It is clear that we have a national shortage of housing. Waiting lists for social housing are substantial right across the country. Our own list in Crawley has more than 3,000 people on it. To meet this challenge, we need a total, all-embracing policy for housing, reflecting our commitment to provide this most basic need.
This means looking at all opportunities to provide more accommodation and maximising the management efficiency of our own Council housing stock, and of those homes to which we have nomination rights. To this end, housing is a major strategic consideration for Crawley 2029 – the new Local Plan which is now out to consultation. A major decision will be around what percentage of properties on new developments should be affordable housing.
In terms of today’s housing supply, there are the major schemes at Kilnwood Vale, west of Bewbush, providing 2,500 homes, and our own North-East Sector providing 1,900 homes. Within these two developments, there will be up to 1,135 affordable homes for Crawley people to rent or part-buy. In addition, we will seek out opportunities within the Crawley Borough boundary, including on three significant sites owned by WSCC (West Sussex County Council). It is hoped that town centre developments might also enable more housing to be provided.
Then we have the management of the existing housing stock. We have made significant amendments to the housing allocation policy to ensure that the greatest opportunities are available to those people most in need. At the 24th October Full Council, we also approved a new Tenancy Strategy, which provides guidance for RSLs (Registered Social Landlords), including our own Crawley Homes.
One of the key changes is the ability to introduce renewable tenancies for new tenants. This means that a tenancy can be re-assessed at the end of its term to see if it is still the right option for the people concerned. The policy has the potential to free up more social housing to help those in greatest need on the waiting list.
It will also be possible to charge rents of up to 80 per cent of market value for new affordable housing. This change can make the difference between developments being viable or not, and can make more funds available for new-build.
The Government is changing the housing benefit rules so that under occupancy by one bedroom sees a benefit reduction of 14 per cent, with two bedrooms’ under occupancy generating a reduction of 25 per cent. To assist people who wish to downsize, Crawley Council has introduced one-off incentive payments to assist with the associated costs. This amounts to broadly £500 per bedroom released, plus up to £500 for removal costs. We try to help where we can.