Council housing options service “under considerable pressure”
In a Cabinet announcement earlier in the meeting, Cabinet Member for Wellbeing & Future Generations, Cllr. Dhanisha Patel (Lab, Ogmore Vale) warned that the housing options service was under considerable demand.
Cllr. Patel said that 350 applications are currently received per month, plus 40 homelessness applications that take a long time to clear due to the complexities involved. As a result, people should expect delays while the department does its best to clear applications as quickly as it can.
Council “continues to promote awareness” of additional housing benefit
Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) is a top-up payment for people receiving the housing element of universal credit, local housing allowance or other housing benefits to help cover things like rent shortfalls. Bridgend Council processes applications.
Cllr. Tim Thomas (Propel, Ynysawdre) – who for reasons of transparency is worth pointing out is a policy officer for the National Residential Landlords Association – said it was likely that DHP was going to become more popular due to welfare reforms and changes to universal credit.
Has Bridgend Council developed a communications strategy so as many tenants as possible can be told about DHP?
Deputy Leader, Cllr. Hywel Williams (Lab, Blackmill), said the council continues to try and promote it. Citizens Advice also passes on information to anyone visiting them who has financial difficulties and may be eligible.
More information about the Discretionary Housing Payment, including eligibility etc. is available here.
No opposition to making more of the private rental market to meet housing needs
Cllr. Ross Penhale-Thomas (Ind, Maesteg West) – who, again, for reasons of transparency has worked/is working for a housing charity – asked about the quality and availability of housing. Wales already has some of the least suitable housing in Europe. Rents are also increasingly out of line with incomes; Shelter Cymru is aware of cases where some renters have faced increases from £700 to £1,400 a month.
What more can Bridgend Council do to make better use of the private rental sector to suit tenants and landlords?
Cllr. Dhanisha Patel pointed towards the recent announcement of a scheme developed with private landlords to encourage more take-up of social and homeless-threatened tenants.
The council makes use of private landlords where they’re available and are not ideologically opposed to using them; in some areas like the Ogmore Valley near enough all available rental properties are owned by private landlords.
The Welsh Government has also committed to providing 20,000 affordable homes by 2026. Councils will be able to apply for funding to cover 50% of the costs required to increase the viability of new affordable housing.
Cllr. Paul Davies (Lab, Caerau) asked how many affordable homes had been built in Bridgend since 2017 and what extra funding has come from the Welsh Government towards social housing?
Cllr. Patel said that the Welsh Government funding allocation has increased from £3million to £10million since 2019. Currently, 432 affordable homes are planned in Bridgend over the next few years. She warned, however, that there were no guarantees as it’s dependent on market conditions and the number of suitable sites that come forward for development.
That bloody shed
On a lighter note, Cllr. Pam Davies (Lab, Bryntirion, Laleston & Merthyr Mawr) made an unusual intervention “….round here and I haven’t got the [inaudible] because I took it down the bloody shed, didn’t I.”
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