Housing strategies
This section contains information about the council's housing strategy and other housing policy documents.
There are five parts to this section:- Tenancy Strategy
- Homelessness Strategy 2011-2016
- Housing Strategy
- Extra Care Strategy for Eastern Surrey
- The Joint Accommodation Strategy for people with care and support needs in Surrey
1. Tenancy Strategy
The Localism Act 2011 requires local authorities to publish a Tenancy Strategy by January 2013.
The Council published an Interim Tenancy Strategy for consultation in early 2012; the responses to that consultation can be found in the following document:
In December 2012 the Council's Executive approved the final Tenancy Strategy which took into account the responses to the consultation.
2. Homelessness Strategy 2011-2016
We are very pleased to have produced a new Homelessness Strategy for 2011-2016, which sets out what we plan to do in Reigate and Banstead to tackle homelessness.
The strategy has five overarching themes:
- Develop the Housing Options approach
- Strengthen partnership working
- Engage the private rented sector
- Increase the supply of and maximise the use of existing affordable housing
- Deliver efficient customer focused services
Effectively tackling homelessness and minimising its effects on individuals and the wider community continues to be a key objective for us. We are committed to preventing homelessness wherever possible and finding appropriate interventions to achieve this.
We will drive forward future improvements to our services to those people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness, by achieving the actions within this strategy’s Delivery Plan.
3. Housing Strategy
What is a Housing Strategy?
Every Council is required to have a Housing Strategy. Its purpose is to identify local housing issues, priorities for action and the resources needed to deliver our objectives. The Strategy provides an overall housing strategic framework for the Council and informs the annual work plan for the Housing Service.
Every three-four years we review our Housing Strategy. We consult the public, residents and key stakeholders about the housing issues in the borough and proposed priorities.
Our housing strategy priorities are based on information about local:
housing needs
house prices
affordability
disrepair and
community needs.
National and regional policies also guide our priorities, and at the local level the borough’s Community Plan, Council’s Corporate Plan and Local Development Framework also have an influence.
East Surrey Housing Strategy 2009-13
The council has worked with the neighbouring authorities of Epsom & Ewell BC, Mole Valley DC and Tandridge DC to produce the East Surrey Housing Strategy.
The councils agreed the following priorities:
- Creating Housing Opportunities
- Improving Housing Standards
- Improving Housing and Support for Vulnerable People.
We will work towards delivering these priorities across East Surrey, sharing and pooling resources as appropriate, reducing duplication and streamlining processes.
The East Surrey Housing Strategy and Action Plan can be downloaded here. As one document, the East Surrey Housing Strategy is a very large file, so it is split into sections below to make downloading quicker.
- East Surrey Housing Strategy Executive Summary (PDF document [404Kb])
- East Surrey Housing Strategy Chapters 1-7 (PDF document [2.1Mb])
- East Surrey Housing Strategy Chapter 8 - Epsom & Ewell (PDF document [86.6Kb])
- East Surrey Housing Strategy Chapter 9 - Mole Valley (PDF document [128.6Kb])
- East Surrey Housing Strategy Chapter 10 - Reigate & Banstead (PDF document [69.8Kb])
- East Surrey Housing Strategy Chapter 11 - Tandridge (PDF document [74.9Kb])
- East Surrey Housing Strategy Action Plan (PDF document [72.6Kb]).
The first annual progress update of the Action Plan (completed in September 2010) can be downloaded here:
4. Review of the Housing Needs of Older People and the Extra Care Strategy
In 2005 the Council completed a review of the housing and care needs of older people in the borough. The review has provided the Council and our partners with a valuable source of information about the housing needs of older people in the borough and the supply of housing to meet those needs.
The review identified that the needs and aspirations of older people are changing. The majority of people aged over 74 years old are owner-occupiers, they are living longer and require increasing levels of support to remain independent.
Older people wish to exercise choice about where and how they live and to remain independent for as long as possible. The review recommends that the range of housing options for older people needs to increase.
In October 2005, the Extra Care Housing Strategy for Eastern Surrey was launched. This Strategy draws on the findings of the review of housing and care needs of older people in the borough.
Working in partnership, the Council, together with Tandridge District Council, Surrey County Council and East Surrey Primary Care Trust developed an Extra Care Housing Strategy. The Strategy highlights the importance of homes for life for older people, in which they have access to 24-hour care services, an on-site restaurant, social and learning opportunities.
The Strategy sets out a range of options to improve existing older people’s accommodation and the development of new purpose built accommodation. Work is already underway to identify opportunities to develop Extra Care Housing in the borough.
5. The Joint Accommodation Strategy for people with care and support needs in Surrey 2010-2014
A Joint Accommodation Strategy for people with care and support needs has been prepared by Surrey County Council in partnership with each of the eleven borough and district housing departments in Surrey. Its focus is on housing for people with care and support needs and it is intended to support and supplement other strategy documents that are in place or in preparation, such as the East Surrey Housing Strategy, the Surrey Supporting People Strategy, the Children's Housing Strategy and a range of Adult Social Care accommodation and commissioning strategies.
The intention of this strategy is to map housing, care and support needs for vulnerable adults and young people in each borough and district in Surrey, with a view to agreeing local priorities and local action plans to meet demand.
You can download the separate chapters of the Joint Accommodation Strategy, including a separate chapter for Reigate & Banstead, from the Surrey County Council website (easy read versions).
You can also download the full versions each chapter from the Surrey County Council website (full versions).
Last updated : 15/01/2013
