Issue - meetings

The Executive Members for Neighbourhoods presented the recommendation which was referred to in the Executive report of 23 November 2021. Councillor Boylan said that the policy had been revised and updated by Officers, subject to public consultation and consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. He thanked the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for drawing attention to the previous reference to the Housing Strategy which had now been amended to the emerging Housing Strategy. The policy had also been reworded to address the points raised about the financial assistance on offer.

Councillor Boylan proposed, and Councillor Symonds seconded a motion supporting the recommendation. On being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – That the Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy be adopted.

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods presented a report on the Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy. He said that the policy had been revised and updated by Officers and been subject to public consultation and reviewed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The revised policy aimed to ensure that the council is utilising its limited resources to help households less able to carry out repairs or energy efficient improvements. Councillor Boylan said that the key change to the policy is the differentiation of the three repayment policies; grants are for small scale insulation works with no requirement to repay, repayable grant payments which are up to £1,000 to remedy relatively small scale problems which could cause imminent health risks which would need to be repaid when the property was sold and then loans up to £30,000 to ensure the property met the government’s empty homes standard which also needed to be repaid on sale of the property. He assured Members that the repayment requirement was explained to residents at the outset.

Councillor Boylan proposed an amended recommendation as follows “That with the policy amended to make clear that any costs to the council associated with (a) placing a charge on a property to secure repayment of council funding and (b) recouping that funding are added to the sum repayable by the recipient, the Executive recommends the proposed Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy to Council for approval.” He explained that this was to ensure there was no ambiguity and for the council to make full recovery of costs associated with transaction.

Councillor Haysey seconded the amended recommendation. She thanked Officers for their hard work on the policy.

Councillor Boylan proposed, and Councillor Buckmaster seconded a motion supporting the amended recommendation. On being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED - That with the policy amended to make clear that any costs to the council associated with (a) placing a charge on a property to secure repayment of council funding and (b) recouping that funding are added to the sum repayable by the recipient, be recommended to Council for approval.

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods submitted a report in respect of the proposed East Herts Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy. The Head of Housing and Health said that the policy detailed the way in which the Council provided financial and other assistance to owners and occupiers of private sector housing within East Herts.

Members were advised that the report and the proposed policy set out how the Council could assist those in the private housing sector. The main shift in focus was moving away from a grant based system to a loans based regime and it was hoped that the Council could assist a greater number of residents through this policy.

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods said that moving from a grant to a loan policy provided the Council with the ability to support much more vulnerable families. He said that this had been agreed as part of the budget process for 2021/22.

Councillor R Buckmaster asked whether Housing Associations were eligible to claim for the loans referenced at paragraph three of the report. Councillor Boylan said that Housing Associations were not eligible to apply for decent homes loans as these were intended to support vulnerable home owners where the property did not meet the government’s decent homes standard.

Councillor Boylan said that housing associations were not eligible as they were subject to separate national arrangements whereby resources and other assistance was made available to them to ensure that all of their properties met the decent homes standard by the national target date back in 2010. He stated that since 2010, housing associations had become subject to the homes standard that had been set by the regulator of social housing. Councillor Boylan said that funding from Homes England was available to support business plans of housing associations.

Councillor R Buckmaster asked if the Executive Member could explain what was recommended for those who did not qualify for a loan, such as those in old properties who could not install cavity wall installation.

Councillor Boylan said that these new loans were intended to support the most vulnerable. There was a test of resources available to establish applicants who could otherwise apply for a commercial loan. He said that in this way the Council could focus its efforts and resources on those residents unable to pay for this on the open market.

Councillor Boylan talked about the test of resources and touched on the advice being given to residents if the amount the Council believed they could contribute exceeded the cost of the works. He said that the smaller homes insulation grants for loft or cavity wall insulation were not means tested and were made available to all as a relatively simple step to makes homes more energy efficient.

Councillor Boylan said that for harder to treat properties, including those with solid or non-cavity built walls, the Council would actively continue to advise residents of existing locally or nationally administered schemes. He talked about the regular monitoring of possible new  ...  view the full minutes text for item 212