Strategic Housing

The Strategic Housing Service works to provide decent, safe and secure homes throughout the district.  The Council responds to national, regional and local priorities and ensures that sufficient multi-tenure housing is provided to meet the needs of a changing population.

To fulfil this role we are required to develop, implement and evaluate the success of housing strategies, co-ordination the involvement of stakeholders and partners in the strategic process. It entails building excellent working relationships with partner agencies to ensure the quality of housing available is appropriate to the needs of current and future residents. This involves ensuring the delivery of more good quality affordable homes, making better use of the existing housing stock and facilitating better, more accessible, housing services and choice for residents.

South Somerset District Council has produced a provisional Housing Strategy Implementation Plan. The section on temporary accommodation and rough sleeping is subject to reconsideration in light of the county council's forthcoming decision on supported housing funding.

 Specific tasks undertaken by the strategic housing service include:

• Research into local housing needs, housing markets and conditions
• The new Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) October 2016
• The Countywide Homeless Strategy.  Originally adopted in 2013, and due to expire in December 2016, it has been extended until December 2017.  We have now achieved the majority of the objectives listed in the Action Plan
• Our Rural Housing Action Plan, approved in October 2016
• Our Rural Lettings Policy
• The shared Countywide Tenancy Strategy
• Homefinder Somerset, our choice based lettings system
• Identifying specific unmet housing needs and developing options to meet those needs in respect of new social housing provision
• Development of housing policies and strategies, for example the Council's Temporary Accommodation Strategy
• Enabling role for Registered Providers (Housing Associations) developments (planning and facilitating new supply)
• Providing subsidy where necessary to ensure that housing is affordable
• Linking with external partners and agencies
• Making the best use of existing buildings
• Directly commissioning specific support services to enable vulnerable clients to maintain tenancies
• Indirectly assisting with the commissioning of other support services through liaison with the County Council (social services authority)
• Building partnerships with Housing Associations and others to ensure effective housing and neighbourhood management
• Involvement in the Avon and Somerset Rough Sleeper Group, which aims to make a real difference for single homeless people.  You can read about the group's successes, challenges and what lies ahead in their May 2015 Legacy Document.
• Our Countywide Housing Strategy Framework document

Your views are valuable to us and we ask that you work with us to help develop our plans and strategies by responding to and attending consultation events and surveys.