The medium term funding of the £47.3mfor these schemes is built into the HRAfinancial projection for this business planwithin existing resources.The creation of an in- house developmentteam will maintain and increase themomentum in future years to help ensurethat a pipeline of potential land isidentified to facilitate development ofdifferent tenure housingacross thedistrict. This can also extend across the newEast Suffolk Council, taking into accountthe challenges created by the shortageand high cost of residential land in theformer Suffolk Coastal area.In the future, the major developmentproposed by the Lowestoft and OuterHarbour Area Action Plan(AAP) isexpected to provide new affordablehousing in Lowestoft as part of a broaderregeneration scheme for the area. Thereare still a number of uncertainties aboutthe timescale and scope of this majorscheme, making exact projections of thenumbers and timingof new homesproblematic.The scheme proposalsinclude land acquisition, land decontamination, and a mix of private andaffordable housing development andcommercial development.An initialassessment of what Council new build canbe funded from the HRA suggests achallenging programme of over 1500 unitsover the life of the business plan. From2021 – 2041 this could potentially fundup to 50 units p.a. amounting to aninvestment of £131m and rising to 75units p.a. (£70m) from 2041 – 2048.Difficultiesinlandacquisition,Government funding etc make these newbuild numbers uncertain.In the future, the major developmentproposed by the Lowestoft and OuterHarbour Area Action Plan (AAP) isexpected to provide new social housingin Lowestoft as part of a broaderregeneration scheme for the area.The funding of new build housing from2021/22 in the Business Plan uses theMajor Repairs Reserve, Direct RevenueFinancing, and other sources of fundingsuch as capital receipts, RTB receipts, S106and Homes England funding. The BusinessPlan assumes that receipts and externalfunding will contribute 25% of future years’investment in new homes. This is deemedto be a prudent approach based on currentlevels of receipts and external funding andamounts to £45.7m (2021 – 2048).4. Retired Living SchemesThe Council owns 346 units of RetiredLiving accommodation, located mainly inLowestoft but also Southwold, Halesworthand Bungay. This form of housing hasbecome increasingly unpopular, anexperience shared with our other housingpartners in East Suffolk. In 2017 146properties (60%) out of 242 retired livingproperties had to be re-advertised andoften took lengthy periods before beingrelet. Local housing associations havesimilarly experienced between 50% - 75%re-advertising rates.Key issues affecting the lack of popularityof this type of accommodation include:•The homes are predominantly smallone bedroomed accommodationof pre-1980’s construction. Theyfail to meet the aspirations of manyof today’s older people in termsof design, space, accessibility andenergy efficiency;•Many more older people areremaininginworklonger,living longer and have differentexpectations of their housing.•People are choosing to remain intheir own home for longer, oftenenabled by adaptations and newtechnology. When they do decideto move their care and supportneeds are sometimes abovethe threshold for retired livingaccommodation and require more33
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