Quality Housing

What does this mean?

• Balanced Housing Markets: Reducing the amount of private rented accommodation in Cliftonville.
• Housing for All: Ensuring that housing supply meets local demand, particularly affordable housing, helping to reduce levels of homelessness.
• Safe and Secure Homes: Improving the quality of homes across the district, ensuring they meet the needs of their households and reducing fuel poverty.
• A Quality Landlord: Delivering a quality service as landlord to council housing tenants.

Why is this important?

• The imbalance in Thanet’s housing markets is particularly bad in certain wards where up to 59% of properties are privately rented;
• There are over 4,000 people on the housing register, but under 600 lettings annually;
• In 2007-08 157 households applied to the council as homeless;
• A survey carried out recently suggest that people who live outside of Thanet think that the quality of housing here is poor. This perception needs to change if we are to attract outside investment;
• Around 35% of all homes in Thanet are failing to meet the decent homes standard. Many have poor heating and insulation, potentially leading to increased deaths over the winter;
• There is a huge increasing demand for Disabled Facilities Grants in Thanet with approximately 200 referrals made each year;
• The council is responsible for the management of around 3,000 council homes, with the majority based in some of the most deprived wards in Thanet.

How will we measure success?

What are we going to do?

The following projects are the key pieces of work we are going to carry out over the next three years, over and above our general day to day activities.

Balanced Housing Markets

• Develop a programme with registered social landlords (RSL’s) to purchase properties in order to reduce the number of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) and the level of private rented accommodation in the renewal area (Start: Apr 09 - Finish: Mar 12)
• Secure approval for and introduce a discretionary licensing scheme for HMOs in the renewal area (Start: Apr 09 - Finish Jun 10)
• Introduce planning policies to safeguard family homes and the character and amenity of residential areas (Start: Apr 08 - Finish Mar 11)

Housing for All

• Increase the amount of affordable housing across the District (Start: Apr 09 - Finish: Mar 11)
• Provide advice and support to households to prevent homelessness in the district (Start Apr 09 - Finish: Mar 10)
• Review the allocations policy to ensure priority is given to local people, discouraging the inward migration of vulnerable households into the area (Start Apr 09 - Finish: Mar 10)
• Develop alternative supported and emergency housing for vulnerable and homeless households (Start: Feb 09 - Finish: Sep 10)

Safe and Secure Homes

• Improve housing conditions for vulnerable households living in privately rented accommodation using enforcement and loans (Start: Jul 09 - Finish: Mar 11)
• Improve energy efficiency for 350 households living in fuel poverty (Start: Apr 09 - Finish: Mar 11)
• Establish a landlord accreditation scheme in Thanet to encourage landlords to achieve a higher standard in the quality and management of rented accommodation (Start: Apr 09 - Finish: Mar 10)

A Quality Landlord

• Establish a vehicle for the joint management of council housing in East Kent (Start: Apr 08 - Finish: Apr 10)

Next page: Healthy Communities

Previous page: Beautiful Thanet

• Foreword  
• Thanet's Economy
• Safe Neighbourhoods
• Beautiful Thanet
• Quality Housing
• Healthy Communities
• Modern Council

Corporate Improvement Manager

Email: mailto:sophie.chadwick@thanet.gov.uk

Tel: 01843 577180