Agenda item

(Director of Resources) To consider the attached report (FPM-016-2015/16)

The Director of Resources presented a report on Invest to Save proposals, which were schemes that would reduce the Continuing Service Budget (CSB) in future years.

The Director of Resources advised that in setting the budget for 2015/16, the Council decided that, as the balance on the General Fund Reserve exceeded the minimum requirement and further savings were required, £0.5 million should be transferred from the General Fund Reserve into an Invest to Save earmarked reserve. A further  three proposals had been brought forward which included Rental Loans and Landlord Deposits for Homeless Applicants, Hillhouse Masterplanning Exercise and to appoint a consultant to review the management of off street car parks by the North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP). It was appropriate at this stage to seek Member approval for the proposals and give Members the opportunity to put forward additional or alternative proposals.

1.         Rental Loans and Landlord Deposits for Homeless Applicants

The Assistant Director (Housing Operations) advised that Management Board had asked him to make a brief presentation to Members in order to explain the increased pressures on the Council due to homelessness.  It was reported that the Council’s Hostel at Norway House was full, along with Hemnall House, Epping and 20 Housing Association leasing direct properties for homeless applicants.  London Boroughs were now placing their homeless applicants in our District and paying private landlords incentives of between £1,000 to £3,000 which had made it difficult for the Homelessness Prevention Team to place our own homeless applicants in the private rented sector accommodation and Private landlords were now reluctant to accept Epping Forest Housing Aid Scheme (EFHAS) damage deposit bonds.  The numbers in bed and breakfast accommodation was also increasing and the Council’s housing stock was being increasingly used to house homeless applicants on non-secure tenancies.  The Council also had very few of its own properties becoming available to let.  Finally, the further risk to the Council was explained, whereby we were yet to hear from the Government if any grant would be provided next year for the Homelessness Prevention Service.

The invest to save proposal was for £90,000 over a 3 year period (£30,000 per year) for rental loans for homeless applicants and landlord deposits for homeless applicants where there were larger households.  This would assist the Council in trying to secure private rented sector accommodation in these cases.  Applicants would repay the loans on interest free basis over a 24 month period, consequently recycling the budget and enabling others to benefit from the Scheme in the future.

Councillor J Philip was concerned about the proportion of loans that were going to be received back. The Assistant Director of Housing Operations advised that recovery was very disappointing and around 10%. Various methods were used to recover the loans but the general nature of a homeless applicant meant that they moved around a lot and were very hard to trace.

Councillor D Stallan advised that as the Portfolio Holder for Housing, he was looking into other various solutions for accommodation and that the problems would probably get worse because of the London Boroughs using large incentives, which was not an option for this Council. He advised that other solutions to increase capacity were being considered for Norway House as well.

The Cabinet Committee commented that other solutions would be required, alongside the rental loans and landlord deposits.  It was agreed that although rental loans could be provided, the budget should be used predominately for landlord deposits as these were more likely to be recovered.  The Cabinet Committee also agreed that the Scheme would need to be reviewed.

2.         Hillhouse Masterplanning Exercise

The Director of Resources advised that Epping Forest District Council (EFDC), Essex County Council (ECC) and NHS England would be looking to bring forward a mixed use proposal in the future, which potentially could provide a replacement facility for Waltham Abbey Swimming Pool, a new GP Surgery and an independent living elderly persons’ residential facility at Hillhouse, Waltham Abbey. To enable this proposal, a Masterplanning exercise was required along with specialist external consultants to support the process and the costs of which would be split between the interested parties with EFDC contributing £26,000.

The Cabinet Committee discussed the proposal and whether it was a business case for the Invest to Save budget, considering it was part of the Leisure Management Contract and a Masterplanning exercise which also tied in with the Local Plan. The Director of Resources advised that if it was to be incorporated into the Local Plan budget, there would be a draft report coming to Cabinet on 3 December 2015, for around £900,000 and the cost of the masterplanning consultants for Hillhouse it could be included within the Local Plan Budget.

3.         Appointment of a consultant to review the management of off street car parks

The Director of Resources advised that £15,000 had been proposed for the appointment of a consultant to review alternative arrangements for the management of off street car parks by NEPP.

Recommended:

1.         That the proposal for Rental Loans and Landlord Deposits for Homeless Applicants be recommend to Cabinet with the following conditions;

(a)  That the scheme was reviewed within the three year period; and

(b)  That deposit loans be investigated and used in future with no further rental loans.

2.            That the proposal for the appointment of a consultant to review the management of off street car parks by NEPP be recommended to Cabinet.

Resolved:

3.         That the proposal for Hillhouse Masterplanning Exercise would be included within the DDF for the Local Plan, which would be submitted to Cabinet on 3 December 2015; and

4.         That the progress on the other proposals previously reported to this Cabinet Committee be noted.

Reasons for Decisions:

To seek Member approval for Invest to Save proposals before they were implemented.

Other Options Considered and Rejected:

Members may decide not to support the proposals and suggest additional or alternative uses for the Invest to Save Fund.