Inventing our future Collective action for a sustainable economy

• PSA 7: by 2010, bring all social housing into a decent condition with most of this
improvement taking place in deprived areas, and for vulnerable households in the private
sector, including families with children, increase the proportion who live in homes that are
in decent condition.
• PSA 8: lead the delivery of cleaner, safer and greener public spaces and improvement of the
quality of the built environment in deprived areas and across the country, with measurable
improvement by 2008.
4.12 The additional resources for housing achieved through the 2004 spending review were to achieve
reductions in homelessness. The five year strategy ‘Homes for All‘ includes a target to reduce by
half, the use of temporary accommodation by 2010.
4.13 The Housing Minister expects the RHS to move towards a longer-term planning horizon that will
ultimately bring it and the East of England Plan together. This will mean a change for housing. The
RHS will need to adopt a ‘bi-focal‘ vision, incorporating shorter-term strategic planning and actions
within a longer-term framework of policy choices that will shape housing provision into the future.
4.14 Housing policy development at the regional, sub-regional and local levels will therefore become
more significant in underpinning the selected strategic options.
4.15 The Government expects the RHS to cover:
• all tenures of housing, including travellers’ sites
• all options for addressing identified housing needs, including low-cost home ownership
and equity release products and other accommodation needs including sites
• sub-regional strategies related to sub-regional markets
• an assessment of need shared with the regional planning framework
• reducing homelessness and the use of temporary accommodation
• adequate provision of housing, especially affordable housing, to address the growth agenda
• analysis of the need for Key Worker housing to determine the additional support that the
Single Regional Housing Pot will need to complement the Key Worker Living Programme
and the First Time Buyers’ Initiative
• analysis of the need for rural housing across market towns and villages, having regard to
the PPG3 update ‘Planning for Communities in Rural Areas‘
• cross linkages with other funding streams and programmes, for example Supporting People
• identification of the needs of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities including Gypsy
and Traveller Communities
• demonstration of consultation with regional stakeholders.
Housing Strategy for the East of England: 2005–2010
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