Appendix B- Our achievements 2005-2010

Increasing the Supply of new Affordable Homes

·         Delivering 1,204 affordable houses of which 334 were directly funded by the Council,

·         Successfully applying to become a Growth Point;

·         Bringing forward our Affordable Housing Development Plan Document ahead of the Core Strategy to help deliver new housing at the earliest opportunity;

·         Increasing the percentage of affordable housing expected through planning policy from 25% to 40%.  In 2009/10, some 69% of all homes built in Maidstone were affordable;

·         Committing significant resources from its own capital programme to deliver new affordable housing within its medium-term financial plan;

·         Completing the following policy reviews: Housing Strategy Supplement Review, Homelessness Strategy, Strategic Housing Market Assessment and Gypsy and Traveler Housing Needs Surveys completed in partnership with Kent colleagues;

·         Completing 10 Rural Housing Needs Surveys in partnership with the Rural Housing Enablers.

2.      Tackling Homelessness

·         Over the period 2005-10, reducing the number of homeless applications from 312 to 55, and the number of homeless acceptances from 174 to 7;

·         Over the same period, some 1,515 households have been prevented from becoming homeless through housing advice provided by the Housing Options Team and our partners;

·         Reduced the number of households in temporary accommodation from 149 in December 2004 to 38 in March 2010.  Our 2010 temporary accommodation target was met in September 2007, some two years early;

·         Successfully housing 2,209 households from the housing register;

·         Assisting 315 households through the Rent Deposit Bond Scheme;

·         Lobbying the DCLG, resulting in a significant increase in our Homelessness Grant throughout 2007-10, when other authorities’ grants were reduced or stayed the same.

3.      Improving Existing Homes

·         Making 836 homes occupied by vulnerable households decent;

·         In the last two years helped 3,344 households through the Staying Put Partnership;

·         In five years, 230 vacant private sector dwellings were demolished or returned to occupation;

·         Licensed 91 Units of houses in multiple occupation to ensure compliance with the 2004 Housing Act;

·         Partnership arrangements with the Kent Energy Centre enabled 7,755 energy advice surveys to be completed since 2005;

4.      Addressing the Needs of Vulnerable Households

·         Hosting the newly formed Maidstone Mental Health Forum with partners from Health, Social Services and other stakeholders;

·         Tumim House became operational to provide housing for ex-offenders in conjunction with the Kent Drug & Alcohol Action Team and service users successfully moving onto settled accommodation;

·         Active participation in the East Sutton Park Women’s Prison Vision Project;