Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy

The policy contributes to the following local strategies:

Great Yarmouth Borough Council's Corporate Plan 2025-2030

This policy plays a part in contributing to the Council's priority area of Improved Housing and Stronger Communities, which recognises that having access to a good quality home plays a fundamental part in a person's quality of life. The key outcomes of this priority include:

• improve the health and wellbeing of residents through better access to facilities and an inclusive approach to addressing physical and mental wellbeing, and reduce health inequalities
• for residents to feel safe in their homes and communities and share a sense of pride in their immediate community and the wider borough

Strategic priorities to meet these outcomes relevant to this policy include:

• enable residents to remain in their own homes and live independent lives through a comprehensive adaptations programme and working closely with key health partners
• to continue to develop our partnership approach to early help and prevention services to support our most vulnerable residents
• to support residents to live in high quality warm homes

Great Yarmouth Borough Council's Housing Strategy 2024-2029

Great Yarmouth Borough Council's Housing Strategy's commits to providing 'Decent Homes' across all housing tenures and recognises the need for a range of accommodation options for elderly or disabled residents and dwellings that can be easily adapted to meet the needs of residents as they age, to enable households to remain living independently in the communities in which they know, have built friendships and support networks.

Better Care Fund (BCF) & Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) Locality Plan

A locality plan is jointly developed annually by Great Yarmouth Borough Council, Norfolk County Council and NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board (ICB) in accordance with the BCF guidance.

The Locality Plan sets out the agreed approach to delivery of Disabled Facilities Grants and other schemes that support the Borough's residents to remain living independently within their own homes.

Norfolk DFG Protocol for Joint Working & Integrated Housing Adaptation Teams

This protocol sets out the principles of the shared ambition for delivery of Disabled Facilities Grants in Norfolk. It covers the:

• shared responsibilities and aspirations to support people in Norfolk through the use of DFGs
• principles for joint working to deliver better outcomes for people needing DFG adaptations
• the context and framework for cross-sector partnerships in Norfolk to shape and deliver DFGs for people who need them
• shared success criteria to deliver and measure outputs

The protocol has been signed by the seven Norfolk district councils and Norfolk County Council.

Data informing the Policy

The mix of housing in Great Yarmouth includes 62.1% owner occupied, 16.2% Social rented and 21.7% Privately rented.

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS) Census Data (2021) from NOMIS.

Government data estimates that out of a total Great Yarmouth population of 99,750; 23,937 (23.9%) are 65 years or over, 11,164 (11.2%) are 75 years or over and 2,963 (3%) aged 85 years or over. The largest group of residents are in the age band 50 to 64 years of age and account for 21.2% of the population of Great Yarmouth.

This policy also draws on data from the 2023 English Housing Survey: Local Authority Private Sector Stock Condition Modelling data for the borough.

• total number of private sector dwellings - 46,342
• 11.7 % of all private sector dwellings have a HHSRS category 1 hazard
• 13.6% of owner-occupied dwellings have a HHSRS category 1 hazard
• 12.9% of dwellings in the private rented sector have a HHSRS category 1 hazard (1,808)
• 15.7% of private sector dwellings do not meet the decent homes standard
• number of households in fuel poverty Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) 6,058
• 68% of owner-occupied dwellings have an EPC rating of band D or lower
• 58.8% of dwellings in the private rented sector have an EPC rating of band D or lower