Agenda item

To present the report of the Head of Housing Services.

The report of the Head of Housing Services incorporating the Housing Strategy for 2022 to 2027 was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

Councillor Alun Mummery, Portfolio Member for Housing and Supporting Communities presented the report and Strategy and highlighted its overall strategic aim as being to ensure that the people of Anglesey have a place to call home, and are empowered and supported to contribute to the local community. He thanked the Housing Service staff for the work that had gone into drafting the strategy which he commended to the Committee as a positive document.

The Service Manager (Housing Strategy, Commissioning & Policy) said that the Strategy applies to many people on Anglesey as it will provide affordable housing which will include many different tenures, accommodation and assistance to vulnerable and specific client groups, young people who wish to purchase their own home, people who require adaptations due to ill-health and people at crisis points requiring immediate housing. This will be achieved by concentrating on six key themes which will provide a basis for identifying what the issues are and how the Strategy intends to address these in the short term of one to two years and medium to long term over the course of the Strategy. The Strategy has been out to public consultation the results of which are contained in Appendix 1 and has been adapted accordingly.

The Officer responded to points and questions raised by the Committee as follows –

·                With regard to any new issues having emerged from the consultation, the Committee was advised that the Service had sought to consult as widely as possible on the strategy which involved making a number of presentations. In the year since work began on the draft strategy, the issue of second homes and property market pressures have come to the forefront of attention and these concerns are reflected in the responses to the strategy from members of the public and may not have been as prominent had the consultation been undertaken two years ago in the pre-Covid era.

·                Whether the Service was disappointed with the fact that the online questionnaire only attracted 25 responses which then tends to skew the percentages despite its being regularly promoted through the Council’s Social media platforms throughout the six week consultation period. The Committee wanted to know what could be done to improve the response to this and other consultations to make them more meaningful. The Committee was advised that attempts had been made to reach as many people as possible through Zoom meetings and that the questions on the questionnaire were clear, short and easy to understand. Although the response was limited overall, the respondents consisted of a cross section of people/groups and included members of the public.

·                With regard to establishing a Task and Finish Group on Second Homes to seek solutions which will mitigate the effect second homes have on communities and residents, whether the group will be able to achieve anything in practice given that the power to address the second homes issue lies primarily with Welsh Government. The Committee was advised that the Task and Finish Group has been established internally at the request of the Executive and has been responding to a number of consultations by Welsh Government on the matter. While some of the issues connected with second homes will be addressed via national policies there is scope to be influencing those policies as well as developing local policies to respond to some of the challenges faced in housing e.g. the Shared Equity Policy which is being presented for the Executive’s approval at this afternoon’s meeting. It was confirmed that the Group has elected member representation consisting of the Portfolio Members for Housing, Finance and Planning and that as it was established to formulate a response to a consultation which closes on 24 January, 2022 (with further consultations closing in February), it was not envisaged that it would be reporting more widely.

·                Whether the Service has measures in place to assist tenants in fuel poverty given that the rising cost of energy is likely to drive an increasing number of people into that category. The Committee was advised that advice, guidance and support for tenants is provided by the Service’s Financial Inclusion Officers and is also available via the O’Toole Centre in Holyhead; these resources seek to help tenants manage their finances so that they can reduce their energy costs and/or increase their income to meet their energy costs. An element of this service is also available to non-tenants and Anglesey residents in general.

Having considered the documentation presented and the response given to the questions raised, it was resolved to recommend approval of the Housing Strategy 2022-27 to the Executive.