Decision details

The County Council has a small number of vacant residential properties which are no longer needed for their original operational purposes; some of these have been identified as suitable for families with children needing accommodation.    The County Council is not legally able to grant residential tenancies of a nature that would facilitate the letting of these properties directly to the families.   YMCA Downslink Group (YMCA) has been identified as a suitable Registered Provider. The YMCA proposes to apply for government grant to bring the properties up to a lettable standard, to manage and maintain the properties for 5 years under the terms of the lease, accept tenant nominations from the County Council, manage the tenancies, collect rents, carry out day to day maintenance of the properties and prepare the properties between tenancies.  There will therefore be no up-front capital cost to the County Council.  There should also be savings against the current arrangements for temporary accommodation.

Cabinet will be asked to endorse the leasing of vacant residential property to a Registered Provider for the purpose of housing families to whom the County Council has a Children Act duty for their temporary accommodation.   It is proposed to lease the properties to YMCA Downslink Group (YMCA).   It will be proposed that authority is delegated to the Director Property and Assets in consultation with the Director Law and Assurance to conclude the terms of the leases and the nomination arrangements with the Registered Provider and  to agree a list of current suitable properties to be part of  the proposal for the scheme and agree future properties should they become available.

Cabinet endorsed that:

1.      The County Council enters into Lease agreements with the Registered Provider, YMCA Downslink Group on selected residential properties identified as suitable to house families to whom the County Council has a Children Act duty for their temporary accommodation, and such other suitable properties as become available at nil rent to the registered provider, for either 6 or 11 years (length of lease to be determined by extent of works required to bring the properties up to standard) on the terms set out in section 2 of the report; and that

2.      Authority is delegated to the Director Property and Assets in consultation with the Director of Law and Assurance to conclude the terms of the leases, and the nomination arrangements with the Registered Provider and to agree the list of suitable properties to be part of proposal for the scheme currently and in the future, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, should further properties become available.

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