The Chairman welcomed the Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and the Deputy Cabinet Member for Finance to the meeting.

The Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance welcomed Lisa Fillery, the new Director of Resources and Section 151 Officer to the meeting.  He gave a general update on the Council’s financial position, starting with the reminder of the update given at the July 2021 meeting when he informed Members that there was a gap of over £3million to meet for the 2022/23 budget.  He explained that work was ongoing to explore potential savings and he welcomed ideas to help with this.  The Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance said that more detail would be available at the next Policy Finance and Housing Cabinet Advisory Committee meeting.

The Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance acknowledged that Central Government had provided grant funding to cover many of the costs of the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020/21, but future funding was uncertain and the financial impact of Covid-19 would last into future years.  He said that Swale Borough Council (SBC) would continue to plan for loss of income and increase in expenditure but warned of the pressures on the Revenue Budget.  Referring to the Council’s reserves the Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance said there was an expectation from Government that Councils would draw on these, but this was not sustainable and the Council would need to make adequate savings, although he hoped that Government would be providing additional grants in the future.

The Cabinet Member for Housing advised that figures he would refer to were not fully up to date as they had not been fully audited for this quarter or provided by the Housing Associations yet.  He gave an update on the Rainbow Housing Company, advising of the successful recruitment of the development management consultants and the studies being carried out by architects on the three development sites. 

The Cabinet Member for Housing said that in 2020/21 140 new affordable rent units, 45 social rent units and 98 shared ownership units were provided, totalling 383 new affordable units delivered since 2019.  He advised that there were 145 affordable dwellings due to be built, and a number of other sites where planning permission had already been granted, which totalled 563 new affordable units.  The Cabinet Member for Housing said there were still approximately 1200 people on the housing register, approximately 350 households in temporary accommodation and two rough sleepers in the Borough who were being assisted by SBC staff. 

The Cabinet Member for Housing referred to the impact of Covid-19 including rent increases and the loss of income, as well as Section 21 Court proceedings re-starting resulting in evictions and in the future weeks the end of the caravan park season.  Finally he commended the work of the housing team.

In the discussion that followed Members raised points and sought clarification including:

·         Were the 350 households in temporary accommodation on a long or short-term basis?;

·         were those in temporary accommodation placed within Swale?;

·         sought clarification on the rough sleeper figures which were different to Charity organisation’s comments and figures;

·         what was the strategy to deal with viability issues?;

·         was Council land open to Housing Associations to build units?;

·         sought information on the number of right-to-buy properties sold;

·         referred to SATEDA assisting women fleeing domestic violence and asked if there was anything more SBC could do to track and identify those hiding; and

·         praised the Kent Police briefing the previous evening.

In response, the Cabinet Member for Housing said that many families in temporary accommodation were long-term and all were housed in the Borough except for one, due to the size of the household.  He said that collating rough sleeper figures was difficult, known locations were checked, false names sometimes given and he referred to the ‘hidden homeless’ – those that ‘sofa surfed’ and could not be verified.  In terms of viability, he said that this had not been experienced yet and many smaller Housing Associations were now coming forward to want to provide property in Swale.

The Cabinet Member for Housing said that the Council had no land to offer Housing Associations. He said that figures for right-to-buy were so low that it was not reported and SBC were not informed by Housing Associations when properties were sold.  The Cabinet Member for Housing said there had not been an increase in demand in accommodation for women fleeing domestic violence as the Police and Charities, working with the Community Safety Unit did such a good job of assisting in finding temporary accommodation.