Observer column 16 October 2025

I’m really pleased to be able to update you on the progress of our new Housing Strategy. I was really grateful to everyone who took the time to respond to our survey over the summer and also came to talk to us directly at our in-person events. We had very detailed and thoughtful responses which have been taken on board in the updated strategy document. It is being finalised and is due to be discussed by Cabinet in December. 

Some of the feedback included comments supporting our plans to introduce an Empty Homes Officer and Strategy, and to continue our focus and support on people having to sleep rough. We also heard that we hadn't included enough in the draft strategy about increasing the supply of accessible homes and that we need to be clearer on what we mean by genuinely affordable housing. What we should do about housing understandably attracts lots of differing and sometimes conflicting views. So, officers will be updating the final version of the Strategy informed by the responses, but we will also publish our response to each of the responses we received so you can see what we did and did not adopt and why. 

The strategy is one part of our work to tackle the housing crisis here in Hastings, and we will be using it, alongside our updated housing allocation policy, to make best use of the housing we have. 

I was disappointed to hear that Boutique Modern, who we were working with to develop the site at 419-447 Bexhill Road into 16 new homes, have filed for administration. We are in conversations to find out what this means for the development and are working hard to make sure we can deliver these much-needed homes for residents as quickly as possible.

We will be introducing our new housing allocation policy next week, which has been updated to make best use of the social housing we have in Hastings. The updates to the policy are being introduced in stages, and everyone who will be affected by the changes will be contacted by housing officers to explain what it means for them. 

And finally, we have been awarded more than £675,000 additionally by the government to spend this financial year on tackling homelessness.  £55,000 set by government for us to spend on supporting families in Temporary Accommodation and the rest is to be spent on helping people to end the need to sleep rough.  More funding is of course always welcome but until we see sustained investment which raises the Local Housing Allowance (the amount people receive to help them pay their rent), we will continue to have to spend a significant amount of our budget on temporary accommodation for households who are unable to afford a private rent.