Local Housing Strategy
The strategic function of local housing authorities is becoming increasingly important in the context of assessing and meeting need and demand for housing, across all tenures and sections of the community. In recognising this significant and growing role, the Welsh Assembly Government has recently undertaken a review of the housing strategy making process and concluded that the old Housing Strategy and Operational Plans (HSOPs) were not fulfilling this wider strategic approach. In fact, it was felt that rather than analysing trends in the private sector, considering affordability and income levels and developing schemes that met the real needs and aspirations of households, HSOPs read like council housing manuals!
As such the Welsh Assembly Government has introduced new local Housing Strategies, which move away from a sole local authority focus. The new process is about ensuring a partnership approach to assessing and identifying local housing market issues and developing collective solutions to addressing them. The new approach is aimed at delivering solutions that meet the needs of the community and pooling time, energies and resources to do so.
The new process looks towards the long-term and is based on a five year strategy or plan. In order to ensure we are delivering housing schemes that meet real needs and requirements, we must demonstrate to the Assembly, our partner organisations (housing associations, mortgage lenders, house builders and private landlords to name a few) and most importantly, to the communities that we serve, that we have the necessary ‘evidence’. For example, you may have been interviewed as part of our County Borough-wide Housing Needs Survey.
This essentially looked at the need for additional affordable housing in Torfaen and identified the types of housing products the local housing partnership needs to deliver in order to meet need and demand. The Survey has informed us that more households wish to move into home-ownership, however, current house prices are preventing this. Therefore, the Strategy will focus on ways of introducing low-cost home-ownership schemes, based upon what is affordable for local people.
A draft version of the Strategy was submitted to the National Assembly in August 2003 when recommendations were made to improve the document. The finalised version of the housing strategy for Torfaen was then presented to the Assembly in April 2004. You can download a copy of the Local Housing Strategy| here.
However, the Authority and its partners have much to do to ensure the document is an active working document. Priorities need to be set along with developing effective ways of achieving objectives. Clearly, tenants of the Council, local housing associations and the private sector, alongside home-owners can play a key role in this process.
Consultative forums have been established to ensure wide-ranging and inclusive involvement. This permanent feature of the process will ensure that local people are consistently contributing to the development of a locally owned strategy and one that makes a difference to quality of life in Torfaen.
If you are interested in becoming involved in shaping priorities for housing across the County-Borough and wish to learn more about the local housing strategy making process, please contact Kellie Beirne, Housing Strategy Manager on 01495 766317.