Access to affordable, high quality and safe housing is essential for our residents to be able to live and thrive and is a cornerstone of the future success of Dorset.
The challenge
Rising costs and the growing gap between average house price and average salary makes it difficult for local people, especially working-age residents, to afford to live in Dorset.
There is a chronic lack of genuinely affordable housing. Vulnerable residents, including those in crisis or with special needs, often struggle to find suitable homes. The standard of some rented accommodation is not acceptable.
Addressing this requires working with partners and strategic planning through the new Local Plan. We need innovative solutions that help residents access affordable, suitable, and secure homes.
Our approach
We recognise that increasing the availability of affordable homes to meet the needs of local people, improving existing housing stock, and ensuring sustainable development is vital to improve personal health, economic and environmental sustainability.
Working in partnership with the private, social and community sectors and developing our role will support growth and progress to meet these key housing objectives.
Supporting registered providers (also known as housing associations) is important and we value the new affordable housing they provide, and the good housing management and tenant support they offer.
In addition to this, we aim to broaden the council’s role and the range of support we offer on housing. We will look to use our own land and assets to increase the amount of good housing supplied to residents, including specialist, temporary, supported and affordable housing.
Prevention is key to making sure residents with priority housing needs, such as homelessness, are supported earlier. We want to find solutions which work well for them. This reduces the need for emergency housing or support services at critical times and provides better outcomes for people and families.
Target measures
- Reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation by 5% annually.
- No family households in bed and breakfast by 2028.
- Continue and develop excellence in the prevention of homelessness. Maintain homelessness prevention at an annual level consistently higher than the south west average.
- Incrementally increase the amount of self-contained temporary accommodation to match need and reduce the reliance on expensive bed and breakfast accommodation for emergency housing. To achieve the desired balanced position of a smaller but sustainable temporary accommodation stock by 2028.
- 450 new affordable homes built every year through the housing association development programme.
- Incrementally bring forward new housing supply of 100 new accessible homes and 90 larger family homes at affordable rents per year by 2030.
- Identify and provide council-owned land where this provides the best value solution for housing: A minimum of one site per year, but for this to be embedded as a principle, considering council land as an option whenever it offers good value to meet the council’s housing obligations.
- Secure grant funding and support from providers to deliver 100 new supported accommodation homes by 2028.
Key actions to deliver this priority
- Improve the quality and standard of homes, either rented or owned.
- Prevent homelessness and move homeless people into settled homes quickly.
- Develop an Empty Homes Strategy for Dorset.
- Implement new models of housing delivery that broaden the council’s role and support to increase the amount of new affordable housing that meets the needs of Dorset residents.
- Support broader opportunities to support wider housing need such as essential worker pressures and local households on the housing register with unmet low level housing needs.
Leadership and partnership
- The Home in on Housing programme, delivering the Dorset Council Housing Strategy, outlines the council’s leadership in housing. It sets the direction on how to deliver the right homes, in the right place and at the right price and is supported by senior council leaders, members and key stakeholders.
- Our strategic and operational partnerships continue to mature. Key partnerships with housing associations who own and manage almost 25,000 rented or shared ownership homes across the council area and build over 400 new homes per year are regularly supported by key leaders, members and operational experts.
- There is regular and effective contract management with specialist providers of accommodation and support. This shares insight and opportunities to achieve good value. It ensures services which enable tenants with support and care needs to live well.
- Cross council support and effective forward planning around key strategic plans (such as the Local Plan) and policies enables the most appropriate influence and support for developers and builders to provide the right new homes in the right place for sale or rent, including affordable housing.
- Strong working relationships with government provide us with grant funding, advice and support to deliver new homes and provide housing advice.
- Town and parish councils and community groups support understanding of local housing need, and the provision of new homes through Community Land Trusts, led by local people working alongside the council and housing associations.
Standing up for Dorset
- Lobby Homes England and government to provide funding to build a greater proportion of ‘social rented’ homes, at reduced rents.
- Lobby government, Homes England and housing associations for more support to meet Dorset’s housing needs, and to understand that this is broad – including rental and low-cost home ownership options across a range of circumstances.
- Lobby government to review local housing allowance rates for temporary accommodation. With rates frozen at 2011 levels, this puts a disproportionate financial burden on local authorities and residents, as rents and costs rise.