. 

2.6       These challenges are accompanied by a raft of opportunities which exist across the county; to deliver housing growth through expanding our council housing stock and working in partnership on a Housing Growth Plan that links in with the housing aspirations of the Devolution Deal for York and North Yorkshire.  Devolution presents opportunities to deliver housing at pace and meet our wider economic growth ambitions. The creation of a Mayoral Combined Authority and the new powers that this will bring, will also be a driver for our housing and economic growth ambitions.

 

2.7       As a result of Local Government Reorganisation, with effect from 1st April 2023 North Yorkshire Council became responsible for delivery of the full range of housing services across the county, including management of c8500 council homes. To meet the diverse housing needs of North Yorkshire, deliver the housing services required and to ensure that we take full advantage of the opportunities presented, the council will need to have a housing strategy in place.

 

3.0       THE STRATEGY

 

3.1       Prior to Local Government Reorganisation local authorities across North Yorkshire, York and East Riding had a shared YNYER Housing Strategy, this was last reviewed in December 2021 and that review formed the evidence base for the draft North Yorkshire Housing Strategy 2024-29 Appendix A.

 

3.2       The draft strategy sets out a vision to deliver: ‘Good quality, affordable and sustainable homes that meet the needs of all of our communities.’

 

3.3       The ten priorities identified have been refined and grouped under three themes:

 

‘Our People’ is about meeting the housing needs of our population and particularly our older households, homeless households, those threatened with homelessness, and households with support needs. It also includes specific groups such as Gypsies and Travellers, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers.

 

Our key priorities for this theme are:

 

·         Preventing and tackling homelessness 

·         Meeting the needs of our ageing population 

·         Meeting supported housing needs and the needs of specific groups 

 

‘Our Places’ is about our towns, villages and neighbourhoods and the housing market challenges they face, and what we can do to tackle them.

 

Our key priorities for this theme are:

 

·         Growing the supply of affordable and available housing  

·         Addressing the rural housing crisis 

·         Supporting communities through neighbourhood renewal and regeneration  

 

‘Our Homes’ is about the challenges with our housing stock and how we can improve housing to ensure it is decent and affordable. We face huge challenges in ensuring that existing homes are decent, energy efficient, and can contribute to meeting our wider Climate Change aspirations. We also need to ensure that all new build housing meets the highest standards, and actively contributes to meeting our Climate Change aspirations.

 

Our key priorities for this theme are:

 

·         Decarbonising homes 

·         Ensuring that new housing supply contributes to our net zero ambitions  

·         Addressing stock condition issues 

·         Ensuring that Council stock remains decent and continues to improve 

 

3.4       Alongside adoption of the strategy, individual action plans will be developed for each theme to detail how delivery will be achieved, performance indicators introduced to monitor effectiveness of the interventions and a dashboard of key indicators developed to monitor the health of the local housing market.

 

3.5       Monitoring of delivery against the action plan and performance targets will be monitored by the Assistant Director for Housing on a quarterly basis and reported to the Executive Member for Housing Growth annually. The strategy will be reviewed after three years, or sooner should there be any significant change in national policy direction.

 

4.0       HOUSING STRATEGY CONSULTATION PROCESS

 

4.1       A programme of consultation is being undertaken, commencing 2nd October 2023 and ending on 11 December 2023. The public consultation is targeted at key partners and stakeholders, Registered Providers, Government agencies (such as Homes England) the Council’s tenants and residents, and other key council services so that the strategy can be honed to ensure that it is relevant, ambitious and deliverable.

 

4.2       The outcomes of the consultation will shape the final version of the North Yorkshire Council Housing Strategy 2024-29. This will then be taken to the Executive for approval in early spring 2024, with a view to being adopted by the Council in May 2024.

 

 

5.0       RECOMMENDATIONS

 

5.1       It is recommended that:

 

·         The Committee note the work undertaken preparing the Draft Housing Strategy 2024-29

·         The Committee provide comment on the draft document, to be included in the summary of consultation responses to the North Yorkshire Council Executive in March 2024.

 

 

Nic Harne: Corporate Director, Community Development

 

Report Author: Vicky Young, Housing Policy and Strategy Officer

 

 

BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:

 

·         Appendix A: Draft North Yorkshire Housing Strategy 2024 to 2029

 

·         YNYER Housing Strategy Review 2021: YNYER-Housing-Strategy-Review-2021-to-2023_2.pdf (nycyerhousing.co.uk)