Continuing to tackle the housing crisis

Hastings Borough Council’s top priority is tackling Hastings’ housing crisis and working to ensure all our residents have a safe and secure home.

Our housing acquisition programme is focused on providing good quality, longer term temporary accommodation that reduces the need for the council to use expensive, private temporary accommodation and ensures families can stay within Hastings.

Whilst these homes are called ‘temporary accommodation’ our aim is to make them feel anything but temporary. The rent is capped at the Local Housing Allowance, so they remain affordable, the homes are brought up to a high standard and wherever possible we encourage households to make them a home. We have also combined some of the homes we have bought with our Disabled Facilities Grants to make sure they are accessible to families with mobility challenges. 

Residents who have moved into homes bought through this programme tell us that this has been a positive change for them, with them and their children feeling happier and having more space and often a garden. 

As part of the acquisition programme, we are maximising opportunities through government grants and funding. The council’s Cabinet agreed in March to accept funding through the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF). Our initial offer was for £3,514,000 was intended to support the delivery of 26 homes, but we requested additional funding to deliver more homes and have been granted £6,282,164 to support the delivery of 46 homes – a substantial uplift that reflects confidence in Hastings Borough Council’s established ability to deliver. 

This increased funding marks a positive step forward in the council’s ongoing work to expand access to affordable housing across the town. 

We have also successfully secured funding through the SPACES (Strategic Property Asset Collaboration in East Sussex) programme and the Prisoners Building Homes initiative to support this work. This funding is enabling us to work with partners, including Lewes and Eastbourne councils, to begin detailed design and feasibility studies on council owned sites.  

These steps represent an important part of our wider efforts to deliver affordable, sustainable homes for local residents. 

Cllr Glenn Haffenden, leader of the council and lead councillor for housing, said: “I’m incredibly proud of the work our council is doing to tackle one of the biggest challenges facing our borough: the urgent need for more affordable housing. Our acquisitions programme has now bought more than 150 homes that we can use as more settled and more affordable temporary accommodation, providing better quality homes and more stability for residents in housing need.  

“It’s great news that our successes through this programme have led to us receiving more government funding through the LAHF, the team is ready to put this money to good use. Due to the way we transferred our housing stock, the way that we can provide settled homes is not straightforward, but as we set out in our Housing Strategy, we want to do this, and hope that Local Government Reorganisation gives us more opportunities to do this. 

“Although Hastings is a predominantly urban area with sites that can be challenging to bring forward, we continue to work creatively and proactively to unlock new possibilities. The SPACES funding opens the door to progressing more complex proposals that would otherwise be difficult to advance.”