LGA Housing Advisers Programme 2022/23 Prospectus

Introduction

The Housing Advisers Programme is designed to support councils by helping them meet their local housing needs. It aims to be simple, flexible and locally led.

In the previous five years of the Housing Advisers Programme we have supported over 150 projects across more than 300 councils, helping them to build homes, reduce homelessness and rough sleeping, plan for ageing populations, improve the quality of the private rented sector, understand the student housing market, increase supply of modular housing and more. We have supported a diverse range of projects from a variety of councils to help assist and advise local authorities on real-time housing issues.

We continue to work hard to embed and share the learning from the programme through the creation of networks of participating councils, case study development and events.

brightly coloured drawings of different types of houses

The offer to councils for 2022/23

The programme will continue to fund the provision of bespoke expert support to councils – or groups of councils - wanting to transform the delivery of homes and places, the quality and security of existing homes and/or to prevent and reduce homelessness.

This year the programme will also have a second strand, aimed at councils who are keen to lead on the delivery of new housing but do not have a recent track record in this area.

The focus of this support will be on building capacity to allow the council to play a lead role in the delivery of new housing. Each person will be required to bring a challenge which their council is grappling with in this area.

Participants will work together in action learning sets to explore the different routes to delivering new homes and address their specific local challenges. The action learning sets will:

Provide a safe space for officers and members to reflect, exchange ideas and curate knowledge
Create a pathway forward for their council to lead on housing delivery;
Form a peer network of mutual support
Equip participants to share their learning across the sector.

The learning programme will also include expert input aimed at leaving participants well equipped to lead or facilitate the delivery of new homes in their area.

If you are interested in participating in the housing delivery action learning programme, please register your interest.

Grant programme

The programme will award up to £20,000 to each successful project for the purpose of securing expert advice in transforming how a service or partnership meets the housing needs of communities.

Successful councils will be expected to ‘own’ the project, using the grant funding to commission expert support and advice to help them deliver transformation as agreed in the LGA grant agreement.

The LGA will have a continuing role as part of the project governance. We will support councils to lead and contribute to activities that enable the sharing of experiences across the sector through a learning programme which includes:

pre-application support
learning events
an online learning hub.

To apply for funding please fill in our application form.

Funding aims

The overall aims of Housing Advisers Programme funding are to:

make a significant difference to a local housing, homelessness or planning/place-making challenge
build or unlock capacity so there is a lasting impact after the HAP funding ends
create and share learning about what works, so that the wider sector can benefit from the programme.

Applying for Housing Advisers Programme funding

Any council in England can apply for Housing Advisers Programme funding and the LGA is keen to ensure that successful projects are led by councils at all levels, from all English regions and represent a mix of urban and rural areas.

Councils can apply individually or in partnership with other councils or relevant organisations. If you are forming a partnership a single council must lead the project.

Prospective projects must:

tackle a local housing, homelessness or planning/place-making challenge
be led by a council and involve local people and/or partners
have corporate endorsement from the relevant lead officer(s) and/or portfolio holder(s)
be given the officer capacity to enable the project to succeed
be open to the prospect of external input and challenge from their adviser
be willing to share learning and experience from the programme with other councils.

Areas of support

The programme will fund ambitious projects seeking to improve outcomes. Previous projects have spanned the full range of work in the housing, homelessness, planning and place-making policy areas, including:

strategy development
service design or redesign
improving or expanding delivery operations
upskilling the internal or external workforce
developing new partnerships.

Successful projects might focus on enabling councils and partners to:

directly build homes of the right mix of products, tenures and techniques
support the building or retrofitting of zero-carbon homes
meet the housing and wider support needs of low-income families
refresh homelessness services and partnerships to focus on long-term solutions
sustainably provide temporary accommodation
proactively enable the development of the right types of homes to meet local need
meet the needs of groups at risk of homelessness to prevent them becoming homeless
support improvements in the private rented sector
improve the quality of existing social housing
Explore different options for housing delivery like self-build, community land trusts (CLTs) and modern methods of construction (MMC)
reform the end-to-end planning process and the relationship with developers
achieve fair returns to communities from planning gain
empower council housing tenants.

Application questions and marking criteria

Application for Housing Advisers Programme funding is via an online application form. All submitted forms are assessed to see to what extent the proposed project furthers the Housing Advisers Programme funding aims, using the following marking criteria:

Question number	Marking criteria	Weighting
1 - 9	These questions are not marked
10)  Outline your proposed project, explaining how it will make a difference by tackling a specific housing, homelessness or planning/place-making challenge in your local area.	Project aims to address a specific housing, homelessness or planning/place-making challenge in the local area Project is clearly described, backed by evidence (ideally with concise problem statement) Impact of the problem is clearly described, with supporting statistics or other evidence Indication of how local people and partners will be involved/engaged	20
11)  In what areas do you need support and how will participating in the Housing Advisers Programme provide added value?	Specific areas where additional support is needed are clearly described The need to commission specialist support to address the challenge is clearly explained How HAP funding will provide added value is clearly articulated	20
12) What key outcomes you are aiming to achieve? How will you measure success?	Desired key outcomes are clearly articulated, along with their relevance to the specific challenge the project aims to address Clear explanation of how project activities are expected to result in the desired outcomes Wider benefits of achieving the key outcomes are outlined e.g. efficiency savings, lessening of impact on other services, unlocking capacity, green/net zero targets, building resilience Includes details of potential indicators of success or other relevant metrics	15
13) How will the learning from your project be of benefit to other councils or the sector as a whole?	Clear description of how the project is relevant to other councils or the sector as a whole Evidence that the project and/or approaches taken are innovative at a local or national level Clear description of how learning and evidence will be captured and shared	15
14) How will the project build capacity and have a sustained impact beyond the period of funding?	Clear description of how the project is expected to build capacity in the council or local community An indication of how key outcomes will be sustained after the HAP funding ends Brief outline of any expected next-steps or project progress due to take place after the period during which HAP funding is being used	15
15)  What are the anticipated timescales, milestones and key outputs for the project? Please include details of opportunities to reflect and capture learning.	Project is scoped with a detailed project plan which gives assurances about delivery. Project outputs link to the milestones with detailed outputs under each milestone. Project plan contains details of opportunities to reflect and capture learning.	10
16) Please outline the delivery and governance arrangements for your project, including details of the endorsement of relevant senior officers and portfolio holders.	Sufficient officer capacity to allow the project to succeed Governance arrangements indicate clear lines of reporting and decision-making Project is endorsed by an appropriate senior officer and lead member.	5

Application timeline

Applications open: Midday 29 September 2022

Applications close: 5.00pm 24 November 2022

Successful and unsuccessful applicants notified: 12 December 2022

Signed grant agreement returned by LGA by: 4 January 2023

Grant funding allocations will be paid within three weeks of return of the signed grant agreement.

Contact

If you have any questions which are not answered in this prospectus or our FAQs contact us on [email protected]