Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2025-2030

Welcome to our Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy Consultation. We are seeking your views on the draft strategy and the priorities contained within it. The consultation opens on Tuesday 22nd April 2025, and will close at 5pm on Wednesday 4th June 2025. You can reply to the consultation survey below.

We are asking for your views on this strategy if:

• you live in the Borough of Hounslow
• you are a landlord in the borough
• you are a registered provider of social housing in the borough
• you are a local organisation which supports people with housing
• you are a housing developer

The outcomes of the consultation will inform the Council's decision about the Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2025-2030.

You are advised to read the draft strategy before responding to the consultation. You can find the draft strategy here.

Background

The draft Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2025-2030 succeeds our previous Housing Strategy (which ran between 2019 and 2024) and sets out our plans to deliver affordable homes and sustainable communities across Hounslow. This consultation asks for your views on the strategy and the five priorities contained within it. Please complete the consultation by 5pm on Wednesday 4th June 2025.

What this would mean

The Council is asking you to consider a draft Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2025-2030, this proposes five priorities for addressing the housing crisis and supporting residents in housing need in Hounslow:

1. Tackle homelessness and rough sleeping
   • Offering suitable prevention, advice and support including efficient allocation of social housing to reduce numbers of homeless, households in Temporary Accommodation, rough sleepers, and vulnerable persons in housing need.
2. Safe and decent council housing
   • Ensuring that all council homes are safe, decent and affordable to live in, with a tenancy management service that meets or exceeds the Regulator of Social Housing's Consumer Standards and benchmarks highly on tenant satisfaction.
3. Raise standards in the Private Rented Sector
   • Working with private landlords and their residents to ensure that tenants' rights are respected, taking enforcement action where these rights are breached or where the landlord provides a home that is not safe.
4. Residents live healthy, independent and sustainable lives
   • Organising across the council and with statutory, voluntary and community partners to address overarching issues such as disability and mental health, anti-social behaviour, domestic abuse, safeguarding and the provision of specialist accommodation, poverty, inequality, and the environment.
5. More genuinely affordable homes
   • Securing additional affordable homes whether to rent or buy, council-built or delivered through partners, ensuring that they meet corresponding demand and the requirements of the Local Plan.

Why do we have a Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy?

It is the Council's view that the previous Housing Strategy no longer meets current housing needs in the borough. As such, a new Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy is being developed to more accurately address local housing needs. The Council has a statutory obligation to maintain an up-to-date homelessness strategy, and the Local Government Act 2003 highlights that an up-to-date housing strategy is an important way for local authorities to set out objectives, targets and policies on how they intend to manage and deliver their strategic housing role.

What options were open to the Council?

There were several options available to the Council when developing this strategy:

• Draft a new Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy (preferred option)
• Review and update the previous Housing Strategy
• Do nothing (not feasible, given statutory obligations)

Addressing housing needs for the borough is important to the Council, and our housing strategy needs to reflect current demands.

Please share your views

We want to know what you think about this proposal. Please take part in our consultation (below) - it will take you about five minutes to complete.

Paper copies of all consultations and surveys are available in your local library.

If you would prefer to complete a paper copy of this consultation, would need a large print or Easy Read version or require a translation, please email us at engage@hounslow.gov.uk or call 020 8583 2000 . You can meet with one of our officers to discuss this issue and pick up a paper copy, please see the 'come and meet us to discuss' section to find out where we will be.

Please return your consultation to us by 5pm on Wednesday 4th June 2025.

Many thanks for taking part in the consultation. Your views will help shape the Council’s final decision on the Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2025-2030.