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AN END TO ROUGH SLEEPING IN ROTHERHAM

Published: Thursday 25 April 2019

Council sets out ambition to end rough sleeping in Rotherham

Published Tuesday, 9th April 2019

Rotherham Town Hall

Like many parts of the country, Rotherham has faced an increasing number of people finding themselves facing homelessness. The number of households being supported at any one time by the Council’s Homelessness Team more than doubled to 403 over the course of 2017/18. At the same time, the number of people who were believed to have actually become homeless in the borough rose by 20%.

As a result, the Council has already doubled the number of emergency accommodation available to those in need, increased the priority of homeless people to access council housing, and this winter for the first time teamed up with South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service to make emergency shelter provision available during especially cold weather.

Now the plan sets out the Council’s six key aims for addressing the root causes of homelessness, by working with partners and most importantly, people who have experienced homelessness, in order to develop solutions to reduce homelessness over the next three years:

  1. To support people with complex needs
  2. To prevent homelessness and provide rapid housing solutions
  3. To increase support for young people to prevent homelessness
  4. To end rough sleeping and begging
  5. To improve access to tenancy support, employment and health support services
  6. To ensure there is sufficient decent emergency accommodation

The Council’s plan has been bolstered by recent news of additional funding coming to the borough.

A grant of £328,000 shared between Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster Councils from the government’s Rough Sleeping Initiative will support the region’s rough sleepers so that they can move off the streets and into secure accommodation where they can get the help they need to rebuild their lives.

Rotherham will also receive an additional two grants totalling £123,000 from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government.

Plans are now underway to introduce several new roles across the three towns, including homelessness prevention workers who will work with housing options services in each council to focus on stronger prevention measures; mental health practitioners; and a regional co-ordinator to enable greater collaboration on rough sleeping.

Council Leader, Cllr Chris Read said; “Whilst Rotherham’s issues with homelessness are perhaps less apparent than those in other parts of the country, especially in some of the big cities, it is very clear that more people are facing incredibly challenging circumstances. For a long time, it seemed that we had more or less seen the end of it, but now people sleeping in shop doorways is once again one of the moral outrages of our time.

“The Council has already been increasing its response in order to support more people to keep a roof over their heads, and just as importantly to be able to sustain their home for the long term. In this new strategy, and supported by the funding we have successfully secured, we are redoubling our determination to tackle homelessness, end rough sleeping, and make sure we leave no one behind.”


Site-ready homes are or their way to Rotherham

Published: Friday 8 February 2019

Published Monday, 4th February 2019

Housing News

A dozen site-ready bungalows will be making their way to Rotherham as part of an exciting new pilot project approved by Rotherham Council today.

Designed for older residents and people with additional needs, the bungalows are built using alternative modern methods of construction. These include elements being erected from factory made frames, panels or sections to whole buildings being lowered onto site.

Benefits of modern methods of construction are speed – up to 50 per cent faster than traditional builds and minimal impact and disruption, with typically 80 per cent of the construction work taking place off-site.

Construction is planned to start in July with homes available for people to move into before Christmas.

Eight of the new homes will be delivered to Symonds Avenue, Rawmarsh and two each in Hounsfield Crescent, and Housefield Road, East Herringthorpe.

Cllr Dominic Beck, Rotherham Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “The housing industry is recognising the potential offsite manufacturing holds for the housing market.

“As a modern and efficient council we want to ensure we look at all possible options to deliver inspiring, energy-efficient homes for families across the borough. Our mission is to build better homes and build them in a better way.”

The project is part of the Council’s Housing Strategy to see 900 new homes built in the borough.


FIND YOUR NEW HOME IN ROTHERHAM

Published: Friday 23 November 2018

ROTHER LIVING - Watch the video here

Everything we do is inspired by our town’s rich history of industry and forward thinking.

Rother Living strives to emulate these qualities, while remaining firmly grounded in the local pride of its people, to create a future for local housing that transforms lives as well as landscapes.

As residents of Rotherham and the surrounding area, we know how important for people to trust that we not only build them a house, but instead provide a platform upon which they themselves can build a life.

We are not here to simply build houses. We are here to provide new lifestyles the needs and aspirations of our residents.  Find out more

 


New Homes Available at Maltby

Published: Monday 15 October 2018

New Rother Living homes available in Maltby

Rother Living homes are now available in Maltby as part of the latest major housing development from Rotherham Council, offering high quality and affordable homes in the borough.

The first Rother Living show homes on site will open on Saturday 13 October allowing potential buyers the chance to see for themselves the quality on offer and make their reservations. More than 100 people have already expressed interest in the Northgate development off Braithwell Road in Maltby.

Prices for the three bedroom semi-detached homes at Northgate start from just £160,000 and prices for other house styles are available on request.  Help to Buy is available on all properties.

Once completed there will be 98 properties on the Northgate site – 83 of which will be for open market sale and 15 shared ownership apartments for older people.

The Northgate development is part of a £29million investment by Rotherham Council to construct new properties at a number of sites across the borough, with a mixture of houses for sale, rent and shared ownership The Council has appointed Wates Residential North to carry out the developments.

Rotherham Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing, Councillor Dominic Beck, said: “It’s fantastic that people will now be able to get a real feel of what these new properties will be like with the opening of the Rother Living show homes at Northgate.

“We want ensure that local people and those people from outside the borough have access to high quality affordable homes.

“Seeing the Northgate development take shape is an exciting step forward and forms part of the Council’s plans to regenerate the borough making it a place where people want to live, work and spend their leisure time.” 

Richard Shroll, Managing Director of Wates Residential North, said: “The opening of the new show homes in Maltby is a fantastic milestone that demonstrates the excellent progress being made through our partnership with Rotherham Council to deliver these exceptional new homes.

“There is a growing local appetite for high quality affordable homes, and I have no doubt that Northgate will go some way to catering for this. We are very much looking forward to building on the success and continuing our role in the regeneration of Rotherham.” 

William H Brown the local estate agency, who will lead on the sales of the new homes, will be on hand at the launch event  that will give prospective buyers the first chance to experience the development as well as provide the opportunity to be first to place a reservation to secure one of the new homes.   

Gary Rogers, William H Brown’s, New Homes Manager said: 

“There is a lot of anticipation around Northgate and so we look forward to welcoming customers to our launch event, showcasing these fantastic Rother Living family homes for the first time.  “The new development provides the perfect setting for family living – set in a close knit community and sitting alongside local amenities and transport links - and we expect significant demand for the homes.  
 
“Our William H Brown team will be on hand to assist with any customer queries on the day and with building work soon to finish and first completions expected before the end of the year, customers could be in a new home before Christmas,” continued Gary.  “What better Christmas gift to give to yourself!” 


More affordable homes for the borough

Published: Wednesday 11 July 2018
More affordable homes for the borough

Plans to build more affordable homes, some of which could be brought on site ready-made, are set to be looked at by Rotherham Council.

The Council is looking to build around 12 bungalows for older people through a pilot to test alternative modern construction methods.

This could include elements of off-site construction, ranging from buildings being erected from factory made frames, panels or sections to whole buildings being lowered onto site.

The brief will be left open with a view to getting the widest possible range of options to consider from manufacturing and building companies.

Council leaders are also looking at plans to sell some small sites to local developers to enable the building of a further 22 affordable homes in key areas across the borough. Together this will create 34 new affordable homes to be allocated through the Council housing process, supporting the Sheffield City Region (SCR) approach to using surplus public sector land.

Cllr Dominic Beck, Rotherham Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “The housing industry is recognising the potential offsite manufacturing holds for the housing market. As a modern and efficient council we want to ensure we look at all possible options to deliver inspiring, energy-efficient homes for families across the borough. Our mission is to build better homes and build them in a better way.

“We also want to ensure there are enough affordable homes so families can stay in the borough or to entice new people to move to Rotherham.”

The funding for the pilot modern construction homes is expected to come from the Council Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and an application has been made to Sheffield City Region’s pilot Housing Fund £500K of grant funding. This is currently being assessed with a view to seeking approval from the Sheffield City Region’s Housing Investment Board later this summer.

Colin Blackburn, SCR Assistant Director for Housing Infrastructure and Planning, added: “There is a national housing shortage across the UK, including here in Sheffield City Region. We welcome the local authority’s approach to delivering additional new homes through innovative and efficient ways of building, which will provide high quality, desirable properties in local communities at affordable prices.”

It is anticipated that employment opportunities will be created through the scheme, as the construction of offsite homes and delivery on-site offers the chance for a variety of new roles within the construction sector.

The plans are to be looked at by Rotherham Council’s Cabinet at its meeting in July.