‘Surge’ in developers wanting council to buy homes

South Holland District Council has seen a ‘surge’ of developers looking for it to buy properties from them as it agreed the purchase of 17 more as well as a grant to bring eight others up to standard.

The authority is bringing funds from its Housing Revenue Account forward to buy the homes.
It follows deputy chief executive Christine Marshall telling SHDC’s Cabinet recently: “With the downturn in the housing markets the council is being approached more regularly for its purchase section 106s on behalf of the Housing Revenue Account.
“This is where we are stepping into the market to assist those developers.
“It’s very good news for the HRA as it’s accelerating our programme of recovering from right to buy disposables but it means we’re bringing some of the programme forward.
“It’s not necessarily a bad thing but the surge of interest wasn’t anticipated.”
The 17 homes in Weston include 12 rented and five shared ownership properties.
Coun Gary Taylor, SHDC’s portfolio holder for strategic housing, told its Full Council: “The delivery helps to meet our objectives for more council housing and to replace those lost to the right to buy.
“We did not replace that stock. It’s taken us a few years to catch up.
“This will help to reduce the housing need of the district and includes a mix of properties including some much needed one-bedroom accommodation and homes for people who may not be able to afford them at the present time.
“Construction is well underway and we’re hoping people will be moved in by October.
“The team’s doing an excellent job and is on target to deliver 58 new homes in this financial year for our residents.”
The council also agreed to accept the government’s Local Authority Housing Fund.
On top of providing three new homes for the homeless, it’s also to provide five properties to help re-home Afghanistan refugees fleeing the Taliban who had family members help the UK military in the country.
The estimated cost is £1.9m with the government to provide £880,000.
Coun Tracey Carter, portfolio holder for communities and operational housing, said: “The aim is to support the resettlement in the UK for those fleeing the Taliban regime.
“The government is committed to supporting 20,000 refugees from the country in the next five years focused on those that supported the UK in its military operations.
“This is medics, translators, extra staff and negotiators’ accommodation until their visas expire or they choose to leave. We’re expecting that to be three to five years.
“We’ll supply funding for three properties to purchase as temporary accommodation for immediate effect.”
Leader of the opposition, independent councillor Rob Gibson said: “This is money from the government to bolster our housing stock to support families transferring from Afghanistan who have supported our soldiers.
“As an ex-military person I know how valuable they were, so what’s not to like?”