Decision Maker:

Outcome: Recommendations Approved

Is Key Decision?: No

Is Callable In?: No

Date of Decision: January 27, 2025

Purpose:

Content: RESOLVED:   1.  The Hackney Private Sector Housing Strategy, attached as Appendix 1 to the report, was approved.   2.  The consultation process had concluded, and feedback from key stakeholders had been considered in shaping the strategy. Any final minor amendments to the strategy, prior to its publication, was delegated to the Group Director of Climate, Homes, and Economy.   REASONS FOR DECISION   Cabinet approval of the Private Sector Housing Strategy is sought to establish a clear vision for Hackney’s PRS. The strategy also aims to provide the Council, partners, residents and landlords operating in the borough with an accessible summary of the Council’s priorities and its approach to addressing the borough’s housing challenges.   We know that good quality, affordable housing is still severely lacking and too many people are trapped in poorly managed rented accommodation. Home ownership is out of reach for the vast majority of residents with the average house price in Hackney at nineteen times the average household income. It is essential for the Council and its partners to help meet these challenges and work towards the provision of stable, high quality, safe homes for all Hackney’s residents.   Growing demand in London and severe and worsening housing affordability have meant that housing need is rising faster than supply. We still have over 3,000 homeless households in temporary accommodation and over 8,500 on our housing waiting list. An overpriced PRS is all that remains to those who are unable to access the open housing market, with 2-bed properties in Hackney having seen the fastest rent rise in Britain in the last decade.   Affordable options to lower and middle income earners in the borough are few and far between and it is simply not a viable option without entering into an often expensive house share, or moving out of the borough entirely. With nearly a third of all residents in Hackney in the private rented sector, it is essential that we continue our work to protect private renters.   The priorities and actions in this strategy are arranged into four key themes:   1.  Improving property and management standards in the Private Rented Sector. 2.  Increasing the supply and access to good quality, well managed, affordable homes in the Private Rented Sector. 3.  Ensuring that housing standards and living conditions in the sector contribute towards better health outcomes for all. 4.  Ensuring that Hackney is a place where people want to live and are proud to live.   There is close alignment between the proposed strategy and other internal strategies, including the draft Housing Strategy position paper; Hackney Strategic Plan; Hackney Community Strategy; Poverty Reduction: Strategic Framework; Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy; and the Ageing Well Strategy.   Adoption of the proposed Private Sector Housing Strategy does not itself have any direct financial implications. The strategy contains a list of broad actions for the Council and partners that will provide a clear framework for ensuring that available resources are targeted towards meeting need.   DETAILS OF ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED AND REJECTED   As having a Private Sector Housing Strategy is not a statutory requirement for local authorities, an alternative option for the Council would be not to produce this strategy, or include the objectives of the PRS strategy in the wider Housing Strategy which is currently in development. However, it was decided to produce a standalone strategy because of the benefits that it offers. Some of these benefits are set out below, and all of which could be lost if there was no strategy in place:   ·  It provides a clear statement of the Council’s vision and priorities for housing in the private sector, for residents, partners and other stakeholders.   ·  It shows how housing and other services across the Council will work together to help address the housing and housing-related needs and aspirations of residents.   ·  It will directly shape a delivery plan that will be developed and adopted if the strategy is implemented. The delivery plan will be ‘live’ and will adapt to respond to new housing-related circumstances that develop over the next five years. The action plan will be monitored and a report will be published on the Council’s website annually.