Content

Salford City Council - Record of
Decision (Cabinet)
I
Councillor Merry, Deputy City Mayor, in exercise of the powers
contained within the City Council Constitution do hereby approve: The Local Authority Housing Fund
(LAHF).
The Reasons are:
To
provide accommodation in Salford in accordance with the Local
Authority Housing Fund’s aims to support families with
housing needs who have arrived in the UK via Ukrainian and Afghan
resettlement and relocation schemes.
Options considered and rejected were:
The
LAHF prospectus and guidance allows Local authorities to determine
the most effective means to deliver in line with the fund
objectives in their area.
Different Registered Providers in Salford were contacted in
relation to delivering under the LAHF. The decision to allow
ForHousing Limited and Derive Group to deliver under the LAHF was
made in response to a lack of suitable response/interest from other
providers.
Further options were considered in determining the best way to
allocate the grant to partners delivering under the fund. Legal
advice was sought in order to determine the best way to approach
this, with funding agreements between providers being the preferred
choice.
Assessment of Risk:
 Low – The principal risk for
the council is in not meeting delivery requirements under the
Memorandum of Understanding with DLUHC and not being able to draw
down the remainder of funding allocated.
Failure to meet the DLUCH delivery targets will result in the
repayment of any unallocated LAHF grant but at no direct cost to
council budgets.
The source of funding is:
The
Department of Levelling Up Housing and Communities have allocated
capital funding under section 31 of the Local Government Act
2003.
Legal Advice obtained:

The council has entered into a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) with DLUHC which sets out DLUHC’s
requirements in relation to the use by the council of Round 1 DLUHC
LAHF Grant to deliver 20 LAHF Housing Units in Salford.  Under the terms of the MOU, the council is able to
work with delivery partners to provide the LAHF Housing
Units.  Under Round 1 the council will
pass DLUHC LAHF Grant to ForHousing Limited for use to part-fund
ForHousing’s acquisition of 15 properties to be used as LAHF
Housing Units in accordance with DLUHC’s
requirements. 

The council will enter into a Grant Funding
Agreement with ForHousing which will require ForHousing to ensure
that they use the 15 properties which they will acquire with DLUHC
LAHF Grant in accordance with DLUHC’s
requirements.  The Council will use
DLUHC LAHF grant to part fund the council’s costs of
construction of 5 new Housing Units at the council’s Irwell
Valley Estate which Derive Group will be required to use as LAHF
Housing Units.

The council enter into an Agreement with Derive
Group which requires Derive Group to ensure that they use the 5
properties which have been constructed by the council using DLUHC
LAHF Grant in accordance with DLUHC’s
requirements.
Financial Advice obtained:
Where the council is reliant on
partners to deliver under the LAHF, it will introduce sufficient
measures to ensure that partners accessing funding do so in
accordance with the councils’ obligations to the memorandum
of understanding. The agreements specify that delivery partners
ensure that homes will be affordable/low-cost housing for the
remainder of their lifetime.
 
In order to comply with the
terms of the grant and mitigate against any risk of pay back, the
council needs to ensure they meet the deadline to spend the whole
of the round 1 allocation by March 2024.
Procurement Advice
obtained:
There
are no procurement implications in the LAHF programme and so advice
has not been sought.
HR Advice obtained:
There
are no HR implications in the LAHF programme and so advice has not
been sought.
Climate Change Advice obtained:
As the
LAHF is an acquisition-based programme there are no implications
which have implications on climate change.
Contact
Officer: James
Barrett                                      
Email:
james.barrett@salford.gov.uk
 
The appropriate scrutiny to
call-in the decision is the Growth and Prosperity Scrutiny
Panel      
           

 

Signed:
         Councillor
John Merry                    Dated:
   28.11.23                                                  
           
Deputy City Mayor
 

For Democratic
Services use only

 

This decision was
published on 28.11.23                      

This decision will
come in force at 4.00 p.m. on05.12.23 unless it is called-in in accordance with the
Decision Making Process Rules.