A £2500 carrot is to be dangled in front of Angus Council house tenants in an effort to free up some of the area’s properties for larger families.
Faced with a significant demand for the likes of three-bedroom homes, the council will launch a Downsizing Incentive Scheme which aims to get people out of council houses now too large for their needs. The Angus initiative follows a model already being applied by other Scottish councils and is being laid for approval before the area’s neighbourhood services committee tomorrow.
In a report to councillors, housing director Ron Ashton said an examination of Angus occupancy revealed the scale of the problem. “The Angus Housing Need and Demand Assessment 2010 identifies significant levels of unmet housing need across Angus,” it states.
One in five older respondents to the assessment indicated that the house where they live is too large for their needs. “Amongst the 7203 general needs properties owned and managed by the council, 247 are considered to be under-occupied,” the report continues.
This scheme will contribute toward improving the council housing service and respond to large families’ needs. “From the council waiting list, 527 of the 4232 applicants (12.45%) are waiting for large properties to become available.
“Increasing pressure on budgets… means that it is unlikely that the current shortfall in affordable housing provision will be addressed in its entirety by council or housing association new-build projects. As a result, how the current stock of all affordable housing is used is an important element in closing the gap on meeting housing need and, in particular, making the best use of the existing council stock, including larger family housing.Three-bedroom-plus”There are also more specific issues with the availability of larger family housing within the existing affordable housing stock in Angus which members have regularly debated. The stock of three-bedroom-plus houses is relatively small and individual properties become available for re-let infrequently.”
Councillors will be told recently-announced proposals for amendments to the housing benefit system include a reduced payment for those under-occupying.
“The council is seeking to increase the number of larger properties available for re-let to families in housing need and it is for this purpose that the Downsizing Incentive Scheme (DIS) has been developed to help boost supply of larger houses and address the mismatch of over and under-occupation.
“A number of other local authorities in Scotland are facing similar challenges and several of them, such as Moray, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, have now developed similar schemes in their areas to encourage existing tenants to free up under-occupied properties.”
Angus has an incentive package but officials believe it is unattractive to tenants at only £500.
The report continues, “It is proposed, following discussions with tenants and comparing similar products with other Scottish local authorities, to increase the level of grant offered to current tenants to £2500, which will make the DIS significantly more attractive to the council’s tenants.
“Consultation with tenants concluded that £2500 is the right amount and some of them suggested that it has to be an attractive sum to encourage people, especially older people, to take the big step of moving.
“With a budget of £50,000, this will allow up to 20 grants to be made as part of the proposed 12-month pilot on a ‘first come, first served’ basis,” adds Mr Ashton. “The DIS will be promoted to the council’s existing tenants via Community Housing Team (CHT) and ACCESS Offices.
“In addition to this, Community Housing Teams will also be empowered to approach… where there is a pressing need to access a specific size and/or type of council property in a specific location.
“With members’ agreement, the DIS will be made available and actively promoted to the council’s tenants from April 1. The pilot project will run until March 31, 2012, or until the designated funding has been exhausted if prior to that date.”
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