Cardiff Council approves new housing strategy

Cardiff Council are committed to building at least 1000 new homes in the next five years following the approval of the Housing Strategy for 2012-2017.

Speaking at last night's full meeting of Cardiff Council, Judith Woodman, Cabinet Member for Communities, Housing and Social Justice, outlined the details of the plan, saying the strategy create new jobs and contribute to Cardiff's thriving and prosporous economy.

She said: "We will continue to develop interventions to help those at risk of poverty and on low incomes.

"The Housing Strategy will help build communities which are adapted to modern life and that people want to live in."

Included in the strategy are new policies for dealing with fuel poverty and empty properties and the extension of a scheme controlling properties with multiple tenants in Cathays to Plasnewyedd and Gabalfa.

The Additional Licensing Scheme was introduced in Cathays in 2010 and required landlords to take steps to bring properties up to a minimum standard and ensured levels of rubbish were kept to as low a level as possible. All properties registered with the scheme are subject to an extension to ensure these requirements are met.

In cooperation with private and public sector bodies, the council is seeking to educate residents about ways to reduce their fuel bill, through more efficent heating and available schemes to insulate houses.

Coun Woodman said: "The current economy and the threat of rising energy prices make fuel poverty more urgent than ever. It is essential that we continue to strive to improve the quality of housing, help residents maximise their income and increase education around energy efficency to ensure our residents can enjoy good health and well-being."

The number of people petitioning the council claiming to be homeless or at risk of homelessness has doubled in recent years, with 3,820 requests recieved in 2010-11. 905 of these were accepted as being eligible for assistance and the council were required to find them accommodation.

A further 11,717 people are registered on a waiting list for social housing, but in a sample month only 49 properties were let out. A key aim of the strategy is to bring homes which are currently empty back into use to help address this demand and the council have set a target of bringing 150 homes back into use by April 2013.

Despite the strategy being passed, the Conservative group still highlighted several concerns with the housing strategy. Councillor Ron, Page, Heath, expressed concern over the treatement of returning army veterans, questioning whether they were given the help and support they deserve by Cardiff Council and accused the council of only paying lip service to ex-soldiers. 

This charge was strongly refuted by Coun Woodman, who said veterans were already a priority for the council and their previous actions had demonstrated this.

Conservative Leader Councillor David Walker, went further saying the strategy was not a strategy at all and would function as a good instruction manual for council employees but did nothing to outline where the city was going.

He said: "What this council needs is a six page report summarising key changes and what is affordable and when.

"Cardiff still has a growing housing problem and there are things which could be reported on, how are current schemes progressing?"