Agenda item

Joint report of the Corporate Directors (Housing and Communities) and (Resources, Environment and Cultural Services) on the establishment of a wholly Council-owned housing company to help meet local housing need.

Report of the Corporate Director (Resources, Environment and Cultural Services), which recommended to Cabinet the establishment of a wholly Council-owned housing company to help meet local housing need.  It was proposed that the company would be limited by shares with the Council being the sole shareholder.  The Council is responsible for assessing and making plans to meet local housing needs.  The report noted that currently more than 2000 households on the housing register waiting for social/affordable housing and just under 100 households in temporary accommodation.

It was identified that there was the potential for the Council to provide more homes through a new delivery vehicle. Findings from Savill’s commissioned research carried out showed that there are approximately 12000 households within the Borough who had very little chance of being able to afford a housing product at market price.  The expert advice provided to the Council by Red Loft housing and regeneration consultancy was that the establishment of a local housing company or other trading vehicle would enable the Council to develop new homes for a variety of tenures to satisfy this identified demand.

The Council would be setting up a company under its general powers of competency as legislated in the Localism Act 2011.

A business plan would be devised and housing company accounts would be brought back to Cabinet for approval, subject to Cabinet approving the recommendations in this report.

RESOLVED

1.    That Cabinet Members agree to the establishment of a local housing company which will be wholly owned by the Council and limited by shares.

2.    That Cabinet Members delegate authority to the Corporate Director, (Housing and Communities) and Corporate Director, (Resources, Environment and Cultural Services) in consultation with the Monitoring Officer, Executive Member, Housing and Communities and the Executive Member, Resources, to finalise all the necessary legal documentation including the Shareholder Agreement and Articles of Association as required to establish the housing company and governance arrangements.

3.    That Cabinet approves the objectives of the company, to be incorporated into the business plan of the company, as being:

a)        Provide good quality, well managed homes for residents in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield which people can afford to live in and which complement the Council’s existing and planned housing provision.

b)        Support the growing local demand for a mix of housing tenures by providing intermediate, low cost home ownership or open market homes and letting sub-market and market rented homes;

c)         Be a financially robust company, generating a surplus to be used for the purpose of providing more affordable housing and delivering financial returns to the shareholder;

d)        Stimulate local housing regeneration and partnership working

4.         That Cabinet appoints a shareholder representative group to ensure the exercise of the council’s rights as shareholder.  Recommended membership of this group can be found in the detail of this report, at 3.28.  Shareholder Group also to include Corporate Director (Public Protection, Planning and Governance) in its membership.

5.         That Cabinet note that a further report will be brought to a subsequent Cabinet meeting to consider the local housing company business plan and funding arrangements and to deal with any consequential matters before the company goes live.

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Meeting ended at 7.45 pm

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