Housing Strategy 2025-28

This strategy will help deliver our overarching Council Strategy, which has three priorities at its heart:

1. Climate Change and Our Environment – Protecting our environment and leading the district towards carbon neutrality.
2. Community Resilience and Wellbeing – Building strong, mutually supporting communities which are actively engaged in their own future.
3. Local Economy – A growing economy which enables people to live well

The Strategy has also been designed to align with the East Sussex Housing Partnership Strategy which provides an overarching strategic approach based on a strong evidence base, and sets the priorities, aims and objectives for Housing in East Sussex. Wealden District Council’s Housing Strategy 2025-28 sets out Wealden’s contribution towards the East Sussex Housing Partnership Strategy.

In developing and delivering this strategy our vision is:

“to work in partnership to ensure sustainable, suitable, safe and affordable homes for all.”

• Increasing Affordable Housing Supply
• Safety and Quality of Council homes
• Preventing Homelessness and Rough Sleeping
• Tackling Climate Change
• Supporting the Health and Wellbeing of Residents

Strategic Themes

The following themes underpin all our priorities:

Collaboration – cross-sector working with both the statutory and voluntary sector to achieve our priorities is key to delivering all aspects of this strategy.

Engagement with Residents – ensuring that residents are involved in decisions about the services that affect them.

Evidence Based Decision Making – the strategy will ensure that data, intelligence and customer engagement informs decision making.

Value for money – making sure in delivering this strategy and associated services that excellent value for money is provided.

Workforce – building capacity within the local workforce is key to delivering our strategic priorities. Like many other sectors, housing faces significant challenges in respect of the recruitment and retention of staff.

In December 2024, the government published the English Devolution White Paper, setting out its approach to devolution and local government reorganisation.

This strategy aims to align as far as possible, with the East Sussex Housing Partnership Strategy to provide consistency during the devolution and re-organisation process, recognising the strength of our existing partnership work in East Sussex (regardless of any decisions on the future shape and size of Council(s) in the area), and continuing to strengthen cross sector collaboration. 

At the time of writing, much uncertainty remains about what Devolution and Local

Government Reorganisation will mean for local authorities, or the communities we serve. For more information, please visit Shaping the future of local government in East Sussex. 

Our Aims

We aim to coordinate a thriving and diverse local development market by promoting the voice of our communities within the development process. This ensures that local housing needs are clearly identified and investment is targeted to meet these needs, maximising the delivery of all housing, especially affordable housing.

We will work with Developers in Wealden to maximise the development of new homes by creating a cross-sector approach to housing development, involving collaboration across local authority housing teams, planning services, registered providers, community-led housing providers, and developers.

Community-led housing is recognised and promoted to meet local needs, build community capacity, and foster community cohesion. We will work with stakeholders to identify regional infrastructure challenges, collaborating across local planning authority boundaries to improve local infrastructure and unlock land for housing development.

Additionally, we will lobby for the Affordable Homes Programme to be funded at the level required to meet identified housing and affordable housing needs within Wealden, including rural areas. We will work with regional and national planning colleagues to ensure that the National Planning Policy Framework is continuously improved to support the sector in delivering more housing and affordable housing. We will also make the best use of existing housing stock and public sector assets. Housing will enable regeneration by alleviating deprivation, ensuring investment in infrastructure, and providing employment opportunities within the sector.

Why is this a Priority?

Delivery of affordable housing is a key ambition for the council’s leadership, the Wealden Alliance.  It is critical that barriers to delivering affordable homes are removed and consents are converted into homes.

Many households in Wealden face challenges affording to rent or purchase property within the District. The current affordability ratio is 11.6, indicating that purchasing an average-priced home requires annual household earnings of £89,775, assuming a mortgage at four times annual salary and a 10% deposit. With the median income at £35,500, home ownership remains unattainable for a substantial portion of the population.

Affordable housing options are constrained, as shared ownership, affordable and social rented housing are in limited supply. Additionally, private rents often exceed Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates (the amount households on low incomes can received in universal credit or housing benefit to help with their rent), which are determined by lower quartile rents. The available privately rented properties in Wealden typically have rents above LHA levels, sometimes reaching double the rate for the area.

In 2023/24, 390 new affordable homes were completed, yet demand persists, evidenced by a 300 percent increase in households in temporary accommodation since 2020. The number of households on the housing register increased from 717 in April 2023 to 1,071 in April 2024, and currently stands at 1,149. The Wealden Local Housing Needs Assessment has identified an ongoing requirement for an additional 519 affordable rented homes per year in the District.

The government has emphasised the importance of housing delivery, with a national target to build 1,500,000 homes within the current parliament. Changes to the National Planning Policy Framework have introduced new mandatory housing targets for each local authority. For example, Wealden’s new target is 1,397 homes, an 18% increase from the previous target of 1,186 homes.

Housing delivery in Wealden has remained relatively static over the past five years, with a total of 9,131 net housing additions. Affordable housing makes up a smaller proportion of overall delivery, with 35% affordable housing sought through the planning system on qualifying sites.

Affordable housing providers have highlighted a market failure in affordable housing delivery, caused by higher interest rates, increasing costs of materials and labour, a lack of certainty over future affordable rent policy, and expectations about investment in existing stock to meet new compliance requirements and energy performance standards. Key Outcomes

• Engage in collective lobbying on key issues such as rent policy and the Affordable Homes Programme, including responding to government consultations as a District and part of the East Sussex Housing Partnership.
• Explore all opportunities to develop new council homes, on council owned sites or by acquiring land.
• Work collaboratively to remove barriers to the delivery of consented homes wherever they are in the system and to meeting the new housing delivery targets for Wealden.
• Delivery of at least 100 new affordable homes per year.
• Explore all opportunities to develop new council homes, on council owned sites or by acquiring land.
• A cross-council Empty Homes Strategy.
• A Supported Accommodation Strategy with partners, in line with new regulations.
• Strengthened engagement between local authorities, developers, registered providers, and other providers (e.g., Community Land Trusts) to support the delivery of affordable housing on Section 106 sites.
• Expanded Local Employment and Skills Plans to build capacity in the local construction workforce.
• A collaborative approach with local planning services to shape new developments to meet local needs and support shared priorities for infrastructure development.
• Maximise funding opportunities through Homes England and One Public Estate to support affordable housing delivery.

Identified skills gaps to support development locally and explored opportunities to address these across housing providers in Wealden.

Our Aims 

We must ensure that our residents have access to a safe, decent, and affordable home that meet their needs and enhances their quality of life. Good quality housing has a significant impact on health and wellbeing, employment, life expectancy and educational attainment. Conversely, poor housing can have detrimental effects on crime rates, education, and health. Therefore, it is essential that we take proactive measures to ensure our residents can live in good quality homes.

Wealden are proud that our council homes are considered to be in a good condition, with 2.35% of our homes recorded as non-decent under the current Decent Homes Standard, a base line we are striving to improve.  While we strive for continuous improvement against the Regulator for Social Housing’s consumer standards, our commitment goes beyond compliance. Our person-centred, holistic approach to repairs, maintenance, retrofit and void works means that we can deliver a  better outcome for our tenants when work is carried out on their homes.

Why is this a Priority?

The importance of good quality housing, underscores the need for this housing strategy priority. We aim to ensure all homes in the district are of a standard that ensures the safety and wellbeing of our residents. 

This priority is emphasised new and emerging legislation such as Awaabs Law, proposed new

Decent Homes Standard in the social and private rented sector, and the Regulator for Social Housing’s consumer standards and building safety measures for social landlords, implemented in April 2024. These standards include:

• Safety and Quality Standard (stock quality, decency, health and safety, repairs, maintenance, and planned improvements and adaptations).
• Transparency, Influence, and Accountability Standard (fairness and respect, diverse needs, engagement with tenants, information about landlord services, performance information, complaints).
• Neighbourhood and Community Standard (safety of shared spaces, local cooperation, anti-social behaviour and hate incidents, domestic abuse).
• Tenancy Standard (allocations and lettings, tenancy sustainment and evictions, tenure, mutual exchange).

Key Outcomes

• Delivering a new Asset Management Strategy by 2028.
• Reviewing our action plans for each consumer standard quarterly and reporting these to our Housing and Tenants Together Board.
• Maximising our tenant board and other tenant engagement structures, to embed our tenants’ voices into our decision making and governance structures and ensure their voices are heard in service development and delivery.
• Developing a shared workforce development and training programme to meet professionalisation requirements.
• Continuous learning from inspections by the Regulator of Social Housing to improve our services.
• Delivering a robust programme of stock condition surveys, together with Housing Health and Safety Rating system assessments, and creating a partnership approach to validate stock condition surveys.
• Developing a partnership approach to hoarding, including collaborative work with safeguarding, health, and adult social care partners.
• Education and enforcement action of private rented sector landlords, including working across the Housing Service to implement the Renters Rights Act.
• Delivering and keeping up to date our policies on Housing Health and Safety, Fire Safety, Water Safety as well as our Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Business Plan and Asset Management Plan.

Enable providers to benefit from economies of scale when planning their approach to compliance, for example, in terms of staff training schemes, through the work of the Management and Standards Group.

Our Aims

Preventing homelessness and rough sleeping is a strategic priority that is reflected across all services, and there is a recognition that investment in prevention services provides better outcomes for our residents and value for money for the council. We aim to identify people at risk of homelessness and rough sleeping early, and provide holistic support which reduces the risk of them becoming homeless again in the future.

We have made considerable progress towards improving the standard of emergency and temporary accommodation, with more emergency accommodation in the District now available than ever before, meaning households can remain closer to support networks. However, time spent living in temporary accommodation is proven to significantly impact education, employment, health and wellbeing, with children most adversely affected. We aim to ensure no family with children will need to be accommodated in emergency accommodation with shared facilities for longer than six weeks.

Why is this a Priority?

Demand for homelessness prevention services is high in Wealden. There are currently over 1,200 households living in temporary accommodation across East Sussex and around 80 of these in Wealden at any one time. This trend can have a significant negative effect on these households and is also creating an unsustainable financial pressure on the local system. The local housing authorities in East Sussex spent over £14,000,000 on temporary accommodation alone in 2023/24, in Wealden £505,610 was spent.

The local authorities invest funding from their Homelessness Prevention Grant to provide support for people at risk of homelessness and rough sleeping, but this funding is increasingly limited by the growing pressure on temporary accommodation.

The government has announced a range of legislative and policy changes which will impact homelessness services during this strategy, including the Renters’ Rights Act. Wealden as a key member of the East Sussex Housing Partnership will be working with partners to create a consistent approach to these changes across all five housing authorities, sharing good practice and challenges.

Key Outcomes

• Delivery of the Council’s Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy.
• A consistent approach to implementing national legislation and policy linked to homelessness, including the Renters’ Rights Bill.
• Develop closer links with the integrated care system.
• Exploration of a shared homelessness prevention service with a holistic approach to homelessness prevention, which strengthens links to floating support, wellbeing services, employment, and training.
• Number of successful homelessness prevention outcomes increased.
• Expanded multi-disciplinary hub and co-location opportunities.
• Reliance on costly nightly paid temporary accommodation is reduced, through investing in and developing direct provision.
• A shared approach to the procurement of temporary accommodation implemented.
• A consistent approach to compliance and standards in temporary accommodation, through a shared policy and enforcement resource.
• Expanded links to financial inclusion, money, and debt advice support.
• Aligning approaches to social housing allocation across the five areas.
• Improve meaningful engagement with people with lived experience of homelessness in ongoing service development.
• Co-produced Care Leavers Protocol with Children’s Services adopted.
• Developing a pipeline of known service gaps and opportunities, which can be addressed through grant-funded activities.
• Implementation of a pan-Sussex reciprocal arrangement for victims of domestic abuse.
• Duty to Refer protocols with partners reviewed and updated.

Our Aims

We aim to create a cross-sector strategic approach retrofitting our council homes and supporting residents to improve the energy efficiency of owner occupied homes through grant funded activities.  We ensure new affordable housing developments are delivered to a high standard of energy performance, reducing future retrofit demands. We maximise resources in the sector through a combination of grant funding and direct investment, and aim to build capacity in the local workforce to deliver retrofit.

Why is this a Priority?

Housing is the largest source of carbon emissions in Wealden and is vital to achieving carbon reduction targets. There is a strong history of collaborative working in this sector, particularly in terms of grant-funded projects to deliver retrofit measures to support households at high risk of fuel poverty.

Investing in retrofitting and improving the energy efficiency of our council homes is crucial for several reasons. Firstly, it directly supports those on low incomes by reducing their energy bills, which is a significant portion of their household expenses. By improving the energy efficiency of their homes, we can help reduce fuel poverty, ensuring that our tenants can afford to heat their homes. Additionally, energy-efficient homes contribute to better health outcomes by providing a warmer and more comfortable living environment, reducing the incidence of health issues exacerbated by cold. This investment not only aligns with our climate goals but also promotes social equity by supporting our most vulnerable residents.

Building capacity within the local workforce to deliver retrofit and improving access to small and medium-sized retrofit providers to public sector procurement frameworks are key priorities. Improving data and understanding of local housing stock and retrofit requirements, and developing a business case for core investment and pipeline of grant funding opportunities, including collaborative bids between housing providers, are also essential.

Key Outcomes

• Initial baseline assessment of our council housing stock to provide an evidence base for an East Sussex Retrofit Strategy and future funding bids.
• Ensuring links to complementary pieces of work, such as the partnership approach to hoarding, are included.
• Supporting links between programmes to improve energy performance and linked priorities to reduce fuel poverty and promote financial inclusion.
• Ensuring new developments are delivered to a high standard of energy performance, reducing the need for future retrofit works.
• Bidding for external funding to deliver retrofit energy efficiency works to both council and owner-occupied properties.
• Using external funding along with our own HRA resources to fund works to Council Homes.
• Work with partners across East Sussex to build capacity in the workforce, knowledge and skills.
• Collaborate with the Climate Change and Net Zero Group to maximise external funding opportunities, including facilitating joint bids between providers to offset costs.

Our Aims

Our aim is to ensure our services are proactive, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of our communities. We want to go beyond just providing homes by ensuring that housing acts as a foundation for wellbeing, independence, and opportunity. This means working collaboratively with health, social care, and other community partners to develop solutions that prevent homelessness, provide support and promote resilience. Why is this a Priority?

Housing is embedded in achieving positive outcomes in health, mental health, social care and supports a reduction in health inequalities. It enables people to live healthy, independent lives for as long as possible and is integrated into community-based models across health, mental health, and care services.

The 2019/20 Annual Report of the Director of Public Health identified housing as a key determinant of health. Since the publication of this report, actions have been taken to integrate housing and public health as part of an effort to address health and housing inequalities.

Locally, the East Sussex Housing Partnership has strengthened its integration with the health and care system, focusing on trends in homelessness and the supply of housing.

Key Outcomes

• Improving knowledge of our tenants’ diversity and support needs and tailoring access to services for vulnerable groups.
• Strengthening links with primary care to improve early identification for people at risk of homelessness.
• Co-produced hospital discharge protocol and collaboration between housing and hospital discharge hubs.
• Providing tenancy sustainment services across tenure.
• Maintaining our in-house Occupational Therapists and Housing Solutions Officer to find suitable or adapted properties for those that need them.
• Making best use of existing adapted or adaptable social housing in the district.
• Provision of specialist services and support for rough sleepers.
• Working alongside voluntary, social and community enterprises (VSCEs) to continue to provide a holistic approach to support the most vulnerable groups, such as through our grant funding programmes.
• Partnership working at both a strategic and operational level with statutory and voluntary partners, including health, mental health, social care and community sector partners.
• Delivery of our Cost of Living Strategy.
• Expanding trauma-informed working practices across the service.
• Expanding jointly commissioned Housing First models for people with ongoing health and mental health needs.
• Ensuring learning from case reviews to improve service development.

Delivery of this Strategy will be consistent with the East Sussex Housing Strategy monitoring and monitored through compliance data, Key Performance Indicators, Tenant Satisfaction Measures, and customer feedback.  This information will be available through quarterly reports to the Housing and Tenants Together Board, Cabinet Performance Reports, annual Insight Reports and through our Housing Performance Indicators.

We will track the number of new and affordable units delivered each year, the number of affordable units delivered on Section 106 sites, and the time between the grant of planning consent and new homes being built. We will ensure alignment of new home delivery and infrastructure spend, track the number of long-term empty properties brought into use, monitor the number of pipeline units built, and track the number of community-led housing units built.

Delivery of the Council’s homelessness and rough sleeping strategy is a key measure of progress around homelessness prevention. Successful homelessness preventions are monitored as a proportion of homelessness presentations. Additionally, the number of individuals engaged in wellbeing, employability, and training support is tracked, along with the

outcomes. Furthermore, the Council monitors the spend on nightly paid temporary accommodation compared to other solutions.

This Strategy will be reviewed in 3 years’ time.