Issue - meetings

Cabinet AGREED that:

(a)               responsibility for the administration of the Low Cost Home Ownership Register be transferred to Bedfordshire Pilgrims Housing Association as the Housing Corporation / Department of Communities and Local Government-appointed Homebuy agenda for the Cambridge Sub-region for the period 1 October 2006 to 31 March 2008;

(b)               the service level agreement attached as an Appendix to the report form the basis for the terms of the arrangement, subject to correction of grammatical errors; and

(c)               options for the administration of the LCHO Register beyond March 2008 be brought forward for consideration by no later than January / February 2008.

The Housing Portfolio Holder explained that transferring responsibility for the administration of the Low Cost Home Ownership (LCHO) Register to Bedfordshire Pilgrims Housing Association would free up officer time for higher priority work and would enable residents searching for such housing to visit a “one-stop shop” to look for suitable properties across local authority boundaries, rather than having to register separately with each authority.  All other authorities in the Cambridge and Bedford sub-region had joined the scheme, and it was expected that all Registered Social Landlords would as well.  Funding was guaranteed only for the first two years, but the Housing Portfolio Holder was confident that there would be future support and financing available, although the service could be taken back in-house if not.

Cabinet AGREED that:

(a)               responsibility for the administration of the Low Cost Home Ownership Register be transferred to Bedfordshire Pilgrims Housing Association as the Housing Corporation / Department of Communities and Local Government-appointed Homebuy agenda for the Cambridge Sub-region for the period 1 October 2006 to 31 March 2008;

(b)               the service level agreement attached as an Appendix to the report form the basis for the terms of the arrangement, subject to correction of grammatical errors; and

(c)               options for the administration of the LCHO Register beyond March 2008 be brought forward for consideration by no later than January / February 2008.