More Affordable Homes For People On Council Housing List In Adur & Worthing

Adur & Worthing Councils have approved plans to deliver more affordable housing as it has emerged that over 2,000 families were on local council housing waiting lists.

The councils drew up an overarching strategy (Adur and Worthing Housing Strategy for 2020-2023) and have now approved plans which outline how 1,400 affordable homes will be delivered locally.

The delivery plan was given final approval on Thursday (April 7) with the aim of building or acquiring 1,400 ‘affordable’ homes by 2025.

The majority will be delivered in partnership with developers but the councils aim to commission a minimum of 250.

A number of ‘oportunity sites’ have been identified for this and, if all the homes come forward, these would deliver a total of 1,827 affordable homes by 2025.

Rising investment to meet rising costs

This comes amid rising costs for temporary and emergency accommodation for the councils which say they want ‘everyone to have a place they can call home, whether it is owned, shared or rented’.

As of March 2021, 741 households were on the Adur District Council housing register – a slight decrease on the 751 from a year before, but an increase on the 2015/16 figure.

In Worthing, there were 1,419 households on the list at the end of March last year – the highest number since 2015/16.

The councils’ housing strategy notes that households ‘can be waiting an average of five years to be re-housed’.

This is coupled with median house prices reaching £305,000 in Adur and £295,000 in Worthing.

Median rents in Adur are £875 per month and £775 per month in Worthing.

The council strategy says that 653 additional homes will be required across both Adur and Worthing per year for those who cannot afford to rent, with a further 146 required for affordable purchase.

Adur District Council is set to deliver the majority (950) of the 1,400 target with Worthing Borough Council aiming to work with partners to deliver the remainder.

ADC is expected to spend a total of £27.4 million on affordable homes (including temporary accommodation) this financial year.

Worthing is forecast to spend £3.1 million on emergency and temporary accommodation and a grant of £2.6 million to social landlords brings the total investment to £5.7 million.

‘We’re not building fast enough’

Councillor Catherine Arnold (Lab, St Mary’s) expressed concerns that delivery may not be on track, with only 42 homes delivered in the last quarter.

“We support the programme but feel strongly that the council should put less emphasis on affordable homes and more on council housing,” she said.

But Angus Dunn (Con, Hillside) said the council now has a ‘better strategy’, adding that council housing also falls under the category of ‘affordable’ alongside shared ownership and homes sold below market value.

Executive member for customer services Carson Albury (Con, Manor), whose portfolio includes housing, said:

“We aren’t building quickly enough, of course we aren’t.

“When I first took this position there was no one in the council itself who was capable of going through the process of getting everything together, doing the consultation, and everything else.

“The staff are now in place to do that, we’ve got three major projects that are in the process right now, and also some of our smaller projects.”

Green councillor Gabe Crisp (St Nicolas) called for more sustainable social housing.

“This issue of affordable homes and social housing is one of my absolute passions, having several people in my ward living in really unfit accommodation,” she said.

“Clearly there’s been an issue over the last decade of not properly maintaining properties – there’s been a real issue with Adur Homes.

“I think we need to really look at the balance of social versus affordable housing.

“We also need to look at our climate change commitments when we’re building property. 

“We should not be installing properties with gas boilers any more – we should be building homes to Passivhaus standards or something equivalent.”