SHEFFIELD CITY COUNCIL
NEIGHBOURHOODS & COMMUNITY CARE DIRECTORATE
REPORT TO CABINET
DATE: 14 November 2007
REPORT OF: Executive Director of Neighbourhoods & Community Care
SUBJECT: PRIVATE SECTOR HOUSING SERVICES POLICY
SUMMARY:
This report introduces a comprehensive new Policy for intervention in elements of
Sheffield’s private housing. The Policy covers the range of intervention and
assistance for homeowners, landlords and private sector tenants and area based
regeneration.
The Policy addresses the following key strategic objectives:
1. Addressing non-decent housing in the private sector and meeting the
government’s PSA7 target
2. Promoting environmental sustainability and addressing fuel poverty in the
private sector
3. Creating successful housing markets supported by the right quality and mix of
private sector housing
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. That the Private Sector Housing Services Policy as set out in this report be
approved with the Interventions and Enforcement Policy (Appendix 2) taking
immediate effect and the Assistance Policy (Appendix 1) taking effect from 1st
February 2008
2. That the current Private Sector Housing Policy be rescinded with effect from
the date that the Assistance Policy takes effect.]
3. That Cabinet recommend to Council that the Assistance Policy delegations to
Officers as set out in Appendix 4 be approved and come into force on the 1st
February 2008
4. That Cabinet recommend to Council the current Private Sector Housing Policy
delegations to Officers approved on the 17th May 2006 be rescinded from the
date that the Assistance Policy delegations come into force, subject to any
delegation continuing to be in force in so far as is necessary to enable
outstanding matters commenced prior to rescission to be concluded.
5. That Cabinet recommend to Council that the Director of Housing, in
consultation with the Cabinet Member for Safer Neighbourhoods, be authorised
to revise the Intervention and Enforcement Policy, as set out at Appendix 2.
RELEVANT SCRUTINY BOARD IF DECISION CALLED IN: Neighbourhoods and
DEL Services and Standards
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FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: YES
PARAGRAPHS:8.0
CLEARED BY: Terry Healy
BACKGROUND PAPERS:
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Investment for Neighbourhoods 2007/08 to 2011/12 (24th January 2007)
Introduction of Loans – Amendment of Policy, Cabinet Report (date)
Relocations Loans, Cabinet Report, Sept 2005
Private Sector Leasing Scheme, Cabinet Report, 23 May 2007
Mandatory Licensing Scheme, Cabinet Report, 12 April 2006
AREAS AFFECTED:
1.
ALL
CATEGORY OF REPORT:
OPEN
Introduction
1.1. This report proposes a comprehensive policy for intervention in Sheffield’s private
housing. The proposed Private Sector Housing Services Policy covers the range
of services and assistance for homeowners, landlords and private sector tenants
and area based regeneration. The proposed policy and its interventions are
intended for those homes occupied by the most vulnerable and also those living
in private accommodation rented from landlords.
1.2. Whilst the City has 171,000 private sector properties, it is the 16,000 homes
occupied by vulnerable people and those on low incomes that in the main will be
the focus of this policy. Elsewhere on this agenda a report, Housing in Sheffield,
provides further detail both about the housing market in Sheffield and how the
Council influences the supply and provision of housing in the private sector
through the planning system.
This report sets out three clear key objectives for the proposed policy:
1. The continued transition from the use of grants towards the provision of loans
to deliver decency across the private sector housing stock.
2. Environmental sustainability linking the wide benefits that flow from tackling
fuel poverty and achieving decency standards.
3. Creating successful housing markets so that the private sector housing offer in
the city plays a full part in contributing to the creation of successful
neighbourhoods and a flourishing economy.
The report includes proposals for measuring the success the City Council and its
partners will have in meeting the goals and improving the private sector housing
stock over the next 3 years. The main body of the report clarifies how the
proposed policy will change the types of intervention and assistance the Council
is able to make to achieve its policy goals. In particular the report proposes a
continued transition from grant assistance to loans provision, a more holistic
approach to health and well being and a need for the Council to strengthen its
enabling role by acting in the interests of house owners and tenants in Sheffield.
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1.3. This report should be read together with the ‘Assistance Policy’ (Appendix 1),
which details the delivery tools for improving living conditions through advice and
financial assistance and area regeneration delivery tools, and the ‘Intervention
and Enforcement Policy’ (Appendix 2), which sets out how the service will
intervene in the private housing sector, including the approach to enforcement
action. The large majority of households in Sheffield’s private sector will not be
directly affected by this policy and its delivery tools.
2.
Background
2.1. The proposed policy aims to assist individuals and communities who live in
approximately 10% of the city’s private housing stock. This is the current
estimate of non-decent homes occupied by vulnerable people. There are
171,000 private sector properties in Sheffield, making up over 74% of the housing
stock and housing over three-quarters of the population. However, many of these
properties do not meet the Decent Homes standard. An estimated investment of
£160 million would be required in order to meet the Decent Homes standard in
those private sector homes occupied by vulnerable people alone. The
government’s Public Sector Agreement 7 (PSA 7) target aims to raise the
proportion of private sector homes that meet the Decent Homes Standard and
are occupied by vulnerable people to 70%. This challenge cannot be addressed
by public sector funding or by the Private Sector Housing Services Policy alone.
2.2. The current Private Sector Housing Services Policy was developed in 2003 in
response to the Regulatory Reform (Housing Assistance) (England and Wales)
Order 2002 (RRO). The RRO introduced a new more flexible approach to private
sector housing renewal, removing the previous tightly prescribed grant regime
and giving local authorities discretion to develop a policy appropriate to the local
area and to develop loan-based forms of assistance. In response, Sheffield
introduced more flexible and innovative forms of assistance, including equity
release loans, whilst providing a form of grant assistance, Essential Works
Grants, for the most vulnerable people; and maintaining targeting regeneration
schemes in areas of acute priority.
2.3. The current Policy was successful in enabling this transition from grant
assistance to loan assistance however it did not address the full range of issues
in the private housing sector. The RRO also required local authorities to
periodically review and revise their local policy to take account of changing local
issues and the introduction of new legislation and to take advantage of any new
opportunities arising. Therefore a detailed review of the current policy has been
undertaken in order to create a new Policy that is fit for purpose. The policy, if
approved, will consolidate a number of previous Cabinet reports to provide a
comprehensive and robust policy framework for private sector housing.
3.
Strategic Context
3.1. The Government has recently set out its proposals for a new approach to national
and local housing strategy in its Green Paper “Homes for the Future; more
affordable, more sustainable” (July 2007). The Green Paper is clear that local
authorities are key agencies for tacking climate change by reducing carbon
emissions, particularly in relation to existing homes and their energy
consumption.
In addition to the Green Paper, it is also vital that we fully acknowledge and
embrace the wider legislative context and the national, regional and local
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strategic frameworks within which we operate. National Policy reforms, the RRO
and the Housing Act 2004, have driven the approach to private sector housing
intervention and renewal further towards responsible ownership, encouraging
local authorities to move away from the provision of grant assistance towards
more flexible forms of assistance including advice, equity release loans, targeted
area regeneration and other innovative solutions. The key implications of the
Housing Act 2004 for private sector housing were the introduction of a new riskbased method of assessing housing conditions (the ‘Housing Health and Safety
Rating System’, or ‘HHSRS’), and the introduction of a system of mandatory and
discretionary licensing for privately rented housing.
3.2. At the regional level, economic, planning and housing strategies explicitly link
successful regional housing markets to maximising private sector investment
and driving up the quality and choice of private housing to support new and
existing workers. Local authorities are encouraged to work within a common
regional framework to deliver a joined up approach to housing renewal across
South Yorkshire, providing the Private Sector Housing Service an opportunity to
take a more proactive role in creating a successful regional housing market.
Regeneration under the governments Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder
Programme is co-ordinated across the South Yorkshire by Transform South
Yorkshire, which is improving the quality, choice and sustainability of housing and
neighbourhoods in Sheffield’s weaker housing markets.
3.3. At the local level, the Private Sector Housing Services Policy needs to align with
the Council’s key corporate priorities of achieving ‘Successful Neighbourhoods’
across the city, and ‘Closing the Gap’ between the most deprived
neighbourhoods and the rest of the city. Strategically, the Policy needs to
support the three key themes of Sheffield’s Housing Strategy; ‘Successful
Housing Markets’, ‘Decent Homes in Sustainable Neighbourhoods’ and
‘Independence and Inclusion’. Housing in Sheffield sets out the Council’s
broader housing strategy and appears elsewhere on this agenda.
4.
Strategic Objectives & Policy Goals
4.1. The proposed policy aims to achieve the following three key strategic objectives
and associated priorities by meeting the specific targets set out below:
1. Address non-decent housing in the private sector and meet the
government’s PSA7 target
 The Council will aim to meet the Government’s target by ensuring 70% of
private sector homes occupied by vulnerable people are made decent by
2010.
2. Promote environmental sustainability and address fuel poverty in the
private sector
 Ensure the number of people facing fuel poverty is reduced.
 Significantly reduce the City’s carbon footprint.
3. Create successful housing markets supported by the right quality and
mix of private sector housing
 The Council will license all 2000 qualifying houses in multiple occupation within
2 years ensuring they meet minimum physical and management standards.
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 The Council will aim to ensure 50% of all landlords demonstrably meet
standards set out in the responsible landlords scheme by 2010.
5.
Policy Delivery Tools
The proposed policy provides for the following range of policy tools and interventions to
be used to achieve the strategic objectives and balance priorities, whilst maximising the
impact of the limited resources available to deliver the Policy:
5.1. Advice –
 Advice and information will be provided to homeowners, landlords and private
sector tenants. Owner occupiers and landlords will be encouraged to take
responsibility for the repair and maintenance of their property and advice given
to help them to move their property towards the Decent Homes standard.
 Advice will be provided on energy efficiency measures and referrals made to
energy schemes or partner agencies for assistance to help to reduce fuel
poverty.
 A specialised advice service will be provided to support private sector tenants
and to proactively prevent homelessness and a tenancy relation’s service will
provide legal advice to tenants to help prevent illegal eviction.
5.2.
Financial Assistance –
 The Policy proposes a reduction in grant assistance and enhanced provision of
equity release loans. Essential Works Grants are removed and replaced with
Health and Safety Loans. Decency Loans will be available to vulnerable
homeowners for carrying out repairs and improvements to their homes, aimed
at helping to achieve the Decent Homes standard.
 Disabled Facilities Grants will continue to be provided to provide adaptations to
disabled persons homes. Disabled Loan Assistance will be introduced to ‘topup’ the grant where appropriate, and fund works aimed at addressing the wider
adaptation and accommodation needs of the disabled person and their family
 Relocation Loans are proposed to address severe property conditions,
overcrowding or where a property cannot be adapted to meet a disabled
persons needs, or where demolition is necessary.
 The Policy introduces a new form of assistance ‘Minor Works Grants’ for very
elderly vulnerable homeowners to help them to remain living independently in
their own home and to reduce pressure on health care services.
 Assistance will be provided for energy measures through partner agencies
where applicable
 The Assistance Policy will, if approved, be implemented on the 1st February
2008, and within the Policy are transition arrangements detailing how enquiries
for assistance will be dealt with up to and following implementation.
 To avoid conflict with regeneration schemes, discretion is delegated in the
policy to suspend financial assistance to a dwelling or areas subject to
demolition, or where conflict may occur with other assistance proposals.
5.3.
Area Regeneration –
 Area regeneration will be targeted towards the most deprived areas of the city
to address housing market weakness and to support healthy communities; with
investment being targeted within Housing Market Renewal Areas to support the
Council’s ‘Closing the Gap’ agenda.
 Area-based schemes may include block improvement schemes, environmental
improvements and maintenance schemes, subject to funding.
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 Assistance will be provided to homeowners to relocate from areas of
regeneration affected by demolition.
 Privately owned empty properties will be brought back into use across the city
using a range of voluntary and enforcement measures, including the ‘Private
Sector Leasing Scheme’
5.4.
Private Rented Sector Intervention –
 The proposed policy aims to raise the physical and management standards of
privately rented housing and promote it as a tenure of choice.
 The service will work with landlords through the adoption of the ‘three E’s’
approach: ‘Encouragement, Education and Enforcement’. This approach aims
to engage with landlords by providing a range of services, schemes and
initiatives to proactively encourage landlords to provide high quality, wellmanaged private rented housing.
 Where this approach fails, enforcement measures may be applied in line with
the ‘Intervention and Enforcement Policy’ (Appendix 2), to regulate private
sector housing conditions.
 A responsive service will be provided to investigate complaints of disrepair,
including the enforcement of standards where applicable.
 Mandatory Licensing for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) has been
implemented and the scheme will continue to be delivered across the city.
5.5.
New Initiatives –
 The proposed policy delivery tools will continually be assessed and improved to
ensure that the Council is among the best performing private sector housing
services in the country.
 The proposed policy will consolidate initiatives developed since the current
policy was approved, including loan assistance for relocation, improvement and
adaptation, maintenance assistance, neighbourhood investment, empty
property intervention and private rented sector initiatives
 The proposed policy will be flexible and provides an opportunity to develop new
initiatives and tools for delivering the policy and taking the service forward,
including:
o Energy schemes to address fuel poverty and environmental issues, a
separate report will be brought before cabinet on major new initiatives to
tackle affordable warmth in the City
o Health-based initiatives to address the housing-health agenda and support
healthier communities through a more holistic approach to health and well
being.
o An evaluation of the need for further licensing of areas of private rented
housing – a separate report on the use of licensing will be brought to
Cabinet at a later date
o Further initiatives for bringing empty properties back into use
 A joined up approach to delivering the proposed policy will be adopted by
working with key partners and stakeholders and developing new partnerships
to maximise funding opportunities where possible.
 The service will continue to provide the highest standard of customerorientated services and continue to challenge and improve service provision to
clients in order to retain our Charter Mark award.
6.
Impact of the proposed Policy
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6.1. Corporate Goals – The proposed policy directly contributes to the Council’s key
corporate objectives of achieving ‘Successful Neighbourhoods’ across the city,
and ‘Closing the Gap’ between the most deprived neighbourhoods and the rest
of the city. The proposed Policy contributes to the three overarching themes of
Sheffield’s Housing Strategy: Successful Housing Markets, Decent Homes in
Sustainable Neighbourhoods and Independence and Inclusion.
6.2. Grants to Loans – The proposed policy reflects the changes in the national
strategic direction of private sector housing renewal by reducing grant assistance
and replacing it with a package of assistance for homeowners, landlords and
tenants, including advice and encouragement, loan-based forms of assistance,
financial assistance for the most vulnerable and targeted area-based
regeneration schemes. This will encourage owners to take greater responsibility
for the repair and maintenance of their property. It will also decrease the amount
of public money spent on financial assistance, as loan funding will be recycled,
enabling a greater number of vulnerable people to be assisted in the long term.
6.3. Decent Homes - The proposed policy will improve conditions and help to raise
the number of homes achieving the Decent Homes Standard in private sector
housing through a combination of advice and encouragement, targeting limited
resources to those in most need, working with landlords, delivering innovative
solutions and providing opportunities to utilise external funding sources. The
scale of investment needed to achieve the Decent Homes standard in the private
sector cannot be met by public funding alone therefore the proposed Policy
introduces new tools and provides a range of assistance to make the best use of
limited available funding. Area regeneration schemes will also impact on
decency levels as older non-decent housing is demolished or improved.
Addressing housing market weakness will also give owners confidence to invest
in their property and will support sustainable neighbourhoods, contributing directly
to the Housing Strategy objective of creating ‘Decent Homes in Sustainable
Neighbourhoods’.
6.4. Health & Well being – There is an increasing recognition of the importance of
tackling housing issues in the wider context of housing and health, in order to
assist with joint areas of responsibility for the City Council and its health partners.
It is intended that this new area of policy development will link with existing
community care initiatives that have developed the role of assistive technology to
meet the health needs of Sheffield’s residents in their homes.
The proposed policy is innovative in providing an opportunity to develop healthbased initiatives to address the housing-health agenda by creating healthier
homes and healthier communities. These initiatives may include falls prevention,
addressing childhood asthma linked to housing conditions and promotion of the
awareness of the effects of housing conditions on health. Health-based initiatives
may be developed in partnership with Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) where viable.
The proposed Policy will help vulnerable people across the city to live
independently in their own home and reduce the need for health care services by
targeting financial assistance, including loans, to vulnerable people, providing
assistance for adaptations to meet disabled persons housing needs and providing
grant assistance for elderly people (‘Minor Works Grants’). The proposed policy
will aim to provide access for everyone to a choice of quality private sector
housing, supporting the Housing Strategy objective ‘Independence and Inclusion’.
6.5. Environmental Sustainability – The proposed policy will play a vital role in
achieving the Council’s vision of achieving ‘Environmental Excellence’ across the
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city by encouraging improvements in energy efficiency and environmental
standards and promoting environmental sustainability in private sector housing.
In recent years Sheffield has been significantly raising the profile of its
environmental and climate change strategies. This reflects both the strong
national lead on the environment agenda as well as greater local political and
community support. To provide a specific housing focus, and overarching
‘Environmentally Sustainable Housing Strategy’ was agreed in 2006, which built
on an existing strong strategic commitment to tackle fuel poverty. The energy
advice and assistance proposed by the proposed policy will directly contribute to
achieving these strategic objectives by raising energy efficiency and reducing fuel
poverty in the private housing sector.
6.6. Successful Housing Markets – By targeting investment and regeneration
schemes in weak housing markets in the city, in line with the Housing Market
Renewal Programme, the proposed policy will help to balance local housing
markets and support the sub-regional housing market. The proposed policy will
also encourage a thriving private rented sector and promote it as a real tenure of
choice by raising property and management standards of private rented housing.
Housing market weakness will also be addressed by bringing empty properties
back into use, raising community confidence and neighbourhood sustainability.
7.
Measuring the impact of the proposed policy
7.1. The Council will track the impact of the proposed policy through the Successful
Neighbourhoods Information System.
This will measure the overall impact of the policy, however the environmental
sustainability impacts will be captured through the Corporate process that will
update on the City Council’s Environmental Strategy through Scrutiny and the
Council’s Cabinet.
8.
Financial Implications and Risk Assessment
8.1
The proposed policy will be delivered through a combination of public sector
funding sources, as agreed by Cabinet in the annual Neighbourhood Capital
Programme report “Investment for Neighbourhoods” 2007/08 to 2011/12 (24th
January 2007), leverage of private sector finance and client funding. The
proposed policy will utilise capital from the annual Housing Capital Programme,
the Regional Housing Board and Transform South Yorkshire’s Housing Market
Renewal Fund. The Neighbourhood Investment Programme Board monitors
Capital Programme and use of Regional Housing Board (RHB) and HMR funding,
therefore the impact of the proposed policy on resources will be reported through
the NIP Board.
8.2
Additional funding may be accessed from other agencies and partners, according
to the development of future joined up initiatives, for example, Primary Health
Care Trusts for housing-health based initiatives. The proposed policy will ensure
that efficiency gains are maximised in the delivery of services and utilisation of
resources and that the service provides Value for Money.
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Environmental Impact Assessment
9.1
The proposed policy will have a positive impact on the local environment and will
contribute towards achieving ‘Environmental Excellence’ across the city by raising
environmental and energy efficiency standards in the private housing sector. The
service will drive up energy efficiency standards in the private sector by providing
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free advice and information to homeowners, landlords and tenants, raising
awareness of environmental issues and promoting environmental sustainability.
The service will work with partners across the region to provide financial
assistance for carrying out energy measures to tackle fuel poverty. The proposed
policy will have a positive impact on the quality of the local environment by
carrying out environmental improvements as part of area regeneration schemes
and by using thermally efficient building materials where possible.
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Equalities
10.1 An ‘Equalities Impact Assessment’ (Appendix 3) was carried out alongside the
Policy review to ensure that equalities and diversity issues were considered and
addressed by the proposed policy and throughout the consultation process. The
proposed policy was informed by a detailed process of consultation which was
fully inclusive and engaged with a diverse range of groups through a combination
of methods to ensure that minority and ‘hard to reach’ groups were not excluded.
The Policy is accessible to everyone and considers the needs of diverse
communities and clients across the city and does not discriminate against any
minority group.
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Recommendations
11.1 That the Private Sector Housing Services Policy as set out in this report be
approved with the Interventions and Enforcement Policy (Appendix 2) taking
immediate effect and the Assistance Policy (Appendix 1) taking effect from 1st
February 2008
11.2 That the current Private Sector Housing Policy be rescinded with effect from the
date that the Assistance Policy takes effect.
11.3 That Cabinet recommend to Council that the Assistance Policy delegations to
Officers as set out in Appendix 4 be approved and come into force on the 1st
February 2008
11.4 That Cabinet recommend to Council the current Private Sector Housing Policy
delegations to Officers approved on the 17th May 2006 be rescinded from the
date that the Assistance Policy delegations come into force, subject to any
delegation continuing to be in force in so far as is necessary to enable
outstanding matters commenced prior to rescission to be concluded.
11.5 That Cabinet recommend to Council that the Director of Housing, in consultation
with the Cabinet Member for Safer Neighbourhoods, be authorised to revise the
Intervention and Enforcement Policy, as set out at Appendix 2.
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Appendices
Appendix 1
Assistance Policy
Appendix 2
Intervention and Enforcement Policy
Appendix 3
Equalities Impact Assessment
Appendix 4
Delegations
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