The Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety has submitted a report to present an updated Housing Assistance and Disabled Adaptations Policy.

Cabinet is recommended to:

1.     Approve the proposed Housing Assistance and Disabled Adaptations Policy attached at Appendix 2.

The Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety had submitted a report to present an updated Housing Assistance and Disabled Adaptations Policy.  The current policy had been approved in 2018 and had had minor updates since.  The main changes in the proposed new update included an increase to the maximum amount of the Adapted Homes Grant; inclusion of a new Disabled Facility Grants Top-Up grant to assist applicants where works exceed the government’s limit of £30,000 for a Disabled Facilities Grant; extension of the Relocation Grant to help disabled tenants who were not Oxford City Council tenants to re-locate to more suitable premises; and amendment to the criteria for Essential Repair Assistance, including removing the 10 year residency limit for repayment so that every grant became repayable on the sale of the property.

In presenting the report, the Cabinet Member for Affordable Housing, Housing Security and Housing the Homeless highlighted the value of enabling people living with a disability to continue to remain in their own homes and communities.  In this way, the strategy contributed to the priorities highlighted earlier in the meeting within the Corporate Business Plan and the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.

In response to a question from a Cabinet Member about the scope for making adaptations to properties within the private sector, it was noted that it was open to either private landlords, housing associations or owner-occupiers to apply for a Disabled Facilities Grant.  However, it could be difficult to obtain the relevant permissions from private landlords.  The scrutiny committee had recommended that guidance be produced for landlords, and this had now been added to the Council’s website.  In addition, the government was looking into proposals to make it mandatory for private landlords to give permission for disability adaptations.

It was noted that paragraph 4 of the report stated ‘The Council’s national mandatory DFG programme had been expanded…to £505m in 2020/21’.  Clarification was given that this was not the amount of funding provided to the Council, and the word ‘Council’s’ should be deleted from the sentence.

Cabinet resolved to:

1.      Approve the Housing Assistance and Disabled Adaptations Policy March 2022 attached at Appendix 2 to the report.