Housing Strategy 2022 - 2027

Introduction and vision

This Strategy sets out the Borough’s plans for housing services for 2022-2027. The vision for the Strategy is for Tonbridge and Malling residents to have access to good quality and affordable homes that meet their needs, whether renting or buying. There are four priorities which are fundamental to providing good quality affordable housing.

To achieve this vision the Strategy has four priorities:

Making best use of existing homes, improving housing quality and sustainability
Improving housing options and opportunities to prevent homelessness
Delivering the homes our residents need in the places they are needed
Working in partnership.

The Housing Strategy sits under the Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council Corporate Strategy and works alongside other strategic plans such as the Economic Recovery Strategy 2021 – 2023 and Climate Change Strategy 2020 - 2030. This Strategy encompasses an updated Tenancy Strategy.

The provision of quality, affordable homes contribute to delivering the ambitions of other adopted Borough strategies and priorities of the Corporate Plan.

The Strategy has been developed in consultation with stakeholders including residents and local partner organisations.

It’s likely there will continue to be significant changes to the national policy, the housing market, local communities and the local government sector over the lifetime of the Housing Strategy, and it needs to be flexible to respond to changes. To enable this flexibility and responsiveness the action plans to deliver the Housing Strategy will be made annually. The action plan 2022 – 23 outlines delivery for year one.

Partnership working is vital to delivering the ambitions of this Strategy and the success of the annual action plans will be the result of joint efforts across statutory, voluntary and community agencies. Effective partnership working is key across all housing services and it is important we build on the success of existing partnerships as well as seeking to develop new ones.

Local context

Our Corporate Strategy includes the importance of embracing effective partnership working and funding, achieving efficiency and, valuing the environment and sustainable growth. Key outcomes of the corporate strategy include supporting those in need of housing support and delivering a new Local Plan to meet growth targets for new development to 2039.

The Climate Change Strategy 2020 – 2030 sets out the Council’s commitment to local action on climate change, biodiversity protection and enhancement and our approach to partnership working, driven forward through an annual climate change action plan.

The Strategy acknowledges the importance of sustainable development through the planning process and national Building Regulations and forthcoming Future Homes Standard. The Strategy includes measures to reduce carbon emissions from residential homes, including1retrofitting insulation measures and efficient heating, and supporting the decarbonisation of energy supply through low carbon electricity.

The Council’s focus is to improve existing housing condition ensuring homes are safe and warm by encouraging and supporting the installation of energy conservation and efficiency measures. Our housing improvement team adopt a whole house approach considering energy conservation, efficiency and renewable energy options. By improving the energy efficiency of homes residents benefit from reduced energy consumption, with lower bills, and improved thermal comfort and well-being.

Tonbridge and Malling housing development policy and requirements

Tonbridge and Malling has a new homes delivery target of 839 homes per year set by the Standard Methodology, with an affordable housing policy CP17 in the Core Strategy setting out a policy requirement of 40% affordable housing for sites of 15 dwellings or above, or 0.5ha or above). Within affordable housing provision CP17 requires a 70/30 split of affordable homes for rent (which could be either social rents or affordable rents) and 30% intermediate tenures, such as shared ownership, in line with the definition of affordable housing in the NPPF.

Alongside this national and local policy context the Strategy is also informed by data and information about our local housing market, including the BRE Housing Stock Modelling 2020, Housing Register data, housing advice and private sector databases.

Additional evidence of housing need is shown through the 1279 households currently accepted onto our Housing Register for social housing, with average waiting times of between 15 months and 3 years for various property sizes (Source: Housing Register data for 2020-21, Locata) and the increasing number of people seeking housing advice. The continued high numbers on the Housing Register, and increasing Housing advice and homeless prevention cases shows the pressing need for affordable housing in the Borough, reflective of the national situation with demand outstripping supply.

Key housing achievements

In the last five years we have:

Prevented 385 people from becoming homeless
Housed 11 Syrian families
Given 368 grants for disability home improvements
Worked with developers to deliver 709 affordable homes
Delivered mental health support for rough sleepers
Developed online tools to make it easier to find a home

Local Housing context

Tonbridge and Malling Borough is in West Kent, covering an area of around 93 square miles from the North Downs at Burham and Snodland in the north to the town of Tonbridge in the south. The remainder of the borough is dotted with villages and smaller towns. Three motorways pass through the north of the Borough and there are good rail connections to London and the South East. Local employment and rail links to London combined with attractive countryside make West Kent a highly desirable place to live which influences the housing market.

Tonbridge and Malling has an estimated population of 132,571 (2020) (Source: ONS mid-2020 population estimates). The Borough is largely rural with Tonbridge in the south being the main town and home to around 40,000 residents.

The Borough has an estimated total of 55,184 dwellings, with 71% owner occupied, 13% private rented and 16% social housing (2019 ONS estimates).

The majority of homes in the borough are warm and safe, but a significant minority, 8%, have serious hazards including risk of falls and being cold and 2% of homes suffer from more general disrepair. (Source: BRE Client Report, BRE Integrated Dwelling Level Housing Stock Modelling and Database for Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council 2020).

There are 29 Registered Providers (RP) with social stock in the area, providing 9,505 homes of a variety of tenures: 7,697 general needs, 1,070 low cost homes ownership (such as shared ownership), 604 older peoples housing and 134 supported housing (source: Regulator of Social Housing Statistical Data Return (SDR) 2020).

The largest stock holding RP is Clarion Housing Association with 7,010 homes (74% of the total social housing stock).

There is a supported living scheme for residents with Learning disabilities in East Malling with Housing21, and two supported accommodation schemes provided by Look Ahead in Tonbridge (commissioned by Kent County Council (KCC)). New Wharf provides supported housing for young people and care leavers and another scheme in the Tonbridge area provides accommodation for those with complex needs. The West Kent YMCA have two properties in Tonbridge providing supported accommodation in share housing for single homeless adults with low to medium support needs. The Royal British Legion has homes in Aylesford and provides a range of support, employment and housing services.

There are three extra care schemes across the Borough in Tonbridge, Larkfield and Wateringbury provided by Rapport Housing and offering homes for rent and ownership (market sale and older persons shared ownership).

We want to ensure the assessed need for market and affordable homes is delivered while encouraging housing provision that contributes to the sustainability of communities and environmental sustainability.

Priority 1: Making best use of existing homes,improving housing quality and sustainability

Why this priority is important:

The quality and efficient use of existing homes is key to providing decent homes for residents in the borough.
• It’s important existing social housing is used efficiently, with 1279 households currently on the housing register (Housing Register data September 2021).
Improving the energy efficiency of existing homes will help reduce fuel bills and energy use
Over 800 properties were registered as empty as at September 2021, and 383 have been empty for more than six months (TMBC Council Tax data records).
43% of the private sector stock in the borough could benefit from energy efficiency improvements with 21% having un-insulated cavity walls, 15% having less then 100mm loft insulation and 7% having no loft insulation (BRE Client Report 2020).
An estimated 5.8% of private rented properties (508 homes) have an EPC below band E and so do not meet the minimum energy efficiency standard to be rented out (BRE Client Report 2020).
An estimated 4424 (8%) of all homes have a serious health hazard in line with the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) (BRE Client Report 2020).
New licensing requirements means there are an estimated 171 licensable HMOs.
Adaptations can enable people to continue to live independently in their own home.

Our objectives are to:

Ensure efficient use of existing housing stock
Improve property conditions to provide safe, healthy homes
Improve energy efficiency of housing stock to alleviate fuel poverty and help address climate change
Support residents to have a suitable home that meets their needs and where they can live independently.

What we will do to meet our objectives:

Ensure efficient use of existing housing stock:

Continue our work to bring empty properties back into use: focussing our limited resources on problematic long term empty homes and liaising with Registered Providers about their empty homes
Review our Housing Allocations Policy to ensure households in greatest need receive sufficient priority and to facilitate transfers (e.g. households who wish to downsize)
Consider occupation levels of existing homes and options to address under-occupation, with particular focus on larger family homes with Registered Providers
Outline our views on tenancy types and use of existing social housing stock for Registered Providers through our updated Tenancy Strategy – Appendix A
Use Local Lettings Plans for affordable housing on new developments to reflect local needs and priorities
Develop and implement a framework of engagement with Registered Provider partners to deliver and monitor use of existing social housing stock and the communities living in these homes
Consider options to monitor and influence the sale of intermediate tenure homes in partnership with the Government’s appointed Help to Buy zone agent and Registered Providers.

Improve property conditions to provide safe, healthy homes:

Improve conditions in the private rented sector by implementing HMO licensing requirements, enforcement measures and assistance through grants and loan work as outlined in our housing assistance policy
Take enforcement action where necessary.

Improve energy efficiency of housing stock to alleviate fuel poverty and help address climate change:

Work in partnership to support the delivery of objectives in the Fuel Poverty Strategy for Kent and take actions to increase energy efficiency and assist those in fuel poverty
Continue to seek funding opportunities to enable energy efficiency improvements to properties of different tenures, working with Registered Providers and landlords and residents
Assist at least ten households to improve the energy efficiency of their homes towards meeting our Climate Change Strategy commitments
Encourage the use of energy efficiency measures in new build homes, including a fabric first approach and the passivhaus standard
Explore options to improve the energy efficiency of Council owned temporary accommodation.

Support residents to have a suitable home where they can live independently:

Continue to support and meet the demand for adaptations using mandatory DFGs to help older and disabled people to live independently and remain in their homes
Continue to fund the Health & Housing Coordinators within hospital settings to facilitate discharge to a safe and suitable home
Actively engage and contribute to partnerships with Health and Care services, including through the West Kent Health and Care Partnership
Work with Kent County Council and use insight from the housing needs research to understand any gaps in existing provision in services and housing development and explore options to address identified needs (this links to Priority 3)
Encourage and influence housebuilders and Registered Providers to account for accessibility in new build homes and consider accessibility when developing planning policies.

Priority 2: Improving housing options and opportunities to prevent homelessness

Why this priority is important:

This Strategy sets out how we will continue to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, addressing the long-term housing challenges households face in securing a home.
We are required to have a homelessness strategy & rough sleeping strategy: the Homelessness Act 2002 requires local housing authorities to carry out a homelessness review for their district and publish a homelessness strategy based on the results every five years. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MCHLG) Rough Sleeping Strategy 2018 delivery plan requires a rough sleeping element to be included in local authority homelessness strategies, with annual action plans.
The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 strengthened the duty for local authorities to prevent homelessness.
Our focus is on prevention and early intervention providing advice and access to a range of housing solutions as well as emergency assistance and accommodation.
Housing costs and house prices are high, meaning many local households face affordability issues: median house prices are 11.3 times the median earnings (ONS 2020).
Affordable private rented accommodation is in short supply in the borough. The ‘LHA gap’ which is shortfall between market rents and Local Housing Allowance adds to affordability issues for some households, ranging from 10% to 50% (source: analysis of 2020 Local Housing Allowance rates and average market rents ONS private rental market data 2019-2020).
Demand for affordable housing outstrips supply – with approximately 16% of housing stock being social housing, low turnover combined with the number of households waiting for social housing shows unmet need. Within social housing provision new build delivery has focussed on social homes at Affordable Rents over recent years rather than social rents.
Partnership working and the importance of the links between housing and wellbeing have been highlighted further through the response to the Covid-19 pandemic and implementing the ‘Everyone In’ initiative.
The Housing Solutions Team are dealing with an increase in cases from a wide range of customers, all in need of housing advice: 1267 cases were opened during 2020-21, 23% increase from 1029 in the previous year (source: internal housing advice data records, Locata).
The three most frequent reasons households become homeless or are threatened with homelessness. In 2020-21 were a private rented tenancy being ended (22.7% of prevention duties owed) and family or friends no longer willing or able to accommodate (33% of prevention duties owed), and non-violent relationship breakdown with partner (10.3% of prevention duties owed) (source: MHCLG Live tables on homelessness online at www.gov.uk).
Rough sleeping – although we have low numbers of rough sleepers it is vital to continue with proactive prevention and support measures. There were an estimated 6 rough sleepers in the borough at the annual estimate in November 2020, with outreach work bringing this down further since the estimate.
Ongoing impact of welfare reform and benefit claim levels – the number of new claims for Universal Credit increased during 2020 – 2021 linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. Changes in income and employment status are likely to effect local households and may impact on their wellbeing and ability to meet housing costs.
The number of households in temporary accommodation has increased from an average of 29 placements in 2017/18 to 119 for 2020/21 and 150 so far for 2021/22, leading to a significant increase in costs.
Over half of homeless acceptances were deemed to be in priority need because the household included dependent children (64.8%T) in 2020-21 and priority need because of vulnerability due to physical disability or ill health was the second most common reason at 14.1%. The number of acceptances with priority need due to vulnerability due to mental health has increased, from 5.2% in 2018-19 to 12.7% in 2020-21 (source: MHCLG Live tables on homelessness online at www.gov.uk, priority need of households owed a main duty).

Our objectives are to:

Provide housing options advice focussing on homeless prevention through a personalised approach
Work with voluntary and statutory partners to help rough sleepers off the streets and into settled accommodation and prevent people from rough sleeping
Ensure vulnerable groups and those with complex needs have access to support to maintain their tenancy
Improve links with landlords in the private rented sector to work together to prevent homelessness and increase housing options.
Minimise the use of nightly paid accommodation to manage temporary accommodation costs and seek alternative provision including property purchase or development.

What we will do to meet our objectives

Provide housing options advice focussing on homeless prevention and intervention through a personalised approach:

Develop a Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy and action plan with relevant partner agencies
Ensure personalised housing plans improve the resilience of customers and identify any support needed, to become more independent and resilient
Improve the range of housing options and prevention interventions, including mediation services and accessing the private rented sector where possible
Maximise use of funding options available to help households access the private rented sector
Ensure agencies who have the duty to refer are aware of this and know how to refer those at risk of homelessness or rough sleeping
Develop partnerships to enable new initiatives and longer-term housing solutions over the life of this strategy
Engage with customers to learn from their experience and use feedback on services to shape provision.

Work with voluntary and statutory partners to help rough sleepers off the streets and into settled accommodation:

Continue our strong partnership working approach to tackling rough sleeping in the Borough, through responsive outreach services and future initiatives
Continue to seek funding available for homeless related services, including the current Next steps accommodation programme, Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) funding and any future initiatives of funding streams to enable homeless prevention initiatives and support provision
Continue our Housing First project as a housing led approach to tackling homelessness.

Ensure vulnerable groups and those with complex needs have access to support to maintain their tenancy:

Work with partner agencies to address the support, education, training and employment needs of vulnerable people and continue collaborative working to secure resources and identify funding opportunities for new initiatives and projects
Ensure vulnerable groups have access to support through tenancy sustainment services
Continue our commitment to the UK resettlement schemes along with appropriate support provision in partnership with Kent County Council
Keep protocols under review to enable efficient, safe and effective working, including 16-17 year old protocol, and those relating to complex needs, including mental health problems. Improve links with landlords in the private rented sector and encourage them to work with us to prevent homelessness and increase housing options through developing our landlord offer:
Continue to facilitate the West Kent Landlord Forum in partnership with neighbouring authorities and the NRLA, and develop local engagement options such as networking gatherings or workshops, to keep landlords informed of legislative changes and requirements, discuss particular topics and share our landlord offer
Continue to review and develop our private landlord offer, including ‘golden hello’ incentive payments and rent guarantee and promote it through the Landlord Forum
Engage with private landlords through the West Kent Landlord Forum partnership and seek to overcome any issues for existing tenancies and/or making them reluctant to let homes to households facing homelessness. We will work to improve perceptions of those in receipt of welfare benefits and promote awareness of duties under the Equalities Act 2010, including indirect discrimination if landlords refuse to let a home to those in receipt of welfare benefits.
Investigate options to improve access to the private rented sector, including a social lettings agency or leasing scheme. Minimise the use of nightly paid accommodation to manage temporary accommodation costs and seek alternative provision including property purchase or development:
Explore alternatives to nightly paid temporary accommodation and ways to help households secure suitable alternative accommodation, for example purchasing property or developing provision, and leasing schemes
Use Council and Registered Provider options for temporary accommodation where possible
Improve the housing options for households at risk of homelessness and assist households to resolve their housing need before the crisis point of homelessness.

Priority 3: Delivering the homes our residents need in the places they are needed

Why this is important:

We need to respond to a wide range of housing needs from smaller homes for young people and people looking to downsize, to larger family homes
839 new homes are needed in Tonbridge and Malling per year, including 40% affordable homes
Home ownership is out of reach for many average and low income households with median house prices 11.3 times the median earnings (ONS affordability ratio data 2020)
Social rent is the only genuinely affordable housing option for many households and there is a lack of new7supply of homes for social rent
Although housing delivery has met new build targets in recent years the affordable housing delivered as part of this isn’t sufficient to meet affordable housing need alone; demand continues to outstrip supply with 1279 households currently on our Housing Register. The market on its own does not deliver the amount and range of affordable housing needed.
It is important to understand the housing need of communities and areas in the Borough, including rural areas.

Our objectives are to:

Understand local housing need with up to date information on affordable and specialist housing need for a range of housing (including type, tenure and location) to inform decision making and housing priorities.
Provide housing choice by encouraging housing of different types, size and tenure in suitable locations, at a range of prices to be within reach of different household financial capacities.
Ensure a range of specialist and/or accessible housing to meet identified needs of vulnerable groups.
Work in partnership with Registered Providers, private developers and Homes England to gain greater influence and control over affordable housing delivery and make best use of financial resources and assets.
Consider options for the Council to influence and take a pro-active role in housing delivery, including through a Local Housing Company.

What we plan to do to meet our objectives

Understand local housing need, with up to date information on affordable and specialist housing need for a range of housing (including type, tenure and location) to inform decision making and housing priorities:

Improve our understanding of housing needs through carrying out local housing needs research
Improve our understanding of specific housing needs by capturing and analysing our own internal data and intelligence and information held by our partners
Work with health partners and Kent County Council to understand and respond to current and future housing needs of older people and other vulnerable groups that require specialist housing.

Provide housing choice by encouraging housing of different types, size and tenure in suitable locations, at a range of prices to be within reach of different household financial capacities:

Use findings and information from the Housing needs research to establish priorities for housing provision across the Borough for affordable homes for rent and intermediate housing, for example shared ownership and intermediate rent
Work with landowners and developers to deliver affordable homes on allocated sites reflective of housing need in line with the Affordable Housing Statement
Explore the viability of delivering more social rent homes within new developments
Explore options to provide affordable housing for keyworkers
Encourage adaptable and accessible housing that can respond to the changing needs of residents, supported by housing needs information and planning policy
Diversify the provision of affordable housing through partnership working and innovation, such as community-led schemes and self-build.

Ensure a range of specialist and/or accessible housing to meet identified needs of vulnerable groups:

Use findings and information from the Housing needs research to understand any gaps in provision and emerging need for specialist or accessible housing
Formulate actions to address any need and work in partnership with developers, Homes England and Registered Providers to deliver required homes
Explore opportunities to deliver required provision and seek to enable delivery, including re-provision of existing social housing stock, whole site affordable housing developments and consideration of the use of S106 contributions.

Consider options and work in partnership with registered providers, private developers and Homes England to gain greater influence/control and be involved in affordable housing delivery, making best use of financial resources and assets:

Explore the options for the Council to take a more pro-active and direct approach to affordable housing delivery, such as a Local Housing Company
Take a more proactive approach to working with Private Registered Providers to encourage them to come forward with land-led developments and consider joint initiatives
Develop options and priorities for the use of S106 contributions to facilitate affordable housing provision
Work closely with Homes England and other partners to identify and bring forward sites for development.

Consider options for the Council to influence and take a pro-active role in housing delivery, including through a Local Housing Company:

Research options for the Council to take a pro-active approach to housing delivery through measures such as establishing a Local Housing Company, joint ventures with private developers, Registered Providers or long lease models.

Priority 4: Working in partnership

Why this priority is important:

Limited resources and budget restrictions mean partnership working is vital to delivering the aims of this Strategy and delivering well rounded services to residents
We need to harness the expertise and experience of partners to deliver excellent services
Joining up services and cross sector working is important to successful delivery of housing services shown through the hospital discharge co-ordinator role and delivery of the rough sleeper action plan
Housing has an important role in health and delivering/facilitating integrated services. Integrated services which take account of individual needs are key to improving health needs; people with mental and physical disabilities, complex needs, long-term conditions and terminal illness need access to different health care, social care, housing and other services such as education
Membership and active engagement in Kent Housing Group enables collaborative working; sharing learning, best practice and shared projects to make best use of limited resources.

Our objectives are to:

Work in partnership with local authorities and partner organisations through active membership and engagement in Kent Housing Group to share best practice, learning and resources.
Engage with Registered Providers and private developers through regular strategic and management/liaison meetings to ensure efficient and effective delivery of services.
Work with health colleagues and organisations to ensure preventative focussed work and improve health through links between services
Maximise our joint working with local commissioned organisations and third sector partners to add value to our housing services.

What we plan to do to meet our objectives

Work in partnership with local authorities and partner organisations including active membership and engagement in Kent Housing Group to share best practice, learning and resources:

Continue with our membership to Kent Housing Group and our active role in this partnership.
Continue to work in partnership with other local authorities.

Engage with Registered Providers and private developers through regular strategic and management/liaison meetings to ensure efficient and effective delivery of services:

Develop an approach to regular engagement with Registered providers and private developers to influence housing delivery in the borough
Continue to meet with providers of social housing to monitor use and management homes after delivery, ensuring positive occupancy, customer service and neighbourhood management and foster positive working relationships with teams across partners, including Community Safety and Housing Benefits. Work with health colleagues and organisations to ensure preventative focussed work and improve health through links between services:
Continue to take an active role in cross sector initiatives and projects with Health Services
Continue with partnership working with health and social care partners
Work with health partners to ensure the Complex Care Nurse and the Mental Health services continue
Work in partnership with Kent County Council’s Joint Health and Wellbeing Board to support delivery of the Better Care programme, and priorities of the Kent Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy developing preventative and integrated services to improve outcomes for residents, by maximising people’s independence and promoting personalisation.
Continue to raise awareness of housing and the services we offer to ensure a joined-up approach to supporting residents especially vulnerable people.

Maximise our joint working with local commissioned organisations and third sector partners to add value to our housing services:

Work with KCC commissioned services on wellbeing and older persons to ensure services link into the support available and share information
Work with existing partners such as RBLI, Look Ahead, Porchlight and West Kent YMCA in relation to achieving aims and objectives outlined in the priorities of this Strategy. We will also work with new partners where there are opportunities to develop our work further.