£12m invested in council housing during 2021/22

Investment in decent homes continues as the Council strives for everyone in Southend-on-Sea to have “a good quality, sustainable home that meets their needs”.

View from back garden looking towards house in Saxon Gardens.

Part of the annual report to be discussed at Cabinet (Tuesday 14 June) highlights how £12m has been spent on improving, building or buying additional council homes in 2021/22.

This includes:

  • £6.8m on the decent homes programme, refurbishing and making improvements to the existing council housing stock, achieving a 96% decency rate
  • £3.8m to buy 23 homes, nine for council housing and 14 under the Next Steps Accommodation programme (which is for people moving on from homelessness)
  • £1.3m building new council homes, with different phases progressing through design, planning or construction.

Continuing this good work there are plans to:

  • increase the decency rate of existing properties to 100%
  • Complete on a further 13 homes under the acquisitions programme for which the purchase process was started in 2021/22, with plans to buy more homes as they become available during 2022/23 and 2023/24
  • More significant investment is planned to build more council homes in 2022/23, with plans to deliver 29 homes across five disused garage sites in Shoeburyness and nine homes in Lundy Close, both subject to planning permission.

Cllr Ian Gilbert, cabinet member for housing and regeneration, said: “Creating more affordable housing is a key priority for this administration, and it is vitally important that the homes we have are of a decent standard. So, I’m pleased that not only are we investing in additional council homes, but that we’re also doing what we can to tackle homelessness and bring the homes we already own up to a decent living standard.

"I welcome this report, the level of investment and commitment to delivery of this target, which is set to continue into this financial year and beyond. Everyone who is a resident of Southend deserves to feel safe in their home.”

The full report can be found on our democracy website (page 32, point 7.18).

Published: 13th June 2022

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