Appendix A Ð ÔEnsuring we address affordable housing supply and demand to meet local needÕ

ASSURANCE AREA
Ensuring we address affordable housing supply and demand to meet local need
ASSURANCE DESCRIPTION
Ensuring we secure more affordable homes to meet need. Ensuring we reduce the number of households in emergency and temporary accommodation.
ASSURANCE ASSESSMENT
Cost of nightly-paid emergency accommodation is very expensive. Last year, we spent over £3 million on nightly-paid accommodation, with £1.8 million of that figure a direct cost to the Council (as we only re-charged for £1.3 million). As well as the financial cost, the human cost of families remaining in temporary accommodation for a long time is a concern.
ASSURANCE OWNER	Karen Sinclair	FOCUS/ISSUE/CONCERN	Focus	LEVEL OF ASSURANCE (High/Medium/Low)	Medium

Assurance Action

Action Owner

Current RAG status

Performance Update

Next steps

(including completion / review date)

Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy

Ensuring the Council has and maintains an effective Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy.

Emily Corfield

Strategic Housing Lead

We are making good progress on the strategy's action plan. Some actions are no longer relevant given LGR.

We are required to produce an updated homelessness action plan this autumn. We have been working with the other West Surrey Councils to ensure our action plans align and can easily be reconciled in April.

Next review by: October 2026

Understanding housing demand

Having arrangements in place that ensure the Council understands housing demand and can therefore respond with the necessary actions

Emily Corfield

Strategic Housing Lead

As of the 16/09/2026 we have 2,486 applications on the Housing Register. These are broken down by band Ð

A Ð 46

B Ð 481

C1 Ð 751

C2 Ð 330

D - 878

We have the housing register but would benefit from deeper analysis of what the data could tell us.

We now have a data dashboard to improve visibility of data around housing need, temporary accommodation and related finance.

Further work to understand the opportunities of LGR (four of the five other West Surrey Councils are stock-holding).

A revised Housing Needs Assessment will come forward as part of the work on the emerging Local Plan.

Next review by: October 2026

Engagement with Registered Providers (RPs)

Ensuring the Council has effective arrangements in place to engage with Registered Providers.

Paul Moore

Corporate Director - Place

First Affordable Housing Providers forum held in March.

Next RP forum scheduled for 14th October - will be joint with other West Surrey Councils.

Work on Regeneration sites is extending active engagement with several relevant Registered Providers who are interested in investing in Spelthorne.

Next review by: After 14^th October 2026

Ensuring professional and timely advice

Ensuring professional and timely advice to people who are at risk of becoming homeless or who are already homeless.

Ken Emerson-

Housing Options Manager

As of the 04/09/2026 we have 376 open homelessness cases which are being managed effectively.

We have recruited an additional officer to specifically focus on supporting households in Temporary Accommodation secure private rented sector accommodation.

Continue effective working. Increase support for households at risk of homelessness to secure alternative private rented accommodation where suitable.

Next review by: October 2026

Ensuring guiding policies and procedures remain effective

Ensuring our guiding policies and procedures are in place, reviewed regularly and therefore remain effective.

Emily Corfield

Strategic Housing Lead

Under LGR regs it has been agreed that although divergence of policies is preferable for April 2027, allocations policies can be updated to reflect a West Surrey approach from April 2029. In the meantime, we have updated the CouncilÕs website and Homes4Spelthorne to be clear about our temporary approach of direct letting homes to homeless families.

Continue to engage in LGR discussions and gain clarity on allocations, local connection and other policies.

Next review by: October 2026

Reducing temporary accommodation costs

Ensuring we consider all options for reducing the total spend on emergency and temporary accommodation.

Emily Corfield

Strategic Housing Lead

We have reduced the number of households in nightly-paid accommodation by almost half since January and are projecting savings well over the £600,000 that were required by this yearÕs budget.

As we have been more robust in our investigations before placing a household into nightly-paid accommodation, we have seen the number of complaints rise. There have been 33 stage 1 complaints already received in April-August 2026, compared to 14 in the whole of FY25/26 and 18 in FY24/25.

The Housing Options team are working hard to deal with all the complaints within required timescales however this is putting addition pressure on the team.

The risk of judicial review has also increased.

The number of Ôsuitability reviewsÕ has also gone up, as we are enforcing offers of accommodation that we believe are suitable, but may not meet residentsÕ preferences.

We are currently direct letting many of the nominations that we receive from housing associations to homeless families in temporary accommodation. This means that those on the Housing Register are not seeing these properties advertised on Homes4Spelthorne. We have been transparent about why we are temporarily taking this approach, with explanations both on SBCÕs website and the Homes4Spelthorne website. However, residents on the Housing Register are already becoming frustrated. We are developing a guide for councillors to help them support residents.

Ensure continuous management of the action plan. Financial savings have been modelled against targets.

On target. Briefing to Councillors to be given during September, paper to be discussed at MAT 8 Sept

Identify opportunities to increase affordable housing supply

Consider funding opportunities and the acquisition of homes, e.g. through commuted sums or Section 106 agreements.

Emily Corfield

Strategic Housing Lead

We are currently purchasing street properties for use as affordable housing. Also acquiring 2 more properties with LAHF funding.

Also working to secure 15 nominations to a new development in Staines.

Housing Delivery Group now established. It will focus on delivering priority sites and developing the CouncilÕs relationship with developers and Registered Providers.

There is a related plan to bring forward a Housing Delivery Action Plan by the end of 2026. This is a cross-cutting programme with the aim of establishing a more strategic, proactive and engaged approach to securing future housing delivery.

Next review by: October 2026

Related Improvement and Recovery Plan Theme High Priority Outcomes:

Commercial Regeneration and Housing Theme

4.6 Demonstrate a clear reduction in spend on temporary accommodation quarter on quarter over the next 12 months and aim to reduce by at least half the use of nightly paid accommodation by the end of the current financial year (FY2627).

4.8 Develop and agree a 3-year plan to deliver the housing number agreed in the Local Plan. Plan to be approved by Council in December 2026.

Corporate KPIs
	KPI description	Frequency	Target	Corporate priority	Progress update
H13	Total number of households in nightly-paid accommodation	Quarterly	50 by end of 26/27 (baseline 110)	Addressing housing needs	Currently on target, 59 as of 2 September 2026
H14	Total spend on Temporary Accommodation	Quarterly	£1.6m in FY26/27 (1.3m forecasted spend based on above reduction)	Addressing housing needs	On target
H15	Average length of stay in nightly accommodation	Quarterly	120 days by end March 2027	Addressing housing needs	Remains challenging - 239 days at 4 September
H16	Average length of stay in temporary accommodation	Quarterly	Average length of stay 78 weeks by March 2027	Addressing housing needs	Achieved Ð 57 weeks at 4 September