South Cambridgeshire gets a 'good' housing report from watchdog

The strategic housing service provided by South Cambridgeshire District Council is 'good' with 'promising prospects for improvement', according to an independent report published by the Audit Commission.

On a scale from zero to three stars, the Audit Commission team gave the service, which covers areas such as homelessness and affordable housing, a 'good', two-star rating. The report shows that the Council understands the local housing market and is committed to meeting the needs of both settled and travelling communities.

The Audit Commission Inspection team were on site during the first week in December 2010 and carried out a thorough inspection of our strategic housing service. Whilst here they carried out a number of different checks, in order to get a full picture of how good the service is, which included:

surveys of key government agencies the Council works with;
focus groups and interviews with staff, Councillors, partners and other stakeholders;
a tour of key parts of the district;
visiting the Council's website and links to on-line information pages of some of its key partners;
reviewing customer information; and
a review of Council documents related to the service

The Inspectors' acknowledged the strong foundations in place for the strategic housing service to manage the challenges facing the district as one of the country's growth areas. Working with our partners within the sub region we have demonstrated that we have a good understanding of the housing needs and related issues that affect the district, and through strong partnership working we have shown our commitment to meeting the needs of both settled and travelling communities. Our work in the prevention of homelessness, support for new affordable homes, the excellent choice based lettings scheme and housing support services which meet the needs of the most vulnerable have been highlighted as key strengths within the service. We would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank all our partners, staff and District Councillors for their continued support in providing a service in which we can all have pride.

We are especially pleased that the Inspectors identified three areas of positive practice, namely promoting affordable homes for local people in rural communities, being pro-active in responding to the housing needs of Gypsies & Travellers, and maximising affordable housing through effective viability modelling. We will be delighted to assist any other local authority that is signposted to us by the Audit Commission.

We will continue to improve our service and will ensure that appropriate action is taken to implement the recommendations made by the Inspectors. We are already working towards a more joined-up approach with regard to private sector housing and will be developing an Empty Homes Strategy and an update of the Housing Strategy during 2011. Value for money and stronger performance management are key to continued improvement and projects are already underway to strengthen these areas.

A full copy of the Inspectors' Report published on 17th February 2011 is available below -

Strategic Housing Services Audit Commission Inspection