efficiency of homes and reduce fuel poverty.
All new housing is built to meet Building Regulations as a minimum. New affordable housing is built to meet the WHQ Standards as a minimum.
Maximise the opportunities to bid for funding to provide energy efficiency improvements.
Target energy efficiency improvements towards properties which are the least energy efficient, in line with the Housing Renewal Policy.
2.6 Investing in Communities
Develop the Affordable Housing Matrix (for the selection of RSL partners) on S106 and affordable housing sites to include evidence of added value and community investment.
Social landlords:
Support their tenants to access training, education, employment, skills and making positive contributions to their communities. Build in added value to their WHQS and maintenance programmes. Have tenant engagement/participation strategies in place and work
in partnership to share best practice and build capacity within the county.
Have plans in place to develop digital inclusion, financial inclusion and community investment.
3.
BETTER HOUSING ADVICE AND SUPPORT
Aim
To provide better housing advice and support; ensuring that residents have access to the housing and services they need to live independently and plan their housing futures.
Why is this important?
Everyone needs a home and this section provides a focus on the housing advice and support people may need in order to access and maintain their accommodation. Many public, private and third sector organisations are involved in helping people to find and maintain their homes by providing a range of good quality services, but there is always room for improvement.
Many people require housing advice at some point in their lives, whether they are a young person leaving home for the first time, a family seeking a settled home, or an older person looking to downsize to a more manageable property. Advice is often provided to an individual or household experiencing difficult personal circumstances caused by factors they may, or may not, be able to control. Advice is provided to help them cope with their situation and get their lives back on track. It is also necessary to acknowledge that asking for advice can also be proactive and positive, a step
towards planning a successful housing future.
Some households will experience homelessness; homelessness does not mean living on the streets, it applies to those who, for many different reasons, suddenly lose their home or are forced out of their home through personal or domestic circumstances. A proactive approach to preventing households becoming homeless is key, as prevention will always be better than cure. When homelessness cannot be avoided, appropriate temporary accommodation should be provided until a sustainable solution can be identified.
Ensuring there are sustainable housing options available to households contributes to preventing homelessness. There is a need to help people to access housing that suits their income and their needs at different stages of their lives.
People may need support to enable them to develop or maintain their capacity to live independently and remain in their accommodation. Support may be needed over the short or long term and can be delivered in a variety of ways to best meet the needs of the individual. When an individual is not ready for or able to manage mainstream housing, specialist accommodation can be provided to meet the needs of specific groups within the community.
This forms the basis of the Vale of Glamorgan’s aim to providebetter housing advice and support. This aim will be achieved by working towards a number of key objectives;
3.1 Ensure the public have access to high quality housing advice.
3.2 Prevent homelessness wherever possible and provide sustainable solutions. 3.3 Enable access to the right type of housing.
3.1.
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D VIC EMany people require housing advice at some point in their lives, whether they are a young person leaving home for the first time, a family seeking for settled home, or an older person looking to move to a more manageable property. The reasons people may need housing advice can be for a variety of reasons:
Being homeless or threatened with the loss of their home, e.g. eviction, mortgage repossession. Difficulties in affording housing costs, rent or mortgage payments.
Finding out how to access housing and to know which tenure is most suitable and affordable. To access specialist or accessible housing, adaptations, repairs and improve home safety. Mortgage advice, e.g. first time buyers, equity release.
Help to remain independent, access support and assistance. Looking for a different size, or more suitable or affordable home.
People need to be able to access timely, high quality advice and assistance to help them resolve their housing problems well before their situation reaches crisis point.
Organisations Involved in Providing Housing Advice Include, but are not limited to:
The Council’s Housing Advice Service is delivered as part of the statutory homeless function. The advice provided focuses on preventing homelessness; sign posting people towards advice services and accommodation options. The Council also provides housing advice as part of its Environmental Health and Social Services functions to customers, housing providers and landlords.
Llamau’s One Stop Shop for Young People, developed in partnership with the Council, run a service for people aged 16-25 to access advice about their housing situation or help if they are homeless.
Shelter Cymru provide independent specialist advice, advocacy and legal representation for anyone with housing problems. Three surgeries per week are held in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Care and Repair in the Vale, which is hosted by Newydd HA, provides advice & support services to help older homeowners and private tenants to repair, adapt and maintain their homes.
The Citizens Advice Bureau provides independent, confidential and impartial advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities in a range of areas, including housing.
Registered Social Landlords provide advice to their tenants and customers on issues such as arrears, money advice, repairs, moving home and nuisance/anti-social behaviour within communities.
Support and Care Providers provide advice, very often around specific issues, for example domestic abuse, mental ill health, physical disabilities, learning disability, alcohol and substance misuse or an offending history.
Private organisations such as letting agents, banks, building societies, mortgage and financial advisors provide advice on accessing private sector housing.
Often resolving a housing issue will require advice from a range of organisations, not just those directly involved in housing. Of particular relevance are organisations which provide advice and assistance around:
Financial inclusion and awareness Employment, education and training Physical and mental health
Community safety Legal rights
Wellbeing of children and young people Challenges to Providing Advice
The households seeking housing advice are not limited to those threatened with homelessness,
experiencing overcrowding or poor housing conditions. The number of people accessing housing advice is increasing, which is likely to reflect the changes in the housing market, such as; the shortage of housing across all tenures, the growth of the private rented sector, increasingly affordability issues, difficulties for first time buyers and the impact of welfare reform. Some of the challenges identified by existing advice services in the Vale of Glamorgan include:
Most services are located in Barry; accessing services from the rural Vale can be difficult. Services are primarily reactive. There is a lack of pro-active service provision which encourages
people to plan for their housing needs early.
Some people are reluctant to access Council advice services or unaware of the advice available. Formal environments for accessing housing advice may be off-putting.
When sign-posting customers to other services there is no guarantee they will actually access the advice.
Future Proofing Advice Services
A number of continuing challenges and changes are likely to impact on the demand for housing advice, both in terms of the number of people needing advice and the type of advice and support required:
The implementation of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 places additional duties on local authorities to increase homeless prevention and on landlords in the private rented sector.
Continuing welfare reform changes are likely to increase the demand for financial advice and support.
Changes to housing eligibility are increasing the demand for small properties and shared accommodation.
Home ownership will continue to be difficult; accessing mortgages and affording deposits. Access to DWP services are to become ‘digital by default’, reducing face-to-face support. This will
The Vale of Glamorgan requires a coordinated response between the Council and its partners to future proof advice services and ensure they are fit for purpose going forward. Advice services need to:
Meet the needs of all individuals and households regardless of their personal circumstances, age, tenure, income, location or capacity to be independent.
Be flexible and responsive to meet the changing and varied needs of customers.
Be inclusive; meet the specific needs of the community, considering accessibility and language requirements.
Provide a welcoming environment, which encourages people to access advice. Promote proactive planning of housing options.
Be informed (or at best led) by those who use them, be customer focused and outcome led. Housing Solutions Approach
An independent review of the Council’s Housing Advice and Homelessness service improved
significantly during the life of the last Local Housing Strategy; by increasing the capacity of the service by appointing dedicated advice officers and through building partnerships with agencies to enable customers to access a range of housing, advice and support. However the review also identifies that there remains room to improve the service by strengthening the housing options function, offering tailored housing advice and a more coordinated response between organisations.
Key to achieving improved advice services will be the development of housing solutions service which focuses on the individual housing needs of each customer, providing tailored advice and housing options, and helping them plan to meet their housing needs.
The development of the housing solutions service could include the development of a Housing One- Stop-Shop; with access to a number of housing options and advice services located together. Funding has been secured from the Welsh Government to pursue this objective by considering the feasibility of such a service, the costs, relevant partners, objectives of the service and to provide support to
implement a range of changes.
Demand for a Housing Solutions Service
Initial consultation exercises have been conducted with Council Officers, partners and stakeholders around the development of a Housing Solutions Service and three key reasons for the development have emerged:
The need to reconfigure the Council’s Housing Advice service to respond to new legislation which will place a duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent homelessness for anyone who
approaches a local authority who is at risk of losing their home within 56 days.
To take the opportunity to change the focus of the Council’s Housing Advice service to be able to offer help and advice for any resident in the Vale with a housing problem or who needs housing advice relating to the home that they live in regardless of tenure or help to look for a home. To be able to respond to residents effected by welfare reform and the introduction of Universal
Credit so that they do not get into debt problems that may impact on their ability to keep their home.
Outcomes and Outputs for a Housing Solutions Service
Identifying and agreeing the intended outcomes and outputs of a Housing Solutions Service is important in order to continue to shape the service in line with the Council and partners shared objectives. Essentially a Housing Solutions Service would be a tailored service relevant for every customer who makes a housing enquiry. The advice provided would be focussed on:
Sustaining and maintaining the customer’s current housing status and preventing housing crisis. Identifying all housing options across all forms of tenure.
Empowering customers to make informed choices.
Meeting housing and other relevant needs through strong partnerships. Assisting customers to realise their housing aspirations.
Considering the feasibility of a Housing Solutions Service is a key action of the Local Housing Strategy. A working group made up of Council officers and partners from RSL’s, Shelter and any other service providers is in place to steer the direction of this work. Welsh Government funding has been used to appoint a housing consultant to support the Vale of Glamorgan Council and partners to consider the development of an improved housing advice service within the first 18 months of the Local Housing Strategy being adopted.