The Housing Advisers Programme is designed to support councils by helping them meet their local housing need. It aims to be simple, flexible, and locally-led. Twenty-seven successful projects received money from the programme to promote, facilitate and enhance their role and capacity to meet their local housing need.
Project summaries
- Blackpool Borough Council
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Focused on the private rented sector, develop financial models which allow for the provision and fitting of solar onto domestic properties which delivers a return for investor and resident.
- Bolsover District Council
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Undertake a feasibility study to determine whether mineral water energy could be used to heat new build proposals and retrofit existing properties, creating a positive story around the district’s coal mining legacy.
- Bristol City Council
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Exploration of innovative design solutions for affordable housing on difficult sites, running a competition for architects to work with community groups.
- Derbyshire Dales District Council (with partner)
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Review the local private rented sector to develop a strategy to understand and engage with the sector, to improve quality of accommodation, develop good management practices, and reduce the levels of homelessness.
- East Suffolk Council
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Homelessness: Review existing temporary and emergency accommodation provision and develop a business case for alternative approaches.
- Enfield Council
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Assessing pathways and preventative measures for care leavers from becoming homeless.
- Harborough District Council
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Housing delivery: Explore and improve the delivery and provision of affordable 1-bedroom properties, by establishing ways to overcome barriers for private landlords and developers.
- Hertfordshire County Council
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Homelessness: Investigate the options available to local authorities to work together to better meet the needs of families to deliver the right type of temporary accommodation.
- Isle of Wight
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Identify and support households looking to 'RightSize' to homes that better meet their needs, to address under occupation and overcrowding.
- Leeds City Council
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Homelessness: Develop an integrated approach between Housing Options team and Children's Social Work Services to identifying young people 'upstream' at risk of homelessness and deliver a joint approach and assessment process in preventing and responding.
- London Councils
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Social housing management: Support implementation of the social housing white paper and achieve high quality landlord services by developing best practice principles and assurance framework proposals.
- Mid Devon District Council
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Housing delivery: Enabling, encouraging, and supporting Community Land Trusts, to address barriers to securing high quality affordable housing for local people.
- North Kesteven District Council (with partners)
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A solution focused study, providing partners with an understanding of the challenges in MMC delivery within the Greater Lincolnshire context and highlighting where public sector interventions can overcome challenges to significantly increase MMC capacity.
- North Tyneside Council
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Identifying the options available for renewable technologies in council new build properties, with an emphasis on running costs to offer affordable energy options for tenants.
- Norwich City Council (with partners)
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Building on last years No Homelessness in Norfolk project, support will develop co-design and co-production as an ongoing approach in ensuring everybody has a say in homelessness service development and delivery.
- Nottingham City Council
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Assess the suitability of a portfolio of approximately 50 small council-owned sites for housing development and make recommendations on the most appropriate delivery model to maximise their use.
- Plymouth City Council
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Support delivery of a new supported housing facility to provide temporary accommodation for homeless families.
- Portsmouth City Council
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Housing delivery: Developing a sustainable model for older people's housing in the city to address wider housing need.
- Reading Borough Council
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Support the creation of a 15–20-year development and regeneration plan to review opportunities for intensification, estate improvements and provide clear guidance on sustainable, energy efficient development of affordable housing.
- Royal Borough of Greenwich
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Explore how to use smart devices to incentivise positive behaviour change and support residents to reduce their energy consumption.
- Sefton Council
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Housing delivery: Development of a business case and business plan for new council housing delivery to help meet housing need by supporting and directly contributing to the delivery of social and affordable housing.
- Southend-on-Sea Borough Council
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Review the council’s new-build standards to deliver more sustainable zero-carbon homes and improving the all-round environmental consciousness of homes.
- St Helens Council
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Housing delivery: Exploring models for direct delivery and targeted intervention in the local housing market with a focus on strategic interventions for non-stockholding authority.
- Torridge District Council
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Building on the councils' investigation into the feasibility of becoming a direct housing provider, the project will explore how to reach a position to deliver new affordable housing through a partnership arrangement.
- West Berkshire Council
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Homelessness: Improve access to private rented sector accommodation, increasing the availability of properties for those in housing need and to ensure measures are in place to prevent homelessness and to reduce repeat homelessness.
- West Lindsey District Council
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Review current temporary accommodation arrangements, assess need for temporary accommodation and explore solutions, to understand the challenges and provide a better service to vulnerable residents.
- Wokingham Borough Council
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Consider the housing needs and requirements of vulnerable adults within Adult Social Care (ASC) and those transitioning into ASC, to strategically plan for current and future provision more effectively.