The Committee received a report and presentation on the progress of GBC Lettings (the Council’s Social Letting Agency) as it was reaching its one-year anniversary. Members were provided with a summary of the work that had been undertaken throughout the first year of operation and the next steps for the service.

A copy of the presentation was available within the agenda and could be viewed via the following link:-

Agenda for Housing Services Cabinet Committee on Monday, 11 November 2024, 7.30 pm – Gravesham Borough Council

The Committee was informed that GBC Lettings was officially up and running in late October 2023.The main aim of the Agency being to reduce temporary accommodation expenditure, whilst finding an effective way to discharge the Council’s homelessness duty into the private sector. This in turn would reduce the reliance on the Council’s Housing Register.

The Agency consisted of three officers; Katie Perry - Lettings Manager and Julia Card and Paul O'Leary who were Property Managers.

The Lettings Manager informed the Committee that the target for the first year was to procure 20 properties. As of 8 October 2024, 28 properties (a mixture of one to four bedroom properties) had been successfully procured meaning 28 households experiencing or at risk of homelessness had moved into long term settled accommodation. The Agency was currently working with 21 landlords and asked that, where practicable, landlords looked to commitment for a minimum of three years.

All homes procured and allocated by the Agency were deemed affordable as rents were set at the local housing allowance rate for Gravesham. All homes procured would also need to meet the decent homes standards and would be inspected in line with the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), meaning better quality properties for local households.

As the Agency was a Social Letting Agency, it would ensure that any support would be available/offered to its tenants in terms of accessing services such as debt advice, healthcare support etc.

Following implementation of the Agency, the forecasted saving to the temporary accommodation budget was circa £235,413.

The target for the next year will be to retain all of the 28 tenancies that had started within year one and procure an additional 20 new homes.

The Agency had received positive feedback to date from both landlords and tenants as detailed within the report.

Following questions from Members of the Committee, the Lettings Manager:-

• informed Members of the process in terms of how tenants were selected from the Council’s Housing Register as every tenant would need to be vetted to ensure that the property was suitable and affordable;
• advised that the forecasted saving to the temporary accommodation budget was based on the average amount spent on nightly paid accommodation for that particular property type together with the average stay that a tenant would have in that property type; and
• advised that there was a designated webpage on the Council’s website which contained information about the Agency and how landlord can register their interest should they wish to:-

            GBC Lettings – Gravesham Borough Council

            The Chair also informed the Committee that details of the Agency had been             shared with Gravesham’s Landlords’ Forum.

The Committee commended officers on this good news story and the work that had been undertaken to date particularly in terms of overachieving within the first year.

The Committee noted the contents of the report.