On 11 January, Cllr Neil Houston, Cabinet member for Housing, briefed Cabinet colleagues on a package of financial support announced by the Department for Levelling Up and Housing (DLUHC). This amounts to a £500 million Local Authority Housing Fund to provide capital funding directly to English councils in areas facing the most significant housing pressures due the arrival of Ukrainians seeking safety in the UK.
Elmbridge, with our partner agencies, is currently supporting 210 Afghans (45 households) who are in a bridging hotel. In addition, we currently have around 400 Ukrainians residing in the borough under the Homes for Ukraine scheme and are accommodating 8 Ukrainian families in temporary accommodation under our homelessness duties.
From the Local Authority Housing Fund Elmbridge was allocated:
- £3.6m to support delivery of a minimum of 18 homes (mainly for Ukrainians) – this equates to £200,000 per property
- £0.895m to support delivery of a minimum of 2 four-bedroom plus homes for Afghans in bridging accommodation
Cabinet agreed to recommend to full Council:
- that Elmbridge BCl participates in the Local Authority Housing Fund
- that we increase our commitment to resettle Afghan families through the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) from five households to ten, both recognising the level of ongoing need and the level of funding available to councils to help provide housing and support to eligible families.
We want to be able to provide suitable settled housing for those arriving in the UK through Ukrainian and Afghan schemes, but also create a legacy of a new permanent supply of housing to help address longer-term housing and homelessness pressures within Elmbridge. The Local Authority Housing Fund, plus our own strategy to increase affordable accommodation in conjunction with our housing association partners, will help deliver those outcomes for the Elmbridge community.