Issue - meetings

The information in the report was accepted and noted.

The report was submitted by Cllr Craig ab Iago.

DECISION

The information in the report was accepted and noted.

DISCUSSION

It was reported that innovative pods for the homeless in Caernarfon (Caertref) had recently been completed and 4 individuals currently called them home. It was explained that this was part of the Housing Action Plan, which aimed to construct at least 38 supported accommodation units across the county. Pride was expressed in the fact that this development had recently been nominated for the 'Best Supported Housing Development - Rural / Suburban' award in the Inside Housing awards.

It was confirmed that there were 3843 opportunities for people to receive support to live in a house locally through a number of schemes such as the Buy to Let, Buying a Home, building Social Housing through Gwynedd's Social Housing Programme Development Plan, giving additional Council Tax exemption for individuals that own and renovate empty houses, interest-free loans to improve the condition of homes and grants to make houses suitable homes for individuals with disabilities.

It was elaborated that increasing the opportunities that local people have to live locally was one of the Department's priorities. It was explained that the department was collaborating with Housing Associations within the Social Housing Development Programme across the county in accordance with local needs. It was confirmed that 179 affordable houses had been built in Gwynedd, with another 150 in the pipeline.

It was explained that the department offered an energy voucher to help people in fuel poverty, and 2603 of these had been distributed in recent months. It was detailed that this was equivalent to £100,000. Sadness was expressed that the need for fuel vouchers existed in the county but it was a good example of how the Council worked at its best to try to solve national problems. It was confirmed that Gwynedd had provided more energy vouchers than any other county in Wales.

It was confirmed that the Department was aware of problems that individuals experienced when trying to find accommodation after leaving care. It was ensured that the Department was collaborating with associations such as GISDA and the Council's Children and Families Department to try to fill this gap. An invitation was shared to Members to visit 'Lle Da' in Caernarfon, namely a project where flats had been developed to deal with this problem.

It was acknowledged that the Department had experienced challenges with the buy to let project as there was a need to ensure value for money when buying the houses and to consider additional building standard requirements.

It was noted that the press had recently reported that there were more empty houses in Gwynedd than in any other county in Wales. It was assured that this was untrue and that the research was based on the rate of empty buildings and population numbers. It was considered that this was a misleading method of estimation.