Housing, homelessness and rough sleeping strategy

The Challenges

A number of barriers have hindered our ambitions to increase housing supply in the area.
Financial - historical restrictions on council borrowing (recently overturned).
We have large areas of green belt land, which we cannot build on and a severe shortage of brown field land.
We are in competition with other providers and developers when any brown field land becomes available.
Despite an ambitious affordable housing delivery programme, we struggle to replace the number of homes sold under the right to buy.

Social rented housing is in decline due to right to buy and the growing use of the "affordable housing" model.
High cost of home ownership - less people can afford to buy in the area.
The demand for private rented housing is out growing supply, resulting in households also being priced out of this market

The reduction in housing related support has increased the number of people needing homeless services with more complex needs and the number of rough sleepers is growing.
The new legislation means we are required to help more people for longer.
Welfare reform, benefit capping, universal credit and freezing of local housing allowances has created affordability pressures resulting in households (including working households) losing their homes.