Local Housing Strategy

• Local Housing Strategy (LHS)
• Homelessness Strategy
• Temporary Accommodation Strategy
• Tenant Participation Strategy

Local Housing Strategy

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, places a legal duty on every local authority to produce a Local Housing Strategy (LHS).  Moray currently has an Interim LHS 2010-2013 in place (see below).  The aim of the LHS is to make sure there is enough housing, of the right size and type, of good quality and in the right places, to meet the needs of local people. 

Local Housing Strategy 2013-2018

The Council has recently approved a new  LHS which will cover the period 2013 – 2018, and will bring the LHS into step with the Moray Development Plan.   The main forum for partnership working on the strategy is the Housing Strategy Group.   

The Strategy sets out how the Council and its partners plan to improve the housing system and help people find homes. 

The Council now has a list of actions which it thinks will achieve this.  The actions cover all tenures; owner occupied and private rented housing as well as social housing.  The actions range from helping homeless people, building more new Council and Housing Association houses of the right type and in the right place, providing housing for older people and people with disabilities, to reducing fuel poverty and improving housing conditions.

We held a public consultation on our plans,which ended on 8 March 2013.  The Final LHS was approved by Communities Committee on 23 April 2013.

You can read our Local Housing Strategy below.  We have published 2 versions.  The Short Document is intended for the general public.  The Full Document is intended for Housing Professionals and other stakeholders:

•  LHS 2013-2018 (Short Document) (27 pages, 260KB)
• LHS 2013-2018 (Full Document) (91 pages, 717KB).
• LHS 2013-2018 Appendix 1 (Housing Strategy Group) (1 page, 10KB)
• LHS 2013-2018 Appendix 2 (Consultation) (49 pages, 205KB)
• LHS 2013-2018 Appendix 3 (Housing Market Areas) (5 pages, 437KB)
• LHS 2013-2018 Appendix 4 (Action Plan) (4 pages, 34KB)
• LHS 2013-2018 Appendix 5 (Performance Framework)  (9 pages, 70KB)
• LHS 2013-2018 Appendix 6 (Equalities Impact Assessment) (7 pages, 27KB)
• LHS 2013-2018 Appendix 7 (Response to LDP Main Issues Report) (4 pages, 233KB)
• LHS 2013-2018 Appendix 8 (Glossary of Terms) (5 pages, 32KB)

The LHS and the emerging Local Development Plan both use the Moray Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA) 2011 as a key evidence base.  The Scottish Government appraised the HNDA 2011 as "robust and credible" on 12 September 2011.  The HNDA and its associated documents are available below:

• HNDA Appraisal (1 page, 25 KB)
• HNDA 2011 Executive Summary ( 15 pages, 382 KB)
• HNDA 2011 (171 pages, 2.61 MB)
• HNDA 2011 Appendix 1 (Moray Housing Market Partnership Remit) (3 pages, 24 KB)
• HNDA 2011 Appendix 2 (Consultation)  
• HNDA 2011 Appendix 3 (Functional Housing Markets) (8 pages, 139 KB)
• HNDA 2011 Appendix 4 (Datazones by Housing Market Area) ( 3 pages, 19 KB)
• HNDA 2011 Appendix 5 (Housing Stock Profile) (2 pages,   KB)
• HNDA 2011 Appendix 6 (Assessment of Data Sources) (3 pages, 15 KB)
• HNDA 2011 Appendix 7 (Housing Affordability Scenarios) (8 Pages, 87 KB)
• HNDA 2011 Appendix 8 (Older Peoples Housing - Prevalence Modelling)   (4 pages, 85 KB)
• HNDA 2011 Appendix 9 (Disabled Adaptation Needs) (2 pages 16 KB)
• HNDA 2011 Appendix 10 (Assessing the need for supported housing for people with learning disabilities) (2 pages, 12 KB)
• HNDA 2011 Appendix 11 (Assessing the need for Amenity/Medium Dependency Housing) (2 pages, 12 KB)
• HNDA 2011 Appendix 12 (Assessing the need for sheltered/very sheltered/extra care housing) (2 pages, 12 KB)
• HNDA 2011 Appendix 13 (Net Estimate of Housing Need) (2 pages, 13 KB)
• HNDA 2011 Appendix 14 (Scottish Government Urban/Rural Classification 2009-2010, Moray) (1 page, 1.23 MB)
• HNDA 2011 Appendix 15 (Planned new affordable rented housing) (1 page, 16 KB)

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Accommodation Needs Assessment of Gypsies/Travellers in Grampian

This research was jointly commissioned by Moray, Aberdeen, and Aberdeenshire Councils.  The recommendations within the report are those of the researchers.  The report was considered by Communities Committee on 1st December 2009. Download the executive summary  (10 pages, 188 KB) or the  Full Report - Accommodation Needs of Gypsy/Travellers.  (119 pages, 468 KB)

Find out more about Gypsy/Travellers.

Fuel Poverty

A household is said to be in fuel poverty if it has to spend more than 10% of its income to heat the home to an acceptable level.   The Council's actions on fuel poverty are detailed in the LHS above.  

More information on fuel poverty.

Homelessness Strategy 2010 - 2015

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 required local authorities to carry out an assessment of homelessness and to submit a strategy for preventing and alleviating homelessness.  We produced our first Homelessness Strategy in March 2003 to cover a five year period.  

Scottish Government guidance has since stated homelessness strategies, together with housing support strategies, should be integrated into the Local Housing Strategy.  The Council, however, in recognising the importance of tackling homelessness has produced a Homelessness Strategy  to cover the period 2010 –2015 which seeks to build on the achievements of the first Homelessness Strategy. 

The Strategy re-affirms our commitment to preventing and alleviating homelessness in all its forms.

The Homelessness Strategy Action Plan 2010 - 2015

Our Communities Committee monitors the implementation of the Homelessness Strategy on an annual basis.  

The Homelessness Strategy Action Plan for 2013/14 was agreed by the Committee in April 2013.  This sets out the strategic direction that the strategy should take in the coming year.  The next update is scheduled for April 2014.

Temporary Accommodation Strategy 2009

The Council’s homelessness services were inspected by the Scottish Housing Regulator in 2008 and the Inspection Report was published in January 2009.  An Action Plan was developed to address the issues raised in the Inspection Report.  One of the key actions in the Action Plan was to develop a Temporary Accommodation Strategy to improve the management and supply of temporary homeless accommodation.

The development of the Temporary Accommodation Strategy focused on a more strategic use of temporary accommodation and improving the standard of accommodation for homeless households.   The Strategy was approved by the Communities Committee in March 2009.  The keys aims of the Strategy are:

• to ensure provision of a range of temporary accommodation options in Moray to meet the needs of homeless households
• to ensure that temporary accommodation is of an appropriate quality to meet the needs of homeless households
• to ensure effective management of temporary accommodation, reflecting service users views
• to ensure that appropriate support and contact is provided to homeless households in temporary accommodation. 

The Council’s temporary accommodation standards   have been reviewed and updated in terms of the CIH and Shelter issued “Guidance on Standards for Temporary Accommodation” published in November 2010 and feedback gathered from service users. The draft standards have been revised and were approved by the Communities Committee in March 2011.

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Local Housing Strategy related documents