Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Housing introduced the Housing Asset Management Strategy (HAMS) which set out proposals to ensure that Housing-owned assets were maintained to a good standard and that future decisions on refurbishment or reinvestment would ensure good quality housing stock into the future. 

The Cabinet Member advised that the Council presently owned over 18,500 tenanted homes and a further 3,300 leasehold properties.  Across the next 10 years, there would be over £300m capital investment and a further £180m in planned and responsive repairs and maintenance via the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), in addition to significant investment in the building of new Council properties.  The HAMS would establish the principles and priorities by which investment decisions would be taken and had two principal objectives:

1)  Delivering a high quality housing stock that meets the needs of our tenants and leaseholders; and

2)  Optimising the use and value of the housing assets. 

The Cabinet Member added that the HAMS would be closely integrated with the Housing Strategy 2012-2017 and the HRA Business Plan.

Arising from the discussions, it was suggested that a report on the implementation of the Strategy should be presented to Cabinet at the end of the first year.  It was also noted that the impact of the Chancellor’s Emergency Budget and other Government announcements on a number of housing-related issues were currently being assessed by Finance and Housing officers and details would be shared with Cabinet Members in due course.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Approve the Housing Asset Management Strategy for 2015 – 2020, as at Appendix 1 to the report; and

(ii)  Request that a progress report on the implementation of the Strategy be presented to Cabinet in 12 months.