Five-year strategy for providing safe, energy-efficient and cost-effective social housing is agreed
A five-year strategy to ensure Council-owned homes are safe, sustainable and fit for the future has been agreed by St Albans City and District Council.
The Council owns 4,819 social-rent flats, bungalows and houses which are allocated to people on its housing register.
In addition, there are over 1,000 leaseholders where the Council has responsibilities as the freeholder.
An asset management and energy strategy, covering the years 2025 to 2029, was approved by the Housing and Inclusion Committee at its meeting on Monday 20 January.
Councillors were told the strategy had six main commitments. These are to:
- Provide and maintain quality homes compliant with all health and safety requirements.
- Work with tenants to improve the delivery of the service, reduce costs and increase satisfaction.
- Deliver an effective and efficient repairs service, responsive to customer needs.
- Achieve financial efficiency by embracing technology and intelligent use of data.
- Tackle climate change by reducing carbon emissions from homes, working towards net-zero carbon by 2030.
- Produce a sustainable long-term financial investment plan to deliver the strategy, ensuring homes are fit for the future.
Councillor Jacqui Taylor, the Committee’s Chair, said after the meeting:
I am pleased that the strategy, which includes an action plan, was approved.
We have been building new council owned homes to high sustainability standards but this strategy is more about how we care for, maintain and improve existing housing, a lot of which is now many decades old.
We can be particularly proud of the work we have done to decarbonise existing properties, making them more eco-friendly and vitally, keeping tenants’ energy bills down.
This has involved making energy-efficient improvements to hundreds of homes such as insulation and fitting solar panels, and we are continuing with this work with the ambitious goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2030.
Striving for continuous improvement so all tenants are happy with their home is extremely important to us and it is vital that we involve tenants and leaseholders in all that we do, and the action plan sets out how we will do this.
Tenants and leaseholders are invited to participate in forums, surveys, focus groups and meetings with us and our contractors so they can provide feedback and share their lived experience with their voice being heard loud and clear.
I would also ask residents to look out for our regular community days where we visit specific areas and have face-to-face discussions about issues, raising awareness of all the services we offer.
Cllr Taylor added:
This strategy will guide our work for the next five years and will be regularly reviewed to make sure we are delivering on all our commitments.
The Council’s new asset management and energy strategy for its housing stock, along with the action plan, can be read in full here. Any tenant or leaseholder wishing to join the forums can contact Daniel Eyre, Resident Engagement Officer, at residentengagement@stalbans.gov.uk.
Media contact: John McJannet, Principal Communications Officer: 01727- 819533; john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk.