Council reveals new strategy for Trafford housing (From Messenger Newspapers)

Council reveals new strategy for Trafford housing

8:40am Thursday 9th July 2009

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DETAILS have been finalised on how to address housing issues in Trafford over the next three years.

The Housing Strategy 2009-2012 sets out the roles and responsibilities of the council and its partners around housing, its key challenges, what the priorities are and how they will be delivered and measured.

After consultation between the council, housing associations, the Homes and Communities Agency and other groups, the five priorities set out were affordability and access to housing, housing's contribution to economic development, promoting quality and sustainability, strong neighbourhoods and communities, and housing for vulnerable people.

Since the previous strategy began in 2005 the Trafford Homestep has been introduced, which gave first-time buyers the chance to get on the property ladder.

Executive councillor Mike Cornes said: “This strategy is vital to meeting the housing needs of the people of Trafford in healthy, safe and secure neighbourhoods.

“It will, alongside other projects such as our sustainable communities work, homelessness prevention and core strategy, deal with the increasingly complex housing issues we are facing, especially during the current economic climate.”

Matthew Gardiner, chief executive of Trafford Housing Trust, an association that manages 9,500 properties, added: “The strategy recognises that working in partnership is the lynchpin to tackling the housing issues the borough faces.

“The Government recently announced a trebling of support for the social housing sector. Partners across the borough need to work closely together to ensure as much of this extra money as possible benefits Trafford residents.

 “Challenges remain, however. New affordable rented homes need to be built as waiting lists continue to rise rapidly, with large parts of Trafford's population still priced out of owning their own home.

“More land, at a realistic and affordable price, needs to be brought forward to enable these much needed new homes to be built.

“Alongside the drive to build new homes, the best use needs to be made of existing housing. Large numbers of empty properties remain in the borough, many privately owned. These are a wasted resource that could be brought back into use and closer links with private landlords could turn this around.

“As the council’s partners move forward to deliver its housing strategy, particularly in the current economic climate, it is important that local labour is used, wherever possible, to boost employment opportunities in Trafford’s communities where unemployment levels are higher.

“THT continues to work closely with Trafford Council in relation to these issues and more broadly across its housing strategy.”

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