Housing 

To ensure this happens, Bolton Council and its partners provide a comprehensive range of services, details of which can be found throughout these pages, or from the Homes for Bolton website and the Bolton at Home website (both links are available on the right handside). 

Information for tenants and leaseholders on the future of Bolton's Council Housing: Recently the government and Bolton Council's Executive gave the green light to go ahead and begin consulting Bolton Council tenants on whether they would back a proposal to transfer the ownership of the Council's housing stock to Bolton at Home.  The consultation will take place over the first few months of this year and tenants will be asked to vote in a ballot this summer.  For further information, please click on the link to the right.

The are a number of challenges for housing in Bolton that we are working hard to meet. We know 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, 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. We will work with our partners in health, adult social care and housing to ensure that a co-ordinated approach is taken to addressing these issues through the delivery of the Health Inequalities Strategy, and Joint Housing Plan for Older People.

A significant number of people cannot afford to either privately rent or buy a home in Bolton. The problem especially affects newly forming households, such as young people living at home who would like to set up home on their own. We will meet this challenge by making best use of existing housing across all tenures, ensuring our new homes are accessible to meet the diverse needs of the Borough and increasing the numbers of affordable housing to rent and buy.

In the private sector, Bolton has an over representation of terraced and aging housing in poor condition. This is often occupied by elderly and vulnerable people, some of which are unable to keep their properties in a decent state of repair. However, terraced housing continues to be a popular option for many people and is often the most accessible for first time buyers and people on low incomes.   Bolton has a long history of targeting resources to the areas and individuals in most need through renewal schemes, promotion of affordable warmth and grants for adaptations and home improvements.

We will also continue to work with BARLO, to encourage private landlords to improve property and tenancy management standards and implement our selective licensing scheme. We will explore alternative sources of funding which can contribute to the improvement of standards in the private sector.

Our latest housing strategy: ‘Our Homes, Our Communities, Our Future’ sets out the strategic priorities for housing in Bolton for 2008-11.  These are:

• To provide housing that is affordable and offers choice whilst  meeting the needs and demands of the future.
• To create and promote communities that are sustainable and  inclusive.
• To improve the quality of private sector housing.
• To promote health, well-being and quality of life.
• To strengthen our partnership approach to improve housing, services and communities.

More specific information for Bolton at Home tenants can be found via the Bolton at Home website.