SOUTHWARK HOUSING STRATEGY DOCUMENT

Southwark housing Strategy document

Southwark housing Strategy document

Who is the policy targeting?

The Southwark Housing Strategic Partnership was set up in May 2008. The purpose of Southwark Housing Strategic Partnership is to improve the lives of residents through developing and effectively responding to a sound and shared understanding of the housing needs of residents across all tenures, making the best use of resources. (Blair, 2008, 4-7)

The strategic aims of the partnership are:

To achieve high quality homes across all tenures which will meet the needs of current and future residents and which contribute to improving life chances and making Southwark a better place to live.

To advise Southwark Alliance and its thematic partnerships on housing matters and on the housing implications of other partnerships' strategies and plans, helping understanding of the role of housing in delivering sustainability

To advise Southwark Alliance and other thematic groups regarding infrastructure/amenities/services which are required to ensure places are created/maintained as areas where people want to live.

To advise on housing policy issues and reviewing current policies including local responses to national and regional policy priorities.

To advise and influence other external bodies such as the GLA, Government Office, Government departments, Homes and Communities Agency on local housing issues in order to achieve the optimum outcomes for Southwark.

To play a lead role in developing, monitoring delivery of and reviewing Southwark's Housing Strategy, including examining how partners are performing against these objectives. (Blair, 2008, 4-7)

To play a lead role in shaping housing options in Southwark's Local Development Framework Core Strategy.

To foster and enable new housing supply of the required size, type, tenure, affordability and mix to meet a range of needs.

To foster and enable making the best use of the existing housing stock in Southwark.

To foster and enable provision of supported and special needs housing to meet a range of identified needs.

To share housing intelligence in order to establish a robust and shared understanding of the trends and drivers which influence housing supply and demand and the wider implications for housing plans, infrastructure and communities. This needs to be built in to the Southwark Housing Market Assessment

To identify opportunities for and facilitate cross organisation working and skill sharing in support of the aims of the partnership.

To foster excellence in housing services across all tenures.

Current membership:

Housing Associations representing the sector - SOUHAG (Southwark Housing Association Groups), Guiness Trust, Peabody, Metropolitan Housing Trust, Lookahead Housing and Care, Southern Housing Group, Family Mosaic

Southwark Council - Chief Executive, Executive Member for Housing, Head of Housing Strategy and Regeneration, Planning and Transport Policy Manager

House Builders Federation

Private landlords - Hytyme, Nice Group

Resident representatives - Tenant Council/Southwark Group of Tenants' Organisations, Home Owners Council/LAS2000, private resident

Southwark residents will have access to larger numbers of affordable homes in the future despite the recession, according to commitments in Southwark Council's Housing Strategy for the next seven years. (Blair, 2008, 4-7) The Housing Strategy, which is now out for consultation, proposes objectives and priorities ...