The Director of Planning & Regulatory Services submitted a report to update Cabinet on the existing Housing Assistance and Disabled Adaptation Policy.

Cabinet is recommended to:

·       Approve the proposed changes to the current Housing Assistance and Disabled Adaptation Policy attached at Appendix 2.

·       Delegate to the Director of Planning & Regulatory Services, in conjunction with the Portfolio Holder, to approve any minor amends to the Policy in future years.   

The Director of Planning & Regulatory Services had submitted a report toupdate Cabinet on the existing Housing Assistance and Disabled Adaptation Policy.

Councillor Smith presented the report. She said that this was important work to help people stay in their homes. Councillor Smith noted that this is an area where they do well as a council, were their officers go around the country sharing best practice and teaching other authorities from what they do. Councillor Smith thanked the team of officers for their work and noted that updates to the policy were set out clearly on page 492.

Councillor Brown noted that the Council had even had a parliamentary select committee come and look at the work of this team. She thanked Councillor Smith and the officers for their work on this matter.

Councillor Arshad thanked the team for the report and welcomed the changes which were being introduced. She asked if the officers could provide more information on the dementia home grant, outlined in the report.

Becky Walker, Home Improvement Agency Manager, responded that they had reduced the grant. She noted that the Safe and Secure Grant and the Safe Home Grant had been in the policy already, but they had set these up as separate and specific grants to better define what they are. The Home Improvement Agency Manager said that working in conjunction with Dementia Oxfordshire, they had set a limit of 500 pounds per year for this grant. The implemented this limit because there were a few people who came back multiple times in the year for funds and were using up a substantial amount of the budget. The Home Improvement Agency Manager said that they put in a limit so that they could help more people get support. She noted that they do have the discretion to go above this limit in exceptional circumstances.

Councillor Arshad asked about the holding clearance in the clearing service about clutter and support. She said that was part of the discretionary disabled facilities grant, so would it have to be under that threshold.

The Home Improvement Agency Manager confirmed that this was the case and that had always been the policy. She said that they wanted to provide more clarity on this and the limit for the discretionary grant is 10k. She noted that covered in home work as well.

Councillor Arshad asked about the line where it said, “the director of their team makes any additional that might not be covered in your criteria”. She asked if they could discuss what was meant by this.

The Home Improvement Agency Manager said that there are occasions when someone could fall outside the policy. She said that this line allows them to take cases outside of the criteria forward so that they can help them. She noted that this is rare, but it allows them to offer support to more people.

Councillor Brown remarked on the importance of this work and how it helps support hospitals and reduce waiting lists.

Cabinet agreed to:

·       Approvethe proposed changes to the current Housing Assistance and Disabled Adaptation Policy attached at Appendix 2.

·       Delegate to the Director of Planning & Regulation, in conjunction with the Portfolio Holder, to approve any minor amends to the Policy in future years.