Agenda item - New Models of Housing Delivery

The Cabinet Member for Health and Housing to present the recommendation from the People and Health Overview Committee of 20 March 2025.

(a) That Dorset Council adopt the Temporary Accommodation Lease Model (set out at appendix 2 of the report of 29 April 2025) and that authority be delegated to the Executive Director for Adults & Housing, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Health & Housing to implement the model.

(b) That Dorset Council endorse the approach described in Settled Accommodation Lease Model (set out at appendix 3 of the report) and requests that options for the delivery, funding and management of the model, including corporate structures and partnership delivery, be explored, and reported back to Cabinet for approval of the recommended approach.

(c) That Dorset Council endorse the approach described in Development Partnership Pilot Model (set out in appendix 4) and requests that options for the partnership delivery be explored and reported back to Cabinet for approval of the recommended approach.

(d) That Dorset Council adopt the approach described in Asset Led Development Pilot Model (set out in appendix 5) and that that authority be delegated to the Executive Director for Adult & Housing, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Health & Housing to implement the model.

(e) That Dorset Council explores and report back to Cabinet on options for its housing company.

Reason for the decision

To address the objective of ending the use of bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless households. Options offer short, medium and long-term delivery solutions.

The Cabinet Member for Health and Housing set out the report and the recommendations of the People & Health Overview Committee of 20 March 2025.

The Cabinet Member confirmed her commitment to phasing out the use of bed & breakfast accommodation. She stated that the recommendations presented to members, which included leasing more properties, would ensure there was sufficient accommodation to achieve this goal in the future.

The options offered short, medium and long-term delivery and would ensure that existing Council priorities, service strategies, plans and transformation aspirations were achieved. There was further work to do on leasing opportunities, a development partnership and options for a housing company. Further reports for these would be presented to a future meeting of Cabinet.

In response to a question, the Corporate Director for Housing confirmed that members could be assured that close attention would be given to models for the long-term settled supply in future reports. This was to ensure that it they would be cost effective as well as the best option for residents.

In response to concerns about the extent of acquisitions and their potential effect on the private sector housing market, the Cabinet Member assured members that the situation would be closely monitored throughout the process. Responding to an additional query regarding the variety of affordable development sites, the Corporate Director explained that housing mix would depend on the specific site. But the overall strategy would be to incorporate mix tenure to create a balance of needs and requirements.

In respect of a question around funding, the Corporate Director confirmed that 10 million pounds capital had been identified over the next 3 years to acquire and develop suitable accommodation options. But decisions would be made on a case-by-case bases as detailed in the report to members.

In reply to a question around legal support, the Cabinet Member indicated that for the lease properties, the lease partnership would be carrying out that work.

It was proposed by Cllr G Tayler, seconded by Cllr S Robinson

Decision