A WIDE-RANGING survey has revealed the housing issues faced by those who live in the borough.
The survey of 3,200 households was carried out in autumn last year. It looked at the physical condition of owner-occupied and privately rented dwellings, as well as examining whether the right kind of housing is available and whether it meets the current needs of the people of Bolton. The survey findings are being used by the council and its partners to improve and update existing services as well as to make future plans.
The findings conclude that the population in Bolton is set to increase. There will also be a growth in the number of households, especially smaller households. These two factors will create demand for more housing. So there will be a need to build more homes, particularly smaller properties, to house these families.
Older age groups and disabled households will increase the most. At the moment 24% of households in Bolton contain someone with a disability.
A major issue raised by the survey was that growing numbers of people cannot afford to either privately rent or buy a home in Bolton. House prices have risen 120% in Bolton between 2001 and 2006 making home ownership difficult for many to afford. The problem especially affects newly forming households, such as young people living at home who would like to set up home on their own. The survey found 73% of newly forming households cannot afford to buy a home, whilst 44% cannot afford private rented properties. This is a major challenge for all of us who live in Bolton, unless more new homes are built we will have increasing numbers of families with nowhere to live.
The survey found that much of Bolton’s private housing is old and is therefore in need of repair and maintenance. It is estimated that £8.2million is needed for immediate repairs to bring properties up to a habitable standard. However, a total of £465 million is needed to bring these properties up to a defined Decent Homes Standard.
Another key issue was that 7,500 properties in the private sector do not have adequate heating, and that many people are unable to afford to heat their homes.
Bolton Council’s Future Housing Priorities…
To tackle these issues the council is developing a housing strategy and has identified core priorities. It has set itself a target of providing a choice of housing to rent or buy that people can afford, to meet future needs and demands. It will work with the Government, Bolton at Home, housing associations and private sector developers to build greater numbers of smaller affordable homes to rent, buy or share ownership of.
The council has set a priority to support and develop long lasting communities that include and respect everyone. A range of services exist to create, encourage and support community cohesion, including working with new communities in Bolton, preventing antisocial behaviour and tackling domestic violence.
The council aims to focus on improving the quality of private sector housing, including making homes more energy efficient, use less carbon and more renewal energy sources. To do this they will be exploring new ways of helping people across the borough to repair, maintain and improve their homes, alongside the council’s existing schemes in targeted areas. As the private rented sector grows they will continue to work with and support Private Landlords so that the condition of rented homes will improve. New ways of bringing empty properties back into use are being explored so that more families can be housed.
Alongside all this, the council would like to promote health, well being and quality of life through housing. The Affordable Warmth programme has already helped people to insulate their homes and install boilers. The council will also continue to help older and vulnerable people, through extra care housing, partnership working with the Home Improvement Agency and the voluntary sector, and the use of Disabled Facilities Grants.
The Council wants to strengthen their partnership approach to improve housing, services and communities. This will include better and more joined up access to services for all.
Councillor Akhtar Zaman commented: “Bolton Council would like to say a big thank you to everyone who took part in the housing survey, the results are vital to our work in planning future housing in Bolton.”
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