Strategies

Strategies

Housing authorities prepare strategies about various aspects of housing in their area. Some strategies shared across a wider area. Here, we provide links to various strategies in place across Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and West Suffolk.

Sub-regional housing strategy

Housing strategies

Homelessness strategies

Each district also has its own strategy on how it will work to prevent and tackle homelessness. Here are some links

Local housing development and enabling pages

Allocation and letting policies

Empty homes

Private sector housing policies, and related

Cambridge

  • This page sets out useful links about finding private rented accommodation.
  • Cambridge City Council encourages homeowners to consider using their Town Hall Lettings service to let their home, find a tenant or a lodge, or to invest. The shared accommodation offer helps single homeless people who have low support needs, are working or in receipt of benefits.
  • The City Council also runs its own supported lodgings scheme. Householders let a room in their home to an approved lodger on a short-term arrangement for between 3 and 9 months.

East Cambridgeshire

  • East Cambridgeshire runs a rent deposit scheme to help people rent a home on the private market.

Fenland

  • Fenland’s housing enforcement policy and landlord advice page include details of landlord registration, deposit scheme and deposit protection – and more. The council provides a free service to help with lettings, fast track local housing allowance payments and provides lists of prospective tenants on the landlord advice page.

Huntingdonshire

Huntingdonshire provides information about renting privately here.

Huntingdonshire also provides a list of private homes for rent, but does not get involved in the detail of any letting arrangement; and offers private renters assistance with the rent deposits.

South Cambridgeshire

  • South Cambridgeshire operates Shire Homes letting scheme, encouraging private landlords and owners of empty homes to rent homes to local people.

West Suffolk

  • Private landlords and homeowners page here
  • Houses in multiple occupancy page here
  • Housing grants page here.

Peterborough

Peterborough offers help to private tenants on this page including a rent deposit scheme and advice on the rent deposit protection scheme.

There is also a list of standards private tenants should expect for their home, here.

Peterborough also engages with private owners to lease properties for sub-letting. More detail here.

Tenancy strategies

Under the Localism Act 2011 a council can set a tenancy strategy, which aims to make sure new rents and flexibilities set out in the Act were used properly.

Tenancy policies

Under the Localism Act 2011 housing providers can set a tenancy policy, which aims to make clear how they plan to use the new rents and flexibilities set out in the Act. Tenancy policies are available on housing providers’ websites and may be updated every now and then. Here are some local examples:

We would like to include links to every provider’s tenancy policy in our area. If you’d like to share your tenancy policy here, please contact us.

Older people’s housing, care and support needs in Greater Cambridge 2017-2036

In partnership with the University of Sheffield, the Centre for Regional Economic & Social Research at Sheffield-Hallam university assessed the future housing, care and support needs of residents in Greater Cambridge. This work was commissioned by South Cambridgeshire District Council, in collaboration with Cambridge City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council, with funding from NHS England’s Healthy New Towns programme.

The recommendations are intended to stimulate discussion at a local level about how best to meet the requirements of an ageing population. The research shows that the future needs of older people can be met in different ways, and that local authorities and their partners should try to understand the relationship between different services and forms of accommodation to define local priorities and strategies for action.

The final report from the research Older people’s housing, care and support needs in Greater Cambridge 2017-2036 is available to download here.

Local Plans

Local Plans can be located via Cambridgeshire Insight’s planning page.

West Suffolk has an affordable housing supplementary planning document.