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Appendix – Agenda Item 5

Borough of Poole

Housing StrategyIssues and Needs

Consultation Edition

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Contents pagePage

Introduction 4

Strategic Context, Nationally and Locally 5Poole’s Policies and Objectives 5

Housing Needs in Poole 7

Key Challenge One:Lack of Supply of New Homes to meet local needs 8

1 Introduction and Context 92 Delivery Challenges through Planning Policy 93 Affordability in the Private Sector 104 Demand for Social Housing 10

Measures to Manage and Encourage Supply 11

1 Collecting Money through the Planning Process 112 Use of BOP Assets and Land to Deliver Housing 11 3 Review of HRA Land to Deliver HSE 124 Regeneration Sites 125 Bespoke Purchase Programme 12

Key Challenge Two:Making Best Use of Rented Housing in Poole

Affordable Housing 14

1 Managing the Council’s Housing Stock 142 Under Occupation 143 Tenancy Fraud 154 Revised Housing Register and Allocations Policy 15

Privately Rented Housing1 Improving Access to Private Sector 15

Key Challenge Three: The Conditions of Private Sector Housing 16

1 Housing Standards and Enforcement Work 162 Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMO) 17

Licensed and Unlicensed3 Disabled Facility Grants 184 Empty Properties 195 Green Deal & Fuel Poverty 196 Landlord Accreditation 19

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Key Challenge Four: Preventing and alleviating homelessness 20

1 Introduction 202 Rough sleeping and single homelessness 213 Domestic Violence 234 Emergency Bed & Breakfast 23

and temporary accommodation5 Homelessness prevention 246 Partnerships 257 Welfare reforms 268 Private rented sector 269 Shelter with support 2610 Move-on strategy 2711 Supported housing placements 27

Key Challenge Five:Welfare Benefit Reform 28

1 Responding to Welfare Benefit Reform 282 Employment and Worklessness 29

Key Challenge Six:Meeting Specialist Housing Needs 30

1 Older People 302 Learning Disabilities 323 Gypsy and Travellers 344 Mental Health 355 Probation 366 Children, Young People and Families 367 Drug and Alcohol 388 Disability requirements 39

Housing Related Issues: Anti Social Behaviour 40

Performance and Monitoring of the Housing Strategy 41

Appendices1 List of Consultees 422 Equality Impact Assessment 433 Strategic Context, Nationally and Locally 44-48

(full version)

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IntroductionFor many people, Poole is a great place to live, grow up, do business and retire. It has a high quality environment, accessible countryside and beaches, good schools, low crime and many of the other assets which make areas popular places for people to live. Housing is a crucial component of wellbeing. Good quality housing, which meets an individual’s or family’s needs, provides a sound platform to build a good quality of life. Poor quality or inadequate housing tends to be associated with poorer outcomes for people, whether that relates to the health impacts of living in damp or overcrowded conditions or the impact poor housing can have on children’s attainment at school. The Borough of Poole, in common with much of the UK, is growing and changing. Meeting the housing needs of Poole, now and in the future, is important to residents, the Council and its partners. The Council has identified a number of significant regeneration sites for future development and housing is at the heart of many of these sites.

The purpose of this housing strategy is to inform local residents about Poole’s housing needs and issues and set out key challenges where action will be required to help meet both current and future housing need.

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Consultation Question

In this consultation draft, we are inviting people to let us know if we have identified the right needs and issues and comment on and, importantly, contribute to the identified priorities for action. We’d like your feedback on the whole strategy, but particularly to the questions you’ll see in boxes through the document.

If you have any queries regarding this draft consultation strategy please contact either:Cally Antill – Head of Housing & Community ServicesKerry Ruff – Strategic Housing & Private Sector Manager

You can respond to the questions in this strategy by:

TBC


Strategic Context, Nationally and Locally

This chapter provides a very brief summary of the national and local influences that will impact on our Housing Strategy with more information set out in Appendix 3 of this document.

“Laying the Foundations” A Housing Strategy for England Primary aim is to increase the supply of housing nationally Introduces significant reforms of social and affordable housing including new

affordable rent tenures, use of flexible and fixed term tenures and an increase in discounts for ‘Right to Buy’

Other initiatives include support to tackle empty properties, changes to homelessness legislation, mechanisms to incentives the private rented sector and changes to the quality and sustainability of both new and existing housing

Localism Act 2011Legislation introduces: Greater freedom for local authorities to set their own housing register policies Flexible tenancy arrangements for people entering social housing Opportunity to meet statutory duty to house people who are homeless in private

rented homes A National Home Swap Scheme to enable social tenants to move more easily Stronger tools to enable social tenants to hold their landlords to account

National Planning Policy FrameworkRemoves targets for the delivery of new housing and places onus of local authorities to ensure their local planning arrangements meet the demand for market and affordable housing in their areas.

Welfare Reform Act 2012Introduces significant changes to the benefits system including: A ‘benefit cap’ which restricts the total amount of benefit a person or household can

claim A ‘bedroom tax’ which reduces the housing benefit for social housing tenants of

working age who are considered to have one or more spare bedrooms

Health and Social Care Act 2012Introduces significant changes to the way in which health and care services are planned and commissioned including the transferral of responsibility for public health to upper tier local authorities.

Crime and Anti Social BehaviourGovernment is developing proposals to create a more streamlined set of tools to enable the Police, Councils and landlords to tackle anti-social behaviour in their communities.

Poole’s Policies and Objectives

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Corporate Strategy 2012-2015Sets out a number of outcomes and activities which link to housing, particularly an aspiration that Housing in Poole meets the needs of more people. The document commits the Council to: Within the next three years, aim to deliver 100 units of affordable housing using our

own land and assets Work with Poole Housing Partnership to ensure that council homes are maintained

to their current high standard and to create opportunities to build new affordable homes

Develop a housing strategy and action plan which meets priority needs

Health and Wellbeing StrategyBournemouth and Poole Councils, together with the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group and Health-watch, have formed a Shadow Health and Wellbeing Board to fulfil the new statutory duties set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2012. The Board is required to publish a strategy to influence local commissioning of health and wellbeing services. Housing is a crucial component to health and wellbeing and the provision of housing, particularly affordable housing, is recognised as a key priority in the draft strategy.

Core StrategySets out an objective to meet Poole’s housing needs and provide the right homes in the right places.Also contains the Council’s Affordable Housing Policy which establishes needs and delivery mechanisms.

A Time of Our Lives : Poole’s Older People Strategy 2008-13Sets out short and long term actions which will improve the quality of life for older people, including actions related to housing and housing related support.

Poole Children’s Trust – Plan for children and young people and their families 2011-2013Sets out a range of priorities to improve outcomes for children, young people and families in Poole. Housing is important to family circumstances and cuts across all of the identified priorities.

The Big Plan 2012-2015The Big Plan sets out how Bournemouth and Poole Councils and local health services will work together to support adults with a learning disability. Housing is one of the 3 biggest priorities for people with a learning disability

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Are there other key drivers or plans that this Housing Strategy should be considering?


Housing Needs in Poole - Local Context

Introduction The current economic climate is having and will continue to have major effects on the housing market. Coupled with these significant economic changes are profound demographic changes to the age structure of the population which, in turn, will impact on housing needs. Moreover, government is introducing the biggest shakeup in benefits (including housing benefits) for decades and the cumulative effects of these changes over the years ahead are likely to be significant. Given this, it is important that any housing strategy for Poole attempts to understand what the future may hold.

Demographic ChangePoole has a relatively large proportion (compared to England) of older people, most of whom live in owner-occupied properties. Their numbers are projected to significantly increase in the future. This is likely to be accompanied by increased demand for specialist housing for older people. Many of Poole’s elderly population are relatively affluent and occupy homes that are larger than they might “need”. They might be tempted to “downsize” if high quality suitable alternative accommodation were available. This strategy therefore need to consider how best to meet the changing needs of the population, across private and social housing and the role of the Council and its partners in enabling this.

Housing Affordability and Tenure PatternsLower quartile house prices are nine times lower quartile incomes in Poole which puts home ownership out of the reach of many people on modest incomes. Housing affordability, as conventionally understood by the above ratio, has long been a problem in Poole and shows little sign of a solution.

The chart below shows average house prices in Poole over the last four years.

Average House Prices (mean)

Jan-08 Jul-08 Jan-09 Jul-09 Jan-10 Jul-10 Jan-11 Jul-11 Jan-12£150,000

£160,000

£170,000

£180,000

£190,000

£200,000

£210,000

£220,000

£230,000

Poole South EastSouth West England and Wales

Source: Land Registry, House Price IndexThese mainly economic factors are having an onward impact on housing tenure patterns. Credit is much harder to access and the average age of first time buyers is rising sharply.

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The private rented sector is particularly buoyant. 25% of households within the borough are reliant on the rental market (both private and social). Poole was recently identified in a national survey as one of the “least affordable places for rent” (The Independent, Oct 2011). The recent 2010 Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SMHA) indicates that 27% of all households in Poole cannot afford housing at current market prices or rents without the need for some form of subsidy (e.g. local housing allowance).

Owner-occupation levels are decreasing and this trend is likely to continue in the foreseeable future. Consequently, there may be increased demand for affordable, long-term, secure tenancies in the private sector.

Welfare Reform As noted above, the Government is completely overhauling the benefits system. These include significant changes to housing benefits, including council tax benefit. Both private and social sector claimants will be affected, some to a larger degree than others. The change in rules, together with the methods of up-rating benefits will, as time passes, have a significant cumulative effect on the real income of claimants, and this may have onward impacts of their housing circumstances. There is the potential for increased homelessness or overcrowding in some circumstances. Certain areas of the country, notably London, will witness demographic change in the social composition of neighbourhoods as population displacement occurs.

Welfare reform will impact on people in Poole and changes in arrangements both within the borough, and particularly in neighbouring areas, may influence the decisions people make about where to live. While it is difficult to predict the impact, it is important that work is undertaken to track and understand the likely result of the changes proposed and develop mitigating activities where necessary.

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Do you think these key influences are the right ones? Are there other factors locally that should be considered central to the development of this Housing Strategy?


Key Challenge one : Lack of supply of new homes to meet local needs

1 Introduction and contextThe UK faces a serious housing shortage in all sectors. 1In 2010, there were only 134,000 homes built the lowest number in any year since the Second World War. This was less than half of the projected growth in households, which is 272,000 each year until 20332 . This national problem has been felt at a local level in Poole, in 2010/11 there were 257 new homes built and in 2011/12 this reduced to 187.

The position for affordable housing mirrors the supply overall. During 2004-2007 the borough delivered 643 affordable homes, however during the following four years between 2008-2011 it was only possible to secure the delivery of 336 units which is some 48% reduction from the previous four years.

A significant reason for this has been the effect of the financial markets and the impact this has had on the economy, in particular the housing market. The government has relied for some years, on the private development market through the planning system, to provide significant contributions towards affordable housing. However, this has been subject to any development being financially viable, i.e. to provide a reasonable profit for the developer and meet its planning obligations. Under current market conditions this has become increasingly difficult for developers and therefore developers have not progressed development and land banked sites. Schemes which have progressed through the planning process have become increasingly marginal, uneconomically viable and unable to contribute towards the delivery of affordable housing

2 Delivery challenges through planning policyAffordable Housing Policy – supplementary planning document

The Core Strategy was adopted in February 2009; section 6 of this document covers Poole’s affordable housing policy. The policy requirement applies to any residential planning applications for 6 units or more. It seeks to secure a benchmark 40% affordable housing contribution subject to the economic viability of the development. Under current market and economic times the policy doesn’t secure the necessary contributions that Poole needs to be able to meet its affordable housing needs both currently and for the future. Poole’s affordable housing policy may differ to other local authorities across the country in terms of the 6 unit threshold but the fundamental principles of the policy are a national approach. Historically this policy had been able to secure reasonable contributions towards affordable housing but it relied on a rising market where the development sites already have high existing use values. Poole’s identified land that will be used for future development is all brown field land and it therefore maintains a high existing use value.

This problem is not something that can be resolved locally but will require the Government to look at the policy principles on a national scale. The Government recently introduced new legislation which provides a new mechanism for calculating and collecting contributions payments on planning applications called Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). It will replace a number of individual infrastructure policies 1 Building & Social Housing Foundation “Local Authorities’ Role in Housing Supply” Nov 20112 CLG 2011 live table 401: household projections

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which were previously in place rolling all of them into a single payment. Discussion are taking place as to whether affordable housing contributions should be inside or outside CIL but currently the Government’s position is for affordable housing to remain outside of this calculation.

Many feel that is unlikely that the housing market will return to the rising profit levels seen prior to 2008 and the Government may decide to bring affordable housing inside CIL where it will not be a negotiable contribution. Whilst this will remove the uncertainty around affordable housing contributions it will always be a financial contribution and impact on viability problems that will in turn put pressure on Local Authorities to secure sites for affordable housing development.

3 Affordability in the private housing sector

Poole continues to have a significant affordability problem. 3Average local property prices are currently 9 times that of typical average earnings. Mortgage lending by banks and building societies is a national issue but impacts locally on residents so that any form of homeownership continues to be out of reach to many.

The private rented sector as a proportion of the total housing stock now exceeds social housing by 1.2% 4 . This will be for a number of reasons and the private rented sector represents the only option for many residents given the significant obstacles in accessing owner occupied homes and the lack of supply of social housing.

The private rented market also continues to present difficult affordability issues for many in Poole. The average rent levels in Poole remain high in relation to average incomes and are ranked 33/153 5 where number 1 is the most expensive. This concern is multiplied when there are such significant welfare reforms due to be introduced over the next 12 months. 6There are currently 9564 residents in receipt of benefit assistance for their rent and of those 3416 are in the private rented sector.

The median rent for 97 3-bedroom properties in Poole advertised on Rightmove in one day in March 2012 was £995 per month and the mean rent was £1,154. The local housing allowance level that is permitted for a 3-bedroom property is £800 per month. Our housing advice service is often asked to assist clients with trying to find private rented accommodation that they can actually afford if they are reliant on benefits. This situation may well worsen for households that are reliant on benefit assistance for their rent when Universal Credit is introduced which will introduce a maximum benefit cap and could see their assistance toward their housing costs reduced as a result.

4 Demand for social housing

The Borough of Poole operates a choice based letting scheme which covers the area of Dorset excluding the local authority areas of East Dorset District Council and Christchurch Borough Council. The scheme covers the management of the housing

3 Borough Of Poole Joint Strategic Needs Assessments – Housing Theme Paper4 Strategic Housing Market Assessment 20115 BRMA6 Borough of Poole Financial Services Statistics as of 12th October 2012

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register for each of local authority area, advertising available social housing and the allocation of social housing, both new homes and those becoming available for re-letting.

Applications made to the register are assessed on their need for social housing and placed into a band which reflects that need. The bands are Gold, Silver and Bronze, Gold being the highest need band and Bronze the lowest. There is also the provision for an emergency band which covers exceptionally high need and where there is a threat to life or other significant issue.

The breakdown of the register as at November 2012 was:-total number of households registered 3652 of which:-15 are in emergency band, 144 are in Gold band 567 are in silver band and 2926 are in bronze band.

Without a supply of new affordable housing, the borough is reliant on existing homes being ‘recycled’ to those in need. In 2011/12 409 homes were re-let in the borough and of these all bar one were from the existing stock. Homes were provided to less than 10 % of those on the register at the time.

A number of factors are creating increased applications for the housing register for example welfare benefit reform, the cost of the private rented sector, difficulty in accessing home ownership and the continuing challenge in finding work and jobs at a reasonable level of pay. It is important that the allocation policy supports households who are in the greatest need.

In addition, the Housing register provides an important role in collecting data on the need for specialist and adapted properties. (Specialist housing need is covered later). The Housing Register currently indicates a demand for 271 homes for people with disabilities unable to mange in their current home.

Measures to manage and encourage supply

1 Collecting money through the planning process ‘Commuted Sums’

Within the Council’s affordable housing policy there is a cascade approach to negotiations where the council can agree a financial contribution towards affordable housing. It is normally only considered as a last option in lieu of any affordable housing being secured e.g. where the development may not be suitable for on-site delivery, the numbers involved are too low to make it practical for either on-site or off site provision or the scheme is financially marginal. The Council has agreed a strategy for the use any payment collected. The implementation strategy covers payments being used to fund additional units on other schemes, fund purchase of street properties, extend and adapt properties to meet specialist needs and contribute towards staffing cost for enabling and development work.

2 Use of Borough of Poole assets & land to deliver housing

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In April 2012 the council made a commitment to use Borough of Poole property assets and land to deliver at least 100 affordable housing units over the next 4 years. Four sites have initially been identified as phase one and further work is underway to identify other development opportunities on Council land or assets. A project group has been formed and two registered housing providers have made commitments in their development programmes with the Homes & Communities Agency to provide Poole with a development partner. The development sites identified already are expected to deliver approximately 50 units. It is anticipated that the continued focus and commitment to the delivery of these units will ensure that further sites will be indentified and used to provide at least another 50 units to meet the target of 100.

3 Review of Housing Revenue Account land to deliver housing

In 2012 the Government introduced a new housing revenue account (HRA) finance system called ‘self-financing’. This means that the Council no longer pays a large sum back to central Government from rents every year but is able to use surpluses to fund services, major works projects and new build schemes. This is called ‘headroom’. Poole is in the fortunate position that its housing stock condition, management and maintenance programme are in a healthy state and we are in a position to be able to start financing new affordable housing using undeveloped corner or infill plots and under-utilised garage sites. It is anticipated that this headroom will also be used to fund conversion work at a sheltered scheme to produce a new extra care housing scheme.

4 Regeneration Sites

The Borough of Poole has a regeneration master plan which covers the town centre and Hamworthy East. Within this plan there are a number of ‘brown field’ (previously used land) sites which have been identified as suitable for re-development. The plan covers a number of long term infrastructure requirements for continued economic growth in Poole. The plan includes transport infrastructure which has seen the development of a 2nd

harbour bridge which opens the gateway to key neighbouring town centre sites locates in Hamworthy East. The plan also includes provision for investment in retail and business space as well as housing. The anticipated numbers of new homes across all the regeneration sites is in the region of 3500 by 2026 and a proportion of these should be affordable homes.

5 Bespoke Purchase programme

Using the remainder of social housing grant fund, the Council agreed to commit funds towards a programme of securing bespoke housing for families with complex needs. This was in response to the rising number of cases on the housing register where the specific housing needs of households were such that the available housing resources would not have been suitable. The purpose of the programme was to provide investment to help secure either new build units or street purchases that could then accommodate any necessary adaptations to meet the household’s needs. The programme has assisted two households so far into suitable long term housing that would otherwise not been available through the current housing stock. The programme also has commitments

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towards a new build development providing 4 bed properties that can have adaptations installed at the build stage and we are also looking at using the funds to develop some bespoke 1 bed bungalows that are 100% wheelchair accessible

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Does this capture the main issues and what else could we all do together to respond to this challenge?


Key challenge two: Making the best use of rented housing in Poole

Affordable Housing

1 Managing the council’s housing stock

The Council’s housing stock is managed by Poole Housing Partnership (PHP) which is an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO), set-up under the Government scheme to bring investment for improvements to homes across the Borough of Poole. PHP secured funding of £35.4million for homes across Poole. This, along with additional investment from the Borough of Poole's resources, meant that a total of £50-60 million was available up to 2010 for improving the Council's housing stock. PHP’s contract is due for review in 2014.The stock is managed and maintained via ring-fenced account called the Housing Revenue Account and consists of 4600 rented homes and 548 leasehold homes.Housing stock requires constant investment to keep it at the Decent Homes standard so work has been done to calculate on-going costs and further investment needs. Poole adopted the ‘Poole plus standard’ which sets a higher quality level on the basis of a better whole life cycle cost benefit. Expenditure is identified in a 30 year business plan. By the beginning of 2011 the 30 year plan has demonstrated a significant shortfall in future resources However Government has introduced changes to the finance arrangement for council housing stock to take effect from April 2012.

2 Under Occupation

Under occupation in the social rented sector is a national issue. It is difficult to measure as there are no reliable data sources for collecting how many people live in such homes, except for the ten year census. However through joint work with PHP, the council has identified that there are a number of properties which are currently being under occupied and through research and consultation with households it is clear that a number of households wish to move to smaller homes which cost less to rent, heat and maintain.Welfare reform changes will introduce a “room tax” on residents claiming housing benefit where they are not fully occupying the property and are claiming benefit for their housing costs. A household in a 3 bedroom home needing either one or two bedrooms will see their benefit reduced by 25% and 14% respectively from April 2013. It is estimated that 45% of the general housing stock may be under occupied and of those residents 64% are reliant on housing benefit.

Under Occupation InitiativeThe borough made a decision to invest £107k of social housing grant from its capital funds to help address the issue of under occupation. The scheme incentivises tenants to consider downsizing their accommodation and offers bespoke assistance to help tenants through a menu of services e.g. booking and arranging removals, disconnections and reconnections of appliances etc. The scheme offers tenants a one off payment ranging from £2,000-£3,500 depending on the size of accommodation they are downsizing from. It aims to provide the biggest incentives to tenants occupying the largest properties. This approach ‘recycles’ the housing stock enabling the council to re-allocate vacancies created. The scheme has 46 tenants signed up and so far 14 occupants have successfully downsized to a property that better meets their housing needs. It has been so successful that there is now a waiting list of 53 tenants and the council will need to

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consider how to commit further funds to continue to make best use of the scarce housing resources it has

The introduction of new housing IT system has given rise to a greater opportunity to further promote opportunities for mutual exchanges amongst social housing tenants. Consideration should be given to determining the demand of dedicated support to facilitate this work, which may be aligned to support for transfer incentive moves.

3 Tenancy Fraud

The need for social housing is very high in Poole and it is therefore important that the Council has the right policies in place to address any circumstances where accommodation may have been either acquired or is being used fraudulently. There is no evidence to suggest that Poole has a problem with housing fraud, however, the Council and Poole Housing Partnership recognise the importance of carrying out appropriate checks and regular monitoring to be sure that its tenants have a genuine need for social housing. Tenancy Fraud measuresPoole Housing Partnership have implemented a number of anti fraud measures Tenancy review visits are carried out every 5yrs and are a good practice management mechanism as well as an effective tool for identifying possible fraud. Tenancy blitz days are designed to target specific estates with unplanned visits to gather information that may not have been possible to obtain if the visit had been planned, again a useful information gathering exercise. Poole Housing Partnership participates in the National Fraud Imitative, sharing data between public and private sector bodies to prevent and detect fraud. The use of data for NFI purposes continues to be controlled to ensure compliance with data protection and human rights legislation. Poole Housing Partnership has become involved in the national tenancy fraud forum supported by the Housing Minister. The first regional conference is due to take place in November 2012. All of these measures contribute to ensuring that Poole housing stock is managed effectively for households that have a genuine need.

4 Revised Housing Register & Allocations PolicyThe Dorset Home Choice partnership was formed in 2008 and was awarded £225,000 by Government to implement a common allocations policy and shared IT system. Partners subsequently decided to include Homelessness and Housing Advice services into the joint IT system. .

The Council is now considering mechanisms to ensure people who live and work in the borough are given preference on the housing register. As a signatory to the Dorset Military Protocol, consideration is also being given to ensuring that serving and ex military personnel are not disadvantaged in the allocations system.

Privately Rented HomesTBC5 Improving Access to PRSInclude DHP, landlord support, accommodation finder services, tenancy deposits, rent in advance, bonds, Homes 4 Let etc TBC

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Key challenge three – the conditions of Private Sector Housing

1 Housing Standards & Enforcement Work

The Local Authority has a statutory duty to investigate any complaints made about the condition or standards of properties in the private sector. This includes private rented housing, owner-occupied and social housing through a register housing providers (formally known as housing associations).

The majority of these complaints tend to be received from the private rented sector but over the past couple of years, as the number of private rented homes has increased, so has the volume of complaints received about the standards of some properties. During 2011/12 the council received a total of 182 complaints and so far this year we have received at total of 121 complaints. This has put a strain on our officer capacity as we currently on have 1 housing standards officer.

The most common complaint is usually damp and mould which is typically caused by condensation. These issues are often a result of the tenants’ lifestyle however properties that have poor heating provision along with poor insulation and ventilation can be significant contributing factors and can make it difficult for the tenants to manage the problem. Currently the Government does not require rented properties to have minimum insulation requirements and fixed wall electric heaters can be sufficient to meet the legislation requirements. This often causes tension between the tenant’s expectations of the property condition and what the landlord is actually required to do.

We have found that that many complaints often arise from landlords and letting agents not having enough knowledge and regard of the Housing Act legislation and are therefore unaware of what is expected from them.

What we are doing to address needs

We have revised our recording and monitoring procedures of housing standard complaints. This gives us a more detailed breakdown of the nature of the complaints to help direct our resources more accurately. It also monitors the enforcement work that is taken. In April 2012 we introduced a charging policy for any formal notice that were issued to try and encourage landlords to engage with complaint issues before we are forced to take formal action.

We have also invested in some tools that will help our standards officer identify whether there is a genuine damp problem or if its condensation caused by tenants lifestyle. The tools can help provide information on issues such as cold spots within the property and provide data of average temperatures and humidity levels which then can help to inform the occupants how best to manage the problem better.

We attend regular meetings held by the National Landlords Association to improve partnership working with local landlords and in October this year in partnership with Bournemouth Borough Council we co-hosted a free landlord conference which gave landlords the opportunity to attend informative workshops and speak to relevant local

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businesses and services operated across the local area that are connected to the rental market.

We would like to host more workshops days and open them up to letting agents to improve staff awareness of the Housing Act legislation.

2 Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMO) - Licensed and Unlicensed

The Housing Act requires local authorities to licence properties that meet the following mandatory criteria;

The HMO, or any part of it, comprises of three storeys or more and It is occupied by five or more persons which comprise of two or more households

and The property has one of more shared facility / amenity

Poole now currently has approx 50 licensed HMO properties, which require renewal of their licence every 5 years. We have noticed an increase in the amount of licensed properties over the past 12 months.

We have found that landlords managing licensed HMO’s are not the main source of management or standards complaints. This is generally because they have taken the time to understand what the legislation requires of them as responsible landlords and therefore manage their properties within the legal requirements. Our officer time is taken up more with complaints about HMO properties that don’t require the mandatory licensing but still fall under the definition of HMO use.

The Housing defines a HMO to include a building, or part of a building such as a flat, that;

Is occupied by more than one household and in which more than one household shares and amenity such as a bathroom, toilet or cooking facilities

It is their only or main residence or a refuge or students in further higher education or some other purpose prescribed in regulations

A property used as a HMO has higher standard requirements to a property that is being used for a single household. We are experiencing a sharp rise in complaints surround the management and standards of properties being let as HMO and can clearly identify that there is a gap in the knowledge of both letting agents and landlords about the additional responsibilities they have if they choose to rent their property with multiple occupants.


In order to promote good practice management with our local landlords we offer free HMO advisory visits for both licensable and non-licensable properties. We do this in partnership with Dorset Fire & rescue Service. The service is very popular and appears to growing through the promotion on our website and word of mouth from other landlords that have used the service. It helps the council in terms of our awareness and monitoring of where HMO properties are being brought into use and also promoting partnership working with landlords ensuring they are been given full advice on the statutory requirements and management expectations.

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We are also progressing some cases through for enforcement action by way of notices. We are gathering information and investigating any properties suspected of improper use. In some cases we are working in partnership with our colleagues in planning enforcement to provide options on some of the more complex cases which piece of legislation may be most appropriate to use. We are also developing procedures for management orders which could be used in cases where the landlords are seriously failing in their duty and the council can apply to take over the management of the property short term. The implementation of such measures though could be a cost to the council.

3 Disabled Facility Grants

The demands on the Disabled Facility Grant in Poole has been consistent for a number of years. Between 2008/9 to 2011/12 the council has approved 412 applications which is approximately 137 grants per year, the average grant costs £5,096. Over the same 3 year period the council has had an average annual commitment of approximately £800,000. The main purpose of the grant is to facilitate the disabled occupant “access” to essential parts of their home such as the bathroom and bathing facilities, kitchen, external access and sometimes other rooms such as lounge or bedroom. Typically these can be met by installing a level access shower, or providing ramps to the main entrance or providing a stair-lift so that the upstairs can be access. They provide the disabled person with an option of remaining in their own home, continuing to live independently. The grant is a means tested grant so not applicants are deemed eligible for the grant, the assessment criteria is set by the government on a national level.

The needs for the past few years have remained high and consistent however with the changing demographics which is showing an increase in our elderly population we are anticipating an increase in applications. For the first two quarters of this year we have already received 100 applications. The council receives funding from the government for disabled facility grants however for a number of years the amount awarded has been far lower than the demand on the service. The council’s grant award for the past 3 years from government has been an average of £362,000. When this is compared to the Council’s average annual commitment of £800,000 the amount falls a long way short of meeting the demand of the service.


The council has been committed to providing additional grant to meet the needs of the service to ensure that are not left waiting for essential adaptations to meet their needs. It is unlikely that the government grant will increase so there will continue to be a pressure on the council to continue to provide additional funding to support the statutory requirements placed on the council. Both housing and Social Services continue to work jointly and ensure this need is recognised in the councils budget planning.

The team have reviewed the grant application procedure which has resulted in a reduction of staff resources for the administration of the grants.

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4 Empty Properties

Poole is currently aware of 231 empty properties across the borough. 19 of those properties have been empty for 10 years or more and 212 have been empty between 2-10 years. This does not include properties that may be empty but have been registered as 2nd homes. Compared to other local authorities nationally, Poole does not have a serious empty property problem. However it does have a significant shortage of housing and it therefore should give careful consideration into prioritising bringing units back into use wherever possible. Properties can often end up empty because of complicated probate issues which in most cases are often resolved over 2-3 years. Longer term empty properties once investigated can typically expose a number of complex issues as to why the property has remained empty. There are powers within the Housing Act 2004 that the Council can use to take action against long term empty properties however there is a financial implication for the Council should they wish to take action.

Poole does not currently have a policy for dealing with empty properties, in order to develop a policy the priorities of addressing empty properties would need to be understood.


The council are currently reviewing their policy on council tax charges for empty properties under the localised scheme. Changes to the process may encourage owners to re-consider leaving properties empty for long periods if it is going to cost them significantly more than it does at present.

Housing are collating information and investigating some cases to develop an option paper for the council to consider what steps it could take to address some of the longer terms empty properties around the borough.

5 Green Deal

KR to add information

6 Landlord Accreditation Scheme

The council does currently operate a local accreditation scheme which encourages good partnership working between local landlords and the private sector housing team. The scheme is currently being reviewed in order to develop its remit and explore ways of improving the scheme.

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Key challenge four: Preventing and alleviating homelessness

1 Introduction and context

The homelessness Act 2002 places a duty on local authorities to review homelessness in its local area and publish a strategy outlining how it will tackle and prevent homelessness. Poole has continued to see a rise in the number of homelessness approaches in each of the past 3 years. 2011/12 saw a 32% increase, with 2012/13 not showing any sign of change in demand.

The main reasons for homelessness in Poole have remained largely unchanged over the past 3 years. 21% due to domestic or other threats of violence from both households within and outside of Poole. This reason remains disproportionately high when compared with other regions20% being asked to leave by friends, parents or other relatives. Often caused by overcrowding or financial pressures within the home19% had private sector tenancies brought to an end, more often without any issues relating to breaches of tenancy condition.

Other reasons for homelessness include hospital and prison discharges, emergencies such as fire, flood, supported housing evictions and evictions from other forms of social housing.

2% of those were from BME backgrounds

27% were single people often with complexity of needs including mental health, substance misuse and offending backgrounds. ,49% were lone parents, 69% of all households had dependent children.

The number of 16 or 17 year old young people assisted in partnership with children’s services was 80

These demands have seen the use of temporary accommodation increase by 61% in the past 2 years, and throughout 2012/13 further pressure has seen the number of households in Bed and Breakfast housing peak at 33. The local authority can be subject to legal challenge if families are accommodated in Bed and Breakfast for longer than 6 weeks. Although the average time currently spent in Bed and Breakfast is X weeks, a small number of households have been accommodated longer than 6 weeks.

Where settled re-housing is not possible immediately, Bed and Breakfast and temporary accommodation is often used. At time of writing 99 households are accommodated in a range of temporary housing from Bed and Breakfast to Borough of Poole managed leased accommodation. Households typically spend between 12 – 18 months in temporary housing before an offer of settled accommodation. There is a suggested correlation between temporary housing and poor health / wellbeing amongst all groups, although we must recognise this, the lack of suitable affordable settled housing across all

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sectors leads to an increase in this delivery into order to alleviate placement in expensive and inappropriate Bed and Breakfast.

The footfall of households presenting with homelessness issues remains high, with a range of homelessness prevention tools employed to enable people to stay in their homes, through negotiation or mediation techniques, or help them find new ones. 383 households were assisted into alternative private sector housing in 2011/12.

2 Rough Sleeping & Single Homelessness The Government’s National Strategy on Rough Sleeping, ‘No Second Night Out’, published in 2011, indentifies the following principles to eliminate rough sleeping.

New rough sleepers should be identified and helped off the streets immediately so that they do not fall into a dangerous rough sleeping lifestyle

Members of the public should be able to play an active role by reporting and referring people sleeping rough

Rough sleepers should be helped to access a place of safety where their needs can be quickly assessed and they can receive advice on their options

Rough sleepers should be able to access emergency accommodation and other services, such as healthcare, if needed

If people have come from another area or country and find themselves sleeping rough, the aim should be to reconnect them back to their local community unless there is a good reason why they cannot return. Once reconnected to their local area, they will be able to access housing and recovery services, and have support from family and friends.

A review has been undertaken of the existing outreach service for rough sleepers to understand the current demand and needs facing rough sleepers in Poole, and establish effective strategies for reducing rough sleeper numbers within the Borough. In Poole the average number of rough sleepers has increased from an average of 5 in 2009 to 10 in 2011. The 2012 count identified 16 rough sleepers, 9 of which were already engaged in support services The Poole multi-agency rough sleeper core group meets monthly to agree individual support plans and accommodation pathways. In 2012, between 12 – 15 individuals are regularly discussed.

The current service model has achieved some success in resettling rough sleepers. However the current approach was not meeting demand and the need to keep pace with central Government ambitions around employment and welfare benefit changes. The service specification does not include Severe Weather Emergency Accommodation Provision, nor does it achieve the principles of the National strategy. Former and current rough sleepers were positive about every aspect of the outreach service. There is a strong multiagency commitment to tackling rough sleeping in Poole.

Changes to Local Housing Allowances in the private sector have created a further demand for households in this tenure. Specifically, reduction in housing benefit entitlement for under 35 yrs (from 25yrs) has seen an increased pressure for decent and affordable rooms with shared facilities. This has increased competition for private sector lets at or within affordable tolerances of Local Housing Allowance which are few and far

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between. Although properties do exist, there is less choice in area and greater flexibilities need to be applied to accepting properties which have poorer standards.

The housing advice service recognises that many households that present often in a homelessness crisis have had other agencies or access to support in place prior to their homelessness. The homelessness prevention agenda and tools that support this can often be employed universally across services which could give opportunity to managing this demand. These issues are often most acute when households have health or social care intervention and support, with demands for appropriate housing provided at the right time a key factor in achieving a range of positive outcomes.

Homelessness services recognise that if opportunity to secure appropriate shelter is put in place first for households with a range of health, addiction, offending or other complex needs, the interventions and support for those issues and individuals has greater opportunity of achieving a positive outcome. A significant issue for homelessness services is more than providing a roof, but coordinating the delivery of support and reassurance to the accommodation provider, as well as ensuring the occupant receives what they need. Effective partnership working to address these issues remains a key factor in addressing homelessness crisis, preventing homelessness occurring and mitigating any further risks of repeat homelessness.

A new service specification has been developed by partners, including Bournemouth & Poole DAAT, Bournemouth & Poole PCT (mental health commissioning), Probation, Housing services and Service users. The new service will contain a number of enhancements such as; Severe Weather Emergency Provision (SWEP) (Minimum of 10 bed spaces) The provision and management of 3 emergency units of accommodation for

immediate assessment and accommodation planning Focus on reconnections Requirement to promote public reporting of rough sleeping Now available to ‘report it’

on BoP.com Requirement to engage re-housed rough sleepers in employment, education or

training To work in partnership with the voluntary sector to reduce dependency on short term

solutions and expedite moves towards independence.

An ongoing review of the outreach support provision and success of No Second Night Out service will determine the options for future commissioning. There is an opportunity to explore joint commissioning opportunities with Bournemouth Borough Council with effect from 2014.

A single homeless and rough sleeper project group with all Dorset partners has grant award to support single people. The group are developing an enhanced service offer for single people to support moves into the private sector.

3 Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is still a significant contribution factor to a number of homelessness approaches in Poole. Need some figures here of case numbers

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Poole operates a dedicated service to address issues clients experience with their housing needs as a result of domestic violence. Housing are regular attendees of local Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARAC) that are held specifically to discuss and address the needs of domestic violence victims and perpetrators. They also have a dedicated domestic violence champion within the service unit.

Poole has a target hardening project which provides a tailored service to domestic violence victims to enable them to be safer in their own home. Adaptations can include community alarms, door reinforcements, protection film for windows and additional locks. Housing Services are responsible for managing all target hardening referrals which covers all private rented accommodation and private owners and some register housing provider stock although resources are limited. The operational process has undergone some changes recently and now actively involves victims and other professionals in the risk assessment process ensuring the packages are more bespoke. The results have produced significant cost savings and high satisfaction feedback from clients. The service is also currently trialling extending the use of the budget to include assistance with moving costs, landlord fees and additional furniture items to help with homelessness prevention. This trial will be reviewed at the end of the 2012-13 financial year.

The Borough commissions a comprehensive set of support services to meet the needs of victims. These services include the Independent Domestic Abuse Service for high risk victims, an outreach service for low and medium risk victims and a family intervention worker service. The Poole Refuge accepts women and men and now couples fleeing honour based violence. It has 18 units of accommodation, 12 in the main Refuge with a further 6 more flexible units for men or couples and people who are moving on to a lower level of support. The contracts all include a requirement to deliver housing related support and advice.

4 Emergency Bed & Breakfast and Temporary Accommodation

A bespoke action plan has been developed that aims to reduce the number of households placed in Bed and Breakfast. Priorities include improving the management of casework and focus on managing demand into the service. A focus upon early intervention and prevention in partnership with other agencies remains key to achieving a reduction and consequently the financial pressure caused by Bed and Breakfast.

We are continuing to explore how we can provide temporary accommodation at a reasonable price through our private sector leasing scheme. This is an ongoing challenge though as all landlords aim to achieve the best income return on their investment and whilst our service can achieve economies of scale with our experience and access to corporate contracts for resources and services there is still as management cost attached which has to be considered viable.

5 Homelessness Prevention

Homelessness Prevention tools have been successfully employed to keep households in accommodation and help them find new homes. The offer of a rent in advance and / or

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deposit loan is the greatest reason for achieving this, however there has also been success in offering the following interventions to prevent homelessness.

Mediation or negotiation with private landlords, family, friends or relatives with financial incentives or guarantees of support to enable households to remain at home.

Money advice and debt management interventions have been employed to stabilise household incomes, providing education around money management and resolving benefit queries.

Employing pre-eviction protocols with supported housing providers, through promotion of effective multi-agency casework management practices

Working closely with floating support providers to ensure households are referred and supported as soon as there maybe an indication of accommodation at risk.

Embedding the principles of the Hospital discharge protocol through promotion and early intervention, ensuring a detailed plan is in place for anyone leaving local hospitals

Providing furniture packs or other essential items that enable households in financial hardship to move

By working closely with Children’s service through joint assessments of all 16/17 yr old homeless, agreeing planning and pathways to settled housing with appropriate support. (opportunity to replicate this model with adult sc)

The provision of and access to supported housing for those who are homeless

Through the effective use of the Housing register to assist households in immediate danger or risk to life to find a settled home quickly

Targeting single homeless that do not meet priority housing thresholds to floating support agencies and the voluntary sector for assistance

Priorities for Homelessness:Prevent homelessness - see the points above.

Review the accommodation based housing related support services in terms of their provision for homelessness and housing related support. Re-commission in partnership with other agencies if appropriate

Develop a Supported Housing Move-on strategy including pathways to step-down independent accommodation with support and review of social housing quotas and exchanges within supported schemes

Develop self-help resources in partnership with other local LAs (online and booklets development)

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Review eligibility for Rent in Advance and Deposit assistance and determine opportunities to work in partnership with private landlords and credit unions, thus promoting a single offer that ensure resources can be recycled

Review the delivery of crisis floating support by Sustain and the Housing Intervention Service and other health & social care floating support services. Ensure homelessness prevention practices are embedded within these services.

Review the provision mediation services within existing tenancy, floating and targeted support services and consider how to deliver this for households threatened with homelessness from family, friends and other relatives.

Support the enhanced accommodation finder service develop pre-eviction protocols with private landlords

Provide a tenant accreditation or training resource for young people moving to independent living for the first time

Develop a process that prioritises households who might receive 12 month tenancy offers

6 Partnerships

Preventing homelessness is everyone’s responsibility. Housing advice services need to consider sharing the tools and prevention budget with other professionals within the People theme

Promotion of housing options could be considered by extending beyond Poole boundaries. Working partnership with other local authorities ensure Dorset provides a single offer to households in need due to homelessness

Establish a homelessness forum to monitor the delivery of the homelessness element of this strategy

Review the delivery of the Rough sleeper core group and consider multi-disciplinary teams that target specific groups threatened with homelessness. Including 16/17 yrs, care leavers, offenders, complex families, those with a history of anti-social behaviour and learning difficulties.

7 Welfare reforms

Provide private landlords with the information and support they need to understand the implications on welfare reform on their tenantsWork in partnership with social landlords to promote a single message on housing options and advice and information about changes to their benefitsReview the impact of welfare reform on Temporary accommodation and supported housing

8 Private Rented Sector

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Support the enhanced accommodation finder service develop pre-eviction protocols with landlordsWorking with landlords to remove the barriers that currently exist / prevent working togetherExplore accredited and / or tenant ready qualifications to give confidence to landlords.Develop a single offer rent deposit bond offer in partnership with the credit union

9 Shelter with Support

Develop the housing advice service by focussing on providing a roof in conjunction then ensuring employment, education, training, health, wellbeing, offending issues support is in place & sustainable. This approach will improve the opportunity to prevent repeat homelessness.

Re-commissioning accommodation based services to include move-on support that tackles worklessness & health and wellbeing issues

Offer traineeships / apprenticeships within housing services

Explore opportunities for households to access credit union services

Seek alternative practical solutions to alleviate overcrowding or other issues impacting on someone’s health at home

Review the proportionality of floating support services managing crisis with advising household about maintaining settled relationships and staying well at home

Review the health needs of those accommodated temporarily

Ensure that social care and health professionals work closely together with housing professionals and are aware when respective professional decisions might impact on each other’s work

Maintain a strong focus on recognising any safeguarding issues and reporting appropriately.

10 Move –on strategy TBC

11 Supported housing placements TBC

Key challenge five: Welfare Benefit Reforms

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On 8th March 2012 the Welfare Reform Act received Royal Assent. The act legislates for the biggest change to the welfare system for over 60 years. It introduces a wide range of reforms that will deliver the commitment made in the coalition agreement to make the benefits and tax credits system fairer and simpler with three principles:-creating the right incentives to get more people into workprotecting the most vulnerable in our societydelivering fairness to those claiming benefit and to the tax payer

The Government will introduce a cap on the total amount of benefit that working-age people can receive so that no workless family can get more in benefit that the average weekly wage earned by working households. The cap will apply to the combined income from out-of-work benefits plus child benefit and tax credits. Claimants will not be capped where someone in the household obtains work and becomes entitled to working Tax Credits, or receives a benefit which excepts them from the cap such as Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payments

The changes also introduce changes that will impact on under occupation in the social rented sector. The housing allowance will be restricted for working age tenants that are living in a property that is larger than their household needs.

Further legislation will also see the removal of Council Tax benefit. The new scheme reduces funding for Local Authorities and will be via a fixed grant. National rules defined in regulations provide support for vulnerable pensioners at the same level of support they receive now. Support for other vulnerable groups / individuals will be a local decision. Local Authorities will be able to design schemes for working age claimants as they wish, taking into account the Government principles of incentivising work and supporting the most vulnerable in society. for the arrangements for Poole’s new Council Tax Support Scheme have been subject to public consultation. The local reduction scheme must be adopted by 31 January 2013.

It is expected that the effect of these changes will be to put a greater pressure on affordable housing and is likely to increase the number of homelessness approaches the council deals with. Work is being undertaken jointly with the benefits team to analyse the numbers of claimants that are likely to be affected by the various changes and start notifying them now so that work can start on looking at alternative housing options. The recent consultation exercise provided valuable information on what local residents need by way of advice and support during this difficult time.Households affected will be urged to engage with services in order to find solutions however, there will always be some who only approach the Council and advice agencies when the situation has become unmanageable for them and often result in a need for emergency housing.

Responding to Welfare benefit reformCA to include info on advice agencies and grant funding, council working group etc etcMinimise impact Safeguarding in CT

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Employment and WorklessnessEnabling more people to participate in the workplace underpins changes to Welfare Benefits. To meet this end, Government has developed a wide variety of projects to ensure people have the skills they need to obtain and sustain employment. Locally this has resulted in a number of initiatives which meet different needs. In recognition of the importance of this area of the work, a Employment and Worklessness Action Group has been set up and is assessing needs, mapping existing services and developing effective pathways to ensure that people who need support in gaining employment have the best chance of succeeding.

The Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership works across the private, public and voluntary sectors to create the conditions for local businesses to thrive. In Poole, the Council has continued to invest in its own Economic Development function which coordinates activities in support of local businesses and attracts inward investment.

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Key challenge six: meeting Specialist Housing Needs

1 Older peopleHousing need

Poole’s population is ageing. Older people aged over 65 will become an increasingly significant proportion of the population. Numbers of over 65s are estimated to increase by 9,200 to 39,300 by 2025. The fastest growing age groups in the entire population will be those aged 75-84 and 85 and over. By 2025, there could be an additional 6,700 people aged 75 and over.

This age shift is due to a combination of factors: increased life expectancy, and the fact that large numbers of people born in the 1950s and 60s are now reaching ‘older age’.

The majority of older people in the borough enjoy relatively good health and will live until the end of their lives in their own homes maybe needing adaptations and other forms of help and advice to cope as they get older. The priority for many older people in Poole is to stay independent and live at home for as long as they can7. A high proportion of older people are homeowners (around 80% in Poole).

However, as people age, they may face growing health and housing difficulties. Evidence from cross-sectional surveys8 indicates that more people are surviving to experience greater levels of severity of disability at older ages. Also the significant growth in the oldest section of the older population brings with it marked increases in the number of people with dementia and other forms of cognitive impairment.

Currently an estimated 1,300 people live in care homes in Poole. In 2010/11 502 people aged 65+ were receiving residential care through Adult Social Care Services in Poole. A further 182 clients were receiving residential nursing care. These account for just over half (52%) of all people aged 65 and over living in residential care.

Estimates of future demand for residential care in Poole are sensitive to assumptions made about the future balance of care, between institutional forms of care, extra care housing and community or home care. If these were to remain unchanged, the number of people in care homes in Poole could increase by around 42% to 1,850 by 2025.9

Due both to the rise in numbers of people with dementia, and the significant increases in numbers of those aged 90 and over who are likely to have high support needs, it is likely that dependency levels of care home residents will increase. The trend of increased dependency is already evident and reflected in other research, which found that the number of care home hours per resident per week provided by nursing homes for older people had increased by 5% between 2004 and 200810.

Therefore, residential care will remain a core option for some people with the highest dependency levels, and severe dementia in particular, and high quality care homes will be required. However, the steadily rising cost makes it imperative that other solutions are

7 Community Strategy Consultation 20098 General Household Survey9 Needs Assessment of Residential and Nursing Care for People with Dementia to 2025, Borough of Poole 2011 Update10 Laing, W Calculating a Fair Market Price for Care: a toolkit for residential and nursing homes, Third Edition. The Policy Press (2008)

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explored. These will need to take account of the relative effectiveness, relative cost, and user and family preferences.Care Homes either providing nursing or residential care have to be registered under the 2000 Care Standards Act. Registration is gained through the Care Quality Commission which registers and regulates the care industry.

There has been a great deal of debate about the difference between Extra Care Provision and Care Home Provision since extra care has emerged as a model of service in over the past 10 years.

There has been some case law about what defines the difference between the two services. The ‘Sunrise Case 2006’ detailed two primary considerations for Extra care:

That the individual has to have a tenancy agreement, which detailed their rights to use property with full tenants rights including the ability to deny access to care services.

That the care service could not be delivered by the same organisation that managed/ owned the building – i.e. the RSL.

New models of extra care housing have emerged, offering not only the possibility of supporting higher levels of dependency but also an environment for a lively and active old age. Evidence suggests that housing with care can have a positive impact on older people’s quality of life, offering a combination of independence, privacy and security, reducing social isolation, reducing the use of institutional care for some people in some circumstances, and reducing the frequent use of acute services.

The defining elements of Extra Care Housing have been defined as follows: self-contained accommodation ; equipment for care; care staff (probably including 24 hour cover); catering and communal facilities; social activities; appropriate levels of care for tenants based on individual assessments and care plans; help with domestic tasks and shopping; wider activities and services (e.g. interacting with the wider community)11.

Poole and Bournemouth’s Joint Commissioning Strategy for Older People 2010-15, identifies the need to ‘develop different models of mixed tenure accommodation including extra care housing. This would allow flexible delivery of care and support as the individual needs change.’ It is also Bournemouth and Poole’s strategic intention to reduce the use of care homes wherever possible.

For Poole, Extra Care means accommodation that provides enhanced care and support for adults and older people who have increased care needs. Extra care in Poole strategically needs have one or more of the following characteristics to be:-

A real alternative to residential care by providing sufficient care and support but allows the adults and older people to still be independent.

An opportunity for adults and older people with high support needs to continue and enjoy an independent lifestyle and to prevent isolation and loneliness

Access to choices of how their care and accommodation needs can be met in a holistic way.

11 Baker 2002

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The opportunity to have their own home with their own front door with the comfort of having onsite care and support available if needed.

An option for adults and older people with high support needs to continue living with carers/parent(s) in a supportive environment.

To prevent people occupying accommodation that is too large for them and that will require adaptations if more suitable accommodation is not sourced, thus will ensure DFG’s are used in an effective manner

A real housing solution for small families with complex support needs.

Current Sheltered Housing stockAn audit inspection undertaken by the audit commission in 2008/9 identified that the key issue to address within the Council’s own stock was the fitness for purpose of the sheltered housing stock for the future and identified this as an area to address in future business plans.

What we are doing to address needs – priorities and options

The borough has established an Extra Care Project Group with a main objective to secure at least one additional Extra Care Scheme in the Borough. To gain increased understanding of the level of need the Borough’s Corporate Research Team are currently undertaking an assessment of the need for accommodation with care for older people in Poole to 2025, with a focus on Extra Care Housing. This research will assess the demographic trends and review available evidence, to predict the need/demand for older people’s housing with care in Poole, with a focus on extra care housing. It will provide quality, evidence based guidance on what future levels of extra care housing may be required in Poole in the short (to 2015) to longer term (to 2025).

The extra care project group is assessing each of the Council’s own sheltered schemes as to its suitability for improvement/conversion and new build works to create new extra care units on land around sheltered schemes.

PHP’s new 30 year business plan under the self-financing regime will include details of work to be undertaken to sheltered schemes.

2 Learning Disability Housing Need

Housing has been identified as one of the 3 Big Aims and Areas of Work in the Big Plan. People with learning disabilities, their careers and staff all felt that more work on housing was needed.

At the end of March 2010 the Big Plan reported that of the 434 people with a learning disability known to services this is where they lived.

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Where people known to services live in PooleOwner Occupier/ Shared Ownership 13

Tenant Local authority/Registered Social Landlord/ Housing Association 18

Tenant – Private Landlord 30

Mainstream Housing with Family or friends 169

Supported Living Accommodation 97

Adult Placement Scheme 22

Sheltered Housing/ Extra care Hous-ing Scheme 0

Registered Care Home (with or without nursing) 51

Acute / long stay healthcare residen-tial facility or hospital 25

Other/not known 9

The biggest group of people are those living in mainstream housing, often with family.

Since 2010 the number of people known to the team has increased because the team is now integrated with health and some people were known to health services, but not the council. We now know around 660 people.

At the beginning of this year, 78% of people were living in their own home, or with family. The number of people in residential care remained low compared to other authorities across the country.

What the Big Plan identified about Housing;

We need better information about housing choices

We need a housing strategy in Poole

We need to help people plan ahead and have the skills they need to move on so

they can live where they want

We need to know people’s needs now, then it will make it easier for us to plan for

their future housing needs

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We need to make it easier for people to understand how they can find the right

place to live

We need to help people to move to more independent living

We need to have more places on the Adult Placement Scheme

We need to make the most of the different types of housing

What we are doing to address needs – priorities and options A new multi agency and partnership board action group has been set up The group includes representatives from Housing and Community Services, Community Learning Disability Team, Adult Placement Team, housing provider representatives, Adult Social Care Commissioners, Poole Forum (co-chair with support from Poole Forum) and carer representatives.

The group is preparing an action plan to address the areas of housing related work in the Big Plan. A complete list of all the people known to the team has been set up and staff are collating information about every person in regard to where they live now and what their housing and support needs will be in the next few years.

Work has started jointly with Bournemouth on a housing options booklet for discussion with the housing group. A further aim is to improve connections with local private landlords to advise them of the floating support packages that could be set up if they were to consider offering tenancies to clients with a learning disability.

A review is also being carried out on the existing learning disability housing related support contracts to improve services for people with learning disabilities and make sure we are getting value for money.

3 Gypsy & Travellers Housing Need

Poole has always had a strong local connection for Gypsy and traveller communities and has continued to work in partnership with the community to understand their housing needs. In 2009 Poole officially opened a newly re-developed site which provides 15 households with permanent pitches.

The scheme has been very popular and there is now a waiting list for this site (how many). At least 8 of the applicants do meet the eligibility criteria to be considered an allocation for the site however since the site was opened in 2009 no pitches have become available for re-allocation. Poole’s strategic planning team have already identified that there is evidence to support a need for a transit traveller site providing at least 8 pitches. A suitable location within the Borough has yet to be identified and financial resources would then need to be secured in order to develop it.

The lack of a transit traveller site in the area has resulted in some management issues for the fixed pitch site. Friends and family have visited occupants at the site but have then stayed beyond the site rules permitted within the tenancy. This has caused tension for the site community and resulted in officer time to take the necessary enforcement action to resolve the problem. This will continue to be a problem until a local transit

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traveller site is developed. There have also been a number of unauthorised encampments on privately and Council owned land which have raised tensions within the wider community.

Gypsy & TravellersWhat we are doing to address needs

Unlike many other local authorities, Poole does not employ a Gypsy Liaison Officer. . The Council also do not have a dedicated site manager for its Gypsy and Traveller site which is managed by the same officer who manages our temporary accommodation portfolio with tenancy support provided through our own floating support service. Our anti-social behaviour team also work in partnership with the officer responsible for managing the site. Whilst this is currently manageable it means that staff are only temporarily on site and when issues do arise at the site staff have to change their work schedules and re-prioritise workloads. A dedicated site officer would improve the management and community cohesion for the site.

Our Community Development team have also been working with the residents on site and has enabled some courses for adult literacy, first aid and a beauty course. There is now also a regular monthly attendance from a local initiative called the “Forest Bus” which provides play facilities for the children. More development work with the community would improve the councils understanding of the needs of this group in terms of both housing and local support requirements.

4 Mental Health Housing Need

Supported accommodation and housing related support services for mental health clients in Poole remains critical part of housing services. The Department of Health paper “Our Health, Our Care, Our say: A New Direction for Community Services 2006”strengthens the emphasis on service user choice and continuing to develop local community services. This strategy encourages primary care trust and social and community services to work more closely on prevention of ill health including maintaining mental health. A further paper issued by the Department of Health called “No health without Mental Health (2011)” sets out six main aims.

Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset have a developed the “1 in 4 Mental Health Strategy 2012-2015” which draws on key aspects from the Department of Health papers and identifies the needs to review the use of supported housing services that are commissioned across the area. All mental health services need to offer person centred, recovery focused support to enable client to reach their potential in terms of personal aspiration and ambition, including vocational and paid employment opportunities.

What we are doing to address needs Commissioning aims for an accommodation and support strategy would be to bring together accommodation and other mental health support services in terms of what they deliver and how they deliver it. Key aims would be;

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Clients have the hope of recovery helped by a clear pathway and expected direction of travel

Clients are supported to achieve their full potential in terms of recovery, independence, quality of life and employment ambitions or aspirations.

Commissioned mental health services are able to deliver key objectives related to; recovery, personalisation, meaningful activity, work and paid employment, move on accommodation, independence and choice.

Bournemouth and Poole and Bournemouth & Poole NHS currently invest approximately £4.5 million in accommodation and other support services. They are expected to monitor the services in terms of quality, deliver savings where possible and ensure that all services offer value for money and deliver positive outcomes for clients. The following are identified pieces of work to help improve local services;

To work towards developing and implementing a joint Bournemouth & Poole accommodation and support strategy which will be consulted on

Map and review current service contracts and costs Work with clients to try and develop a service users working group Carry out a joint review of all current services in the contexts of a new strategic

direction with all partners and stakeholders and link in with vocational services work

5 Probation Housing Need

information from Probation Services Team

What we are doing to address needs – priorities and options

info from Probation Services Team

6 Children, Young People and Families

Housing Need Children and young people in Poole account for 23% of the Borough’s population. In 2009/10 40% (13,000) of Poole’s children and young people required extra support and a quarter of these were vulnerable children with complex needs.

The biggest issues identified by the client group and parents include; Resilience and mental wellbeing Drugs & Alcohol Antisocial behaviour, including poor behaviour in schools Child Safety, including accidental injury and domestic violence

There is evidence that child poverty is linked to poor outcomes for children. There are small areas in Poole with significant levels of poverty and deprivation. Two small areas in Poole fall within the worst 10% in England, for child poverty. The identified priority areas in Poole that have the poorest outcomes and most complex needs are Bourne Estate; Turlin Moor; Sherbourne Crescent Area; and Poole Town Centre.

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With the increased pressures on families with multiple complex issues the need for younger persons accommodation is continuing to increase. Demand is linked to pressures on family relationships along with local issues and influences. In 2011/12 the Housing Service dealt with 964 approaches for housing advice for 16-25 year olds. Of these, 83 were homelessness applications.

Welfare reform has changed the eligibility for accommodation for people under 35 years old. Where people between the ages of 25 and 35 would have received an allowance for a 1 bedroom property, this is no longer the case, with single people under 35 expected to live in shared accommodation if dependent on benefits.

The demand for the borough’s young peoples housing services is intense and demand far outstrips supply

There are a small number of highly complex families in Poole who have issues with worklessness, school attendance and anti social behaviour. These families often require support from a number of different agencies with many staying with statutory services for many years. The Government’s Troubled Families initiative has set out an aspiration for these families to be turned around, obtaining work, improving educational attainment for children through better attendance and with reduced anti social behaviour. Homelessness can be a key concern for these families who may be at risk of losing their tenancy through anti social behaviour sanctions. Issues such as drug addiction, poor mental health and domestic abuse are a common feature of these families’ lives.


The council has commissioned three schemes in Poole. A small 7 bed scheme for 16-21yr olds with very high support needs, a 50 bed scheme providing low to medium support with 1 unit dedicated as an emergency provision and a supported lodgings scheme where the young person lives in the home of the host landlord/landlady. These schemes are monitored as part of a cross unit group which looks at demand, performance and outcomes. There is always a waiting list for vacancies in all schemes. Work is about to commence at the Quay Foyer young peoples housing scheme to remodel some shared/ cluster units to create more usable and lettable accommodation. This will reduce the number of beds from 50 to 46 but should remove some of the pressure points in a scheme where young people’s needs are complex and challenging. In addition there will be intensive support to one bed in particular which it is hoped will provide respite and ‘breathing space’ for a young person to be re-connected with their family. Mediation work is key to success.A training flat has been commissioned by children’s services where young people can try living independently in a safe arena.

The Poole Families with Futures programme is delivering new ways of supporting families. It uses an assertive approach to support families to address the changes they need to make alongside providing practical help wherever needed, whether in developing better parenting skills, dealing with addiction problems or finding work. The programme will support 240 families in Poole during the next two and a half years and aims to deliver positive outcomes with every one of these families.

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7 Drug & Alcohol Housing Need

The Government has set out national strategies for both Alcohol and Drugs. For alcohol it sets out a change in approach and seeks to turn the tide against irresponsible drinking. It acknowledges that this will require long-term sustained action by local agencies, industry, communities and the government. As well as National changes currently being considered there is also emphasis on priorities to address local needs and issues. A key priority is to enable people to make informed choices about their lifestyle. A number of housing issues can arise where a resident chooses drinking over sustaining their tenancy and substance misuse is implicated in a proportion of homelessness and anti-social behaviour.

The national Drug Strategy review has key aims which are to reduce demand, restrict supply, build recovery and support people to live a drug free life. Appropriate housing is closely linked to an individual’s chance of sustaining recovery.

The Drug & Alcohol team are starting see some cases of excessive alcohol use in the elderly generation. They have seen examples of this in sheltered accommodation and in hospital admissions. Some of the cases can be linked to clients suffering bereavement and using alcohol as a coping mechanism. This of course causes increased health risks to the individuals and also potential neighbourhood issues for the residents and scheme managers.

Reference Alcohol harm reduction strategy here – TBC


There is currently one local inpatient rehabilitation clinic and a few specialist supported housing schemes that clients can move on to. Spaces and availability are limited. There is no “Wet House” facility in Poole for people who are drinking excessively where they are unable to cease, although there is the possibility of a referral to access a 3 bed space scheme in Bournemouth.

Some of the acceptance criteria for supported accommodation make it difficult to place clients who are still dependent users of either drugs or alcohol as clients’ behaviour is so difficult to manage and creates considerable problems for other tenants in supported schemes. There is a floating support service contract which has enabled some clients to transition back to ordinary unsupported housing over time although there are still regular clients who consistently struggle to break the cycle. The service also has a community detox programme, this requires stable accommodation with floating support. There has been some success with such cases that have gone through this programme although it can be difficult to find willing landlords to take on this client group.

The Drug & Alcohol team also struggle to find suitable accommodation for prison leavers with dependency issues. The lack of suitable accommodation options often results in clients being placed out of the borough which makes their ongoing treatment difficult to access as they have to travel with a limited income. The type of accommodation and neighbourhood location can often also be unsuitable. Limited housing options typically

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places clients in mixed low cost shared accommodation that often accommodates a number of other clients that have similar issues as their own or equally complex problems that are not conducive to their own recovery programme. This can put an increased pressure of the floating support required.

7 Disability requirements for households (with a known housing need)Housing Need

The Housing Register currently indicates a demand for 271 homes for people with disabilities unable to manage in their current home and where an adaptation is either not possible or inappropriate. Of those applications 30 are in the Gold Band (highest need), 54 are in the Silver band (medium need) and 187 are in the Bronze band.


Where possible all reasonable adaptation options or alterations are considered in the first instance. The cases that are in Gold band (highest need) are being reviewed and the housing requirements of the most complex cases are being scoped out the in order to identify if there is either current alternative stock available that may be able to meet their needs or whether they would be suitable candidates for our bespoke housing programme.

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Housing Related Issues

Anti-Social Behaviour

In recent years the way the Police and the Council tackle ASB in Poole has changed to a more victim centred approach. The objective is to assess the vulnerability and the risks posed to every victim so that plans can be developed to support high risk victims which will protect them from harm and bring the offender to justice. The Council has employed a Victim Support Officer who is able to offer emotional and practical support to the most vulnerable victims in our communities.

Those who suffer from persistent ASB and harassment can find their whole lives changing as a result of this experience. ASB can be debilitating, corrosive and have a huge impact on the person’s quality of life. ASB tends to be more of a problem in the rented sector – private and social – but not exclusively so, with a huge driver being mental health for both victims and offenders. A solution that many see to their problem is to move. Our strategy is to avoid victims having to move home by intervening early, tackling the offender and supporting the victim in such a way that they will have the confidence to remain in their own home. Additionally we are working with our partners and landlords to ensure eviction is not the first tool used to tackle offending behaviour in the rented sector. In the Autumn of 2012 the Community Services, Housing Needs and Allocations Teams introduced a protocol to ensure we work together to prevent homelessness and reduce the demand on the housing register.

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Performance & Monitoring of the Housing Strategy

TBC

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Appendix 1

List of consultees

• Councillors• Registered Providers• Poole Housing Partnership• Citizens Advice Bureau• Housing Support Provider• Neighbouring Local Authorities• Probation Services• Bournemouth & Poole NHS • Shelter• Dorset Landlord Forum/ NLA• Other BOP service units• Dorset Race Equality Council• Poole Forum• Faith links• Dorset Energy Advice Centre• Public (via website and promotion sessions)

Additional consultees to be added

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Appendix 2

EQIA – to be prepared

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Appendix 3

Strategic Context, Nationally and Locally

“Laying the Foundations” A Housing Strategy for EnglandThe Government’s national housing strategy was published in November 2012. Its primary aim is to increase the supply of housing nationally through schemes such as the Growing Places Fund, Get Britain Building and enabling accessible finance through agreements with homebuilders and financial organisations.

The strategy also sets out significant reforms of social and affordable housing. These reforms introduce a new affordable rent tenure and the use of flexible and fixed-term tenures. There has been an increase in the discounts for tenants who wish to purchase their socially rented property through ‘Right to Buy’. In Poole, the maximum discount has been increased to £75,000 from £30,000. . While this funding can be utilised for replacement housing, contributions from ‘Right to Buy’ receipts will be able to fund a maximum of 30% of any replacement properties, with the remaining funding being sourced elsewhere.

Other initiatives outlined include support to tackle empty properties, changes to homelessness legislation, mechanisms to incentivise the private rented sector to increase the supply and changes to the quality and sustainability of both new and existing housing.

Localism Act 2011The Localism Act received Royal Assent on 15 th November 2011 and introduced a range of housing reforms that enable decisions to be made at a local level. The following is a summary of the key housing changes it has introduced;The Housing RegisterUnder previous legislation anyone could apply to live in social housing and councils were required to have “open” housing registers. However, the demand on social housing is such that many people on housing registers are not realistically likely to obtain a social tenancy. The Localism Act gives local authorities greater freedoms to set their own housing register policies assisting authorities to ensure that social homes go to the most vulnerable and most in need. Security of TenureHistorically social landlords were generally only able to grant secure tenancies. Sometimes this has meant that people were able to rent a social home at a moment of crisis in their life, and then continue to live there long after any need for it has passed. The Act allows social housing providers to introduce a number of flexible tenancy arrangements for people entering social housing now and in the future. Local authorities will be required to introduce a tenancy strategy by January 2013. Existing tenancies will be unaffected.Reform of Homelessness LegislationLocal Authorities continue to have a duty to house people who meet eligibility criteria. Under the previous rules, people who became homeless were able to refuse offers of accommodation in the private rented sector in favour of social rented even if this resulted the household needing temporary accommodation. This meant that in some circumstances people in acute, but short-term housing need acquired a social home for

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life, although they may not have needed one. The changes now allow Local Authorities to meet their homelessness duty by offering good quality private rented homes. National Home Swap SchemeFor people living in private sector housing, moving home is a reasonably straightforward process providing financial conditions can be met. However, evidence suggests that it is less straightforward for who live in social housing. The Localism Act introduces a National Home Swap Scheme in which all social housing providers are required to participate. This should provide social tenants a far greater opportunity to relocate their home to meet their needs.Reform of social housing regulationThe Act reforms the way that social housing is regulated. It provides tenants with stronger tools to hold their landlords to account. Social landlords will be expected to support tenant panels – or similar bodies – in order to give tenants the opportunity to carefully scrutinise the services provided. The Act also abolishes the Tenant Services Authority and transfers its remaining functions to the Homes & Communities Agency.

National Planning Policy FrameworkChanges to the National Planning Policy Framework aim to make the document clearer, simpler, easier to understand and easier to put in practice. Crucially, targets for the delivery of new housing have been removed and the onus placed on local authorities to ensure their local planning arrangements meet the demand for market and affordable housing in their areas.

Welfare Reform Act 2012The Welfare Reform Act was introduced on 8th March 2012. The Act introduces a new Universal Credit which will replace most existing benefits and limits the total amount of benefit a person or household can claim (the ‘benefit cap’). It also introduces a new size criteria or ‘bedroom tax’ in the social rented sector. The reforms impact on the way tenants receive benefit, in many cases, removing the option of having benefits paid direct to landlords. In terms of housing, the key changes are;

a cap on household benefits of £500 per week for couples (with or without children) and lone parent households and £350 per week for single person households; and

reductions in housing benefit of 14% for social housing tenants of working age who are considered to have one spare bedroom and 25% for those considered to have two or more.

These changes will come into effect from April 2013. During October 2013 there will be a gradual phasing in of Universal Credit through which housing benefit and a number of other means tested benefits will be made into a single payment paid directly to claimants.

Supporting People ChangesNationally, the Supporting People Programme provides housing related support services to over 1.2 million vulnerable people. 12Research for the Department of Communities and Local Government found that an investment of £1.6 billion in the Supporting People

12 research into the financial benefits of the supporting people programme, Capgemini UK plc for CLG 2009

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Programme delivers £3.41 billion net financial benefits through reduced costs in homelessness, health services, tenancy failure, crime and residential care.

Health and Social Care Act 2012The Health and Social Care Act 2012 introduces significant changes in the way health services are commissioned and delivered. The Act sets out a number of key changes. There is a requirement for upper tier authorities to set up Health and Wellbeing Boards to coordinate commissioning of health and wellbeing services across Councils and the NHS and from April 2013, all Councils will become responsible for the delivery of public health services. Housing which meets people’s needs makes a significant contribution to their health and wellbeing. Poor or unsuitable housing is linked to wide ranging health problems in both children and adults including respiratory problems, mental health issues, excess winter deaths or hospital admissions and trips and falls amongst others.

Crime and Anti Social BehaviourGovernment is currently in the process of changing the way in which the Police and Councils can tackle anti social behaviour in their areas. The proposals, if introduced, will create a more streamlined set of tools to enable behaviour which causes distress or alarm in local communities to be tackled effectively. These tools include Crime Prevention Injunctions and Community Protection Orders (Closure) which could be utilised by both private and social landlords to tackle anti-social behaviour perpetrated by tenants, and in some cases, by partner agencies for tackling anti-social owner occupiers. Draft legislation is expected soon.

Corporate Strategy 2012-2015

The Council’s corporate strategy sets out a clear shared purpose for the Borough of Poole – To improve the quality of life for the people of Poole. Five priorities have been identified along with key outcomes and commitments to action. Housing is central to quality of life and will support the delivery of a wide range of outcomes. Those specific to housing are set out below.

Priority Promoting the health and wellbeing of our population, especially those who are vulnerableOutcomeThe increasing numbers of people with long term conditions are able to live independently as long as possible and receive high quality, integrated social care and health services which meet their and their carers’ needsWe will:Develop an extra care strategy including reviewing accommodation needs of older peopleOutcomePeople with a learning disability and their careers are able to live healthier, safer and more independent livesWe will:With partners deliver the improvements in the ‘Big Plan’ strategy for people with a learning disability with a focus on the priorities of health, housing and relationships

Priority

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Stimulating and maintain a vibrant, mixed economyOutcomeThe Twin Sails Bridge regeneration delivers a wide range of benefits for the town including housing and economic developmentWe will:Work with landowners and developers to achieve development which meets the needs of the townOutcomeHousing in Poole meets the needs of more peopleWe will:Within the next three years, aim to deliver 100 units of affordable housing using our own land and assetsWork with Poole Housing Partnership to ensure that council homes are maintained to their current high standard and to create opportunities to build new affordable homesDevelop a housing strategy and action plan which meets priority needs

PriorityProtecting and enhancing our natural and built environmentOutcomeThe carbon footprint of Poole is reduced We will:Explore funding opportunities such as the Government’s Green Deal to change behaviour in energy use and implement energy efficiency measures in homes, transport and businesses

Core Strategy

Sets out an objective Poole’s core strategy was adopted in February 2009 and set out a delivery framework for the next 20 years. It has a vision for Poole which focuses on seven themes and eight strategic objectives including a specific objective for housing. Objective:To meet Poole’s housing needs and provide the right homes in the right places

The Core Strategy also contains the borough of Poole Affordable Housing Policy which sets out a clear evidence base supporting the need for additional affordable housing to be delivered across the town. The Core Strategy is currently being reviewed.

A Time of Our Lives : Poole’s Older People Strategy 2008-13A Time of Our Lives is a strategy that looks at how quality of life can be improved for all older people in Poole. It is based on the views and ideas put forward by the older population in Poole

The Strategy looks at both short and long term actions. In particular, the Strategy looks at eight major issues which can affect a good quality of life:

Access to Information and Advice Financial Stability Housing and Housing Related Support Getting Involved Remaining Healthy and Independent Crime and Safety

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Being Able to Get Out and About Being Heard

Poole Children’s Trust – Plan for children and young people and their families 2011-2013This plan sets out the priorities for agencies working together to improve outcomes for, young people and families in Poole. The priorities of this plan are;

Safeguarding Children and Young people Reducing the impact of child poverty Improving mental health and emotional well-being Addressing inequalities and improving outcomes for targeted vulnerable groups

A family’s housing circumstances, options for housing, conditions, environment, cost and location can be connected to all of the above priorities.

The Big Plan 2012-2015

This plan is about how the Borough of Poole, Bournemouth Borough Council and NHS Bournemouth and Poole want to work together to provide health and social care services for adults with a learning disability. Valuing people 2001 definition of learning disability includes the presence of:

A significant reduced ability to understand new and complex information to learn new skills (impaired intelligence),;

A reduced ability to cope independently (impaired social functioning) Which started before adulthood, with a lasting effect on development

Through a wide consultation process the plan has identify 14 areas of work. The 3 biggest priorities for people with a learning disability are;

Staying healthy Where people live Relationships

With housing identified of one of the three biggest priorities their needs to a strong links between the big plan work and the housing strategy.

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Documents

ha2.boroughofpoole.comha2.boroughofpoole.com/akspoole/images/att18189.docx · Web viewBorough of Poole. Housing Strategy. Issues and Needs ... Contents page. Page