Public Performance Reporting

Housing

• The availability of affordable rented housing is a key issue in South Ayrshire. In August 2006, the Council had a stock of 8,741 houses for rent. We had 4135 applicants on our waiting list.  In 2005/06, only 675 properties became available for re-let.
• To try and keep affordable housing in South Ayrshire, we have introduced “Pressured Areas Status” for 29 of our letting neighbourhoods. This limits the number of council houses that tenants can buy.
• Each year we deal with over 1000 homelessness applications. The time it took us to deal with these cases increased from 13 weeks in 2004/5 to 16.3 weeks in 2005/6.
• During 2005/06 we provided permanent housing for 229 families or individuals experiencing homelessness, and worked with registered social landlords to help a further 19 families.
• We help prevent homelessness through tenancy support projects, provision of home-starter packs and rent guarantees, and by improving access to healthcare. Of 175 people who were given starter packs, 169 are still in their homes one year on.
• Through our “Arrears Policy” we aim to collect as much of the rental income owed to us as possible. In 2005/6 we reduced the amount overdue to 5.3% of the net amount of rent owed during the year, down from 6.3% the previous year.
• In 2005/6 we improved our performance in completing work – 96.6% of emergency repairs were completed within a 4hr target response time compared with 92.8% the year before.