Housing - Strategy and Policy

The Strategic Housing Division of the Department of Community and Streetscene is responsible for the development of housing strategy and policy in Fareham. The Council has a corporate approach to the development of its housing strategy and service. Our aim is to deliver a high quality service to all our customers.

• Development of Housing Strategy and Policy
• Key Aims
• Sub-regional Housing Strategy

• Housing Sub-Strategies:
  • Affordable Housing Strategy
  • Homelessness Strategy
  • Private Sector Housing Strategy
  • Home Energy Conservation Strategy
  • Fareham & Gosport Supporting People Strategy
  • Adaptations Strategy

• Researching Housing Need

• Fareham Housing Needs Survey
• Partnership for Urban South Hampshire Housing Market Assessment
• Private Sector House Condition Survey

• Local Strategic Partnership (Network Fareham)

Development of Housing Strategy and Policy

The current Fareham Housing Strategy (261 Kb)  covers the period from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2015.  It evolved through extensive consultation with a wide range of partners covering all housing sectors.  Consultation is an on-going process and includes close links and regular meetings with housing associations, tenants and leaseholders, Hampshire County Council Adult and Children's' Services, the Health Authority, the Homes & Communities Agency, the Government Office for the South East and the local voluntary sector.  A review of the Housing Strategy Action Plan and progress in meeting its objectives is carried out on an annual basis and reported to the Executive.

   

Key Aims

The main aim of the strategy is to marshal the resources of all relevant agencies to ensure that all of the residents of Fareham have access to a decent home which is affordable within their means.

There are five key objectives within this overall aim. These can be summarised as follows:

• To facilitate the provision of additional affordable housing across all tenures within the Borough thus working towards achieving a Balanced Housing Market.
• To reduce the level of homelessness and adopt measures which prevent it occurring.
• To support vulnerable people to access and maintain housing appropriate to their needs.
• To improve the standard of housing across all sectors.
• To ensure that the development and management of housing contributes to the maintenance of a good quality environment and the development of sustainable communities.

These objectives support the Council's corporate objectives, in particular the desire to achieve a balanced housing market. They also reflect the national housing priorities set by the government and the regional housing priorities set by the Regional Housing Board.

 

For further information on the Fareham Housing Strategy please contact the Department of Community and Streetscene, Strategic Housing Division on tel: 01329 236100, or email customerservices@fareham.gov.uk  

 

 

Sub-Regional Housing Strategy

The Partnership for Urban South Hampshire (PUSH) is a partnership of eleven local authorities including Fareham that have decided to work closely together to tackle the economic challenges of South Hampshire.  Our approach is one of managed, conditional growth. To be sustainable, housing and economic growth need to move in step, underpinned by required infrastructure.

 

The PUSH Housing Group has developed a Sub-Regional Housing Strategy, of which the four strategic priorities are:

• To support economic growth by increasing the supply of housing to deliver a balanced housing market including family and affordable homes.
• To improve the condition and management and make better use of the existing housing stock.
• To drive long-term economic prosperity through the principles of sustainable development.
• To meet the needs of everyone including homeless and vulnerable groups.

The Sub-Regional Housing Strategy was formally launched at a special conference on 16th January 2008.

 

The Sub-Regional Housing Strategy (749 Kb)   can be viewed on-line.

 

You can also access a summary of the Strategy (693Kb)

 

 

Housing Sub-Strategies

In addition to the over-arching Fareham Housing Strategy, the Council has developed a series of sub-strategies dealing with specific parts of the housing service:

 

 

Affordable Housing Strategy 2006-2009

Fareham Borough Council has produced an Affordable Housing Strategy (147 Kb) covering the period 2006-2009.

 

The strategy describes the Council's policies for delivering affordable housing through the planning system and by other means; our partnership arrangements with housing associations; how we will deliver good quality affordable homes and how we will attract sufficient funding for the programme to proceed.

 

The Council has set a Priority Corporate Objective of providing 100 affordable homes per annum.  This has been met for the first two years of the life of the strategy and the Council is on target to achieve the objective for 2008/09.

 

The strategy has a requirement to produce an annual addendum summarising our progress to date, describing emerging issues and taking into account any modifications required by external influences, such as Government policy and housing need.  An Affordable Housing Strategy Addendum has been produced for both 2007 and 2008:

 

• Affordable Housing Strategy Addendum July 2007 (91Kb)
• Affordable Housing Strategy Addendum 2 July 2008 (171Kb)  

 

The Affordable Housing Strategy 2006-09 was developed concurrent with the Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), and adopted on 5 December 2005.

 

The Council is currently developing a new Affordable Housing Strategy to cover the period 2009-2012.  Changes to the SPD will be part of a wider consultation process linked to the development of the Local Development Framework (LDF). 

 

 

Homelessness and Housing Options Strategy 2010 - 2013

In common with all local housing authorities, Fareham Borough Council was required under Section 1 (1) of the Homelessness Act 2002 to carry out a Homelessness review and to produce a Homelessness Strategy based on the results of that review by the summer of 2003. It was also a requirement to review and update the strategy at least every five years.

 

Following the production of the first Strategy in 2003, the Council carried out an annual review of progress against tasks set out in the Action Plan. A second Strategy was published in 2007, one year in advance of the statutory requirement due to the significant changes in the local housing environment and in the national homelessness scene in particular. Annual reviews were again conducted to monitor progress against the Action Plan.

 

Fareham's third Homelessness Strategy 2010 - 2013 (398 Kb)  describes the achievements of the Council and its partners since the publication of the previous strategy in 2007. The Strategy identifies the current profile of homelessness in Fareham and the priorities the Council is adopting to address these issues. It concludes with a detailed Action Plan of the tasks to be undertaken in order to meet the objectives identified in the Strategy.

 

 

Private Sector Housing Renewal Strategy 2006-09

The Council has developed a Private Sector Housing Renewal Strategy (214 Kb)   that describes its policies, procedures and objectives to assist households in the private sector to live in good quality homes adapted to their means.  The Private Sector Housing Renewal Strategy 2006-09 includes an action plan setting out the objectives and priorities until 2009.  The action plan is reviewed and updated annually.

 

The strategy summarises the actions Fareham Borough Council intends to undertake in this period in order to achieve its housing objectives.

 

The Council is currently developing a new Private Sector Housing Renewal Strategy to cover the period 2009-2012. 

 

 

Home Energy Conservation Strategy 2006-09

In 1995 the Government passed the Home Energy Conservation Act, which set a target for local authorities to reduce domestic energy consumption by 30% by 2011.  The Act requires the Council to adopt a Home Energy Conservation Strategy (149 Kb) for the promotion of energy efficiency measures and to work towards Government targets to reduce fossil fuel use.

 

The Home Energy Conservation Strategy describes the Council's progress towards achieving the target and the various initiatives introduced.

 

The Council is currently developing a new Home Energy Conservation Strategy to cover the period 2009-2012. 

 

 

Fareham & Gosport Supporting People Strategy

Fareham and Gosport Councils together with the Hampshire County Council Supporting People Team have developed a joint Supporting People Strategy (499Kb) describing how the three local authorities will work together with other agencies to support vulnerable people to access and maintain housing appropriate to their needs.

The Council is currently developing two new local strategies:

• the Fareham Vulnerable Persons' Housing Strategy which will describe how we intend to enable and monitor good quality housing support services that assist vulnerable people in Fareham to live independently, access suitable housing and participate in community life;
• the Fareham Older Persons' Housing Strategy which will describe how we intend to provide older people in Fareham with a range of housing and support options, to maintain their independence with an aim of keeping them in their own home wherever possible;

Eventually the two new local strategies will be used to inform the development of a new joint Supporting People Strategy across the two districts.

 

 

Adaptations Strategy

The Council has carried out a full strategic review (298Kb) of its adaptations policies and procedures including the administration of the disabled facilities grants programme.  Arising from this review the Council is developing an Adaptations Strategy which will describe the multi-agency, multi-tenure approach to deliver an adaptations service which enables local disabled people to remain in their own homes for as long as is practicable and desirable.

 

 

Researching Housing Need

 

Fareham Housing Needs Survey

David Couttie Associates were commissioned by Fareham Council to undertake a Housing Needs Survey in 2004. The results of this identified the need for an additional 495 affordable homes per annum, this being 157% of the whole housing allocation from the County Structure Plan of 316 dwellings per annum.

• Housing Needs Survey 2004 - Full Report  (447Kb)     

 

 

PUSH Housing Market Assessment

The Partnership for Urban South Hampshire (PUSH) commissioned DTZ Pieda to prepare a Housing Market Assessment (HMA) across the sub-region.

 

The HMA has informed PUSH’s policies in the Sub-Regional Strategy incorporated into the Draft South East Plan, and has also influenced the development of the Sub-Regional Housing Strategy.

 

The PUSH Housing Market Assessment (this is an external hyperlink) can be viewed on-line via the PUSH website.

 

 

Private Sector House Condition Survey

The Council commissioned "cpc" to conduct a comprehensive review of current stock conditions in the private sector in 2009.  The results of the survey will be used to develop the Private Sector Housing Renewal Strategy.

Private Sector House Condition Survey (823Kb)