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More affordable homes, plans for a new tenants’ scheme using private houses and a three-year low in homelessness levels are just some of the successes notched up by Babergh District Council in the last year.
A new report has revealed the District Council is constantly striving to deliver more services to its residents – and is achieving excellent results too.
The Housing Review 2007 highlights the areas Babergh is doing well in and looks at further proposals and recommendations to make sure the service keeps improving and delivering.
One major achievement for Babergh is that homelessness in the district has fallen by 76 per cent since Babergh introduced its five-year Homelessness Strategy in 2004.
In the first year, April 04/ March 05, there were 268 people classed as homeless. Last year, April 06/ March 07, this figure had dropped to just 63.
Babergh’s success in this area lies in its commitment to work on homeless prevention to stop people ending up on the streets instead of its earlier policy of responding to people once they have become – or about to become – homeless.
Plans to start a Private Sector Leasing (PSL) Scheme, where a private landlord leases a property to a social landlord approved by Babergh for use to house people on the Common Housing Register, could also be on the cards.
This new arrangement would provide greater security to Babergh tenants and provide the District Council with an opportunity to increase the supply of good quality, affordable and well-managed accommodation to help meet housing need.
Also as part of its commitment to affordable housing, Babergh has pledged to have 700 new, affordable homes built – or in the development pipeline – by 2010. To do this, Babergh is constantly looking at ways to increase the number of affordable homes using its existing council housing stock.
A number of properties in the district were surveyed, many of which were on pieces of land that weren’t used as efficiently as possible and it was decided to demolish them and develop the site.
Using this method Babergh has already secured 107 new homes for the district on sites that previously only accommodated 57.
As part of this innovative approach, a recommendation to sell Babergh’s oldest council houses, a pair of Tudor thatched cottages in Tattingstone, is included in the report. Money gained from the sale will be used to deliver more affordable housing either in Tattingstone or the rest of the district.
Councillor Sue Wigglesworth, Chair of Babergh’s Housing Panel, said: “There is more and more pressure for local authorities to meet demands from all sections of the community - from people of all ages in need of affordable housing to rent through to those who don’t have a home and those who are more transient in their living approach.
“At Babergh we are constantly striving to deliver more initiatives, invest more money and come up with more imaginative ways of providing the best – and most efficient – service we can.
“It is not easy but this report shows that Babergh is working hard and getting results”.
The 2007 Housing Review report is due to go before the Council’s Overview & Scrutiny (Community Services) Committee for consideration on Tuesday (Sept 4). The committee’s decision will then be referred onto Babergh’s Strategy Committee and then Full Council.
More information on affordable housing and homelessness.
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