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RESOLVED: that
Cabinet:
a)   
recommended to Full Council an increase in the
capital programme of £10.907 million additional
funding/borrowing in the Housing Revenue Account to deliver the
LAHF R1 and R2 programmes.
b)   
delegated authority to the Section 151 Officer in
consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance and Cabinet Member
for Housing, Culture & Leisure to approve the procurement of
services of a property purchasing and renovation company to
accelerate delivery and provide the necessary capacity to deliver
the different acquisition programmes by the required deadlines
subject to full business case and financial appraisal.
c)   
delegated authority to the Section 151 Officer to
enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with DLUHC relating to
LAHF R2 upon confirmation that the Expression of Interest is
accepted.
 
REASONS RESOLVED:
·        
An increase to the capital programme is being
requested to enable completion of LAHF R1 and LAHF R2 programmes
within the required timeframes. When the Council submitted its LAHF
R1 EOI to DLUHC Registered Provider partners were very willing to
support the Council with delivery of the whole of this programme,
however they have found it challenging to secure sales with private
developers in our area. To achieve the LAHF programme targets it
will be necessary for the Council to undertake some direct
purchases from the open market. The funding on offer through the
LAHF programmes offers a good level of external funding towards
property acquisitions between 40% and 50% of the property cost. The
properties acquired will form part of the general needs housing
stock in the medium/long term so will help address local housing
needs once they have been initially used in the short term as
temporary accommodation focused on resettlement pressures. The
Finance Team have completed modelling within the HRA and set
parameters for ceiling purchase prices within each LAHF programme
to ensure that the schemes ‘breakeven’ or payback
within the expected timeframes agreed in the HRA and are therefore
capable of paying off borrowing over the 40-year business planning
period.
·        
The services of a specialist property purchasing and
renovation company are required to accelerate delivery and provide
the necessary capacity to deliver the different acquisition
programmes within challenging timescales. Across WNC and
Northamptonshire Partnership Homes there is limited capacity to
successfully deliver the three acquisitions programmes
simultaneously. Cabinet is being requested to delegate authority to
the S151 Officer (in consultation with the Cabinet Member for
Finance and Cabinet Member for Housing, Culture & Leisure) to
approve the procurement process and most importantly the costs
parameters of this process. However, in total costs for these
specialist services across the 3 acquisition programmes are likely
to exceed £500k therefore a specific delegation to the S151
officer regarding this process and the financial parameters of it
is being requested.
·        
The timescales for West Northamptonshire Council for
LAHF R2, are to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) on 5 July
2023. If this EOI is accepted by central government then the
Council will be expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding
swiftly afterwards to be formally awarded the funding. The Cabinet
meeting cycle and dates would not allow a Cabinet decision within
the required timeframes therefore delegated authority is being
requested to the S151 Officer to complete this.
 
ALTERNATIVE ACTIONS:
Increase in HRA Capital
Programme: WNC could choose to not draw down the LAHF R1 and R2
monies but this would lead to additional revenue spend and pressure
on budgets in relation to procurement of temporary accommodation to
house those who have arrived in the area through resettlement
programmes and are threatened with or have become homeless. Also,
this would mean WNC would be declining funds being made available
to help mitigate the impact of resettlement schemes on the existing
housing and homelessness systems and those waiting for social
housing and for additional affordable homes that in the medium to
long term will be available to meet local housing needs.
 
Procurement of a specialist
property purchasing and renovation company: The council could
choose to not contract with a company offering specialist property
purchasing services but this could compromise WNC’s ability
to draw down funding and comply with funded programme deadlines.
Lack of additional capacity and specialist skills that a property
purchasing and renovation company brings could mean that the
authority has reduced ability to benefit from funding support
available for resettled households, not increase stock levels and
fail to increase the supply of more cost-effective temporary
accommodation provision. Not having a specialist company onboard
could mean a bid to Homes England for further external funding
through programmes such as Single Homelessness Accommodation
Programme would be at risk of failure.
 
MoU for LAHF R2: Cabinet could
choose to not delegate authority to the S151 officer to sign a
Memorandum of Understanding with DLUHC but the Cabinet meeting
cycle and dates do not allow a Cabinet decision within the required
timeframes therefore WNC would be unable to draw down the funding
allocated to it for LAHF R2.