Issue - meetings

To receive a briefing on the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) and the approach to allocating homes.

The Operations Manager for Public Health and Housing Options provided the Group with a briefing and presentation regarding the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) and the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.

The following summary information was provided in relation to:

•      Homes for Ukraine update

•      An overview of the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF)

•      MDDC approach

•      Project Delivery

•      Allocations process and support

•      Case study

•      LAHF - Round 3

Discussion took pace regarding:

·         It was confirmed that the houses referred to in the presentation were purchased by and held within the General Fund. They sat outside of the HRA. Consequently,it was also confirmed that they were not eligible for ‘Right to Buy’ and will be managed under accommodation licences not secure tenures.

·         The LAHF was a funding opportunity made available to local authorities to draw down if they expressed an interest and could meet the grant funding terms. The Cabinet had felt that this was the right thing to do, one reason being it would help to reduce temporary accommodation costs.

·         Team Devon had agreed that some of the money from wider Homes for Ukraine funding could be used to fund each new ‘guest’ meaning less needed to come out of the General Fund.

·         Due to the rural nature of Mid Devon and it not being as ‘diverse’ as some other communities some ‘guests’ and their families had found it difficult to integrate especially if there were not other people of the same faith in the community in which they lived.

The Group thanked the officers for the interesting and informative presentation.