Cumbria Sub-Regional Housing Strategy 2006 - 2011

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The Cumbria Housing Strategy 2006/2011 has been prepared by the Cumbria Sub-Regional Housing Group, of which the County Council is a key member. The preparation of the Strategy has been carried out through joint working between the Housing Authorities, Housing Associations and the County Council.

The overarching aim of the Housing Strategy is to achieve balanced housing markets, which are defined by the Strategy simply as places where local people can afford to find a home and where people want to stay. The Strategy focuses on the period 2006 to 2011, but expresses a long term aim of achieving balance in all of Cumbria’s housing markets by 2026. There are nine indicators to measure how balanced is each of the County’s housing markets. Indicators and targets from the Strategy form part of the Cumbria Local Area Agreement.

The Strategy focuses on five key themes: affordable housing; creating decent homes; housing the homeless; regeneration; and homes with support or additional facilities. Within each of these distinct themes the Strategy outlines aims, priorities, policies and targets, which set out what the Strategy should be achieving and how its success will be measured against indicators.

Fundamental to the Strategy is the identification of distinct housing market areas. In total 20 distinct housing markets have been identified throughout the County, which ignore traditional administrative boundaries and are instead based on housing market characteristics. The Strategy includes 20 Housing Market Area Action Plans describing the current situation and identifying the priorities for future action. The Strategy is supported by a County-wide Housing Needs Survey, which was carried out in 2005/06 and identifies the level of affordable houisng need in the County. Each of the 20 Housing Market Area Inserts includes details of the overall levels of need.

It is important to recognise that this is the first time that a County-wide strategy has been formulated in Cumbria dealing with the provision of housing. The Cumbria-Sub Regional Housing Group has worked closely with Government Office North-West whilst preparing the Strategy, in order to ensure the Strategy achieves ‘Fit for Purpose’ status. The Strategy was published in the Autumn 2006.

Housing Strategy