Decent Homes Plus Assistance

Dear Mr Woods,

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your request for information, a
copy of which is appended below for reference.

It's been allocated reference F09/07/013 and is being forwarded to the
relevant Directorate and you will receive a response within the
statutory deadline of 20 working days.

Yours sincerely,

Information Officer
T: 0151 443 3836
E: [Knowsley Borough Council request email]

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Dear Mr Woods

I write in response to your request for information about the grant and
loan scheme in the New Deal for Communities Area, North Huyton.

I can advise you that the response is set out below and for ease of
reference the original questions have been retained.

With regard to stories printed in the Knowsley Challenge and Liverpool
Echo in Sept 2008 which stated that "If you own a home in the Stockbridge,
Longview or Page Moss wards in North Huyton you may be entitled to a
housing grant and loan."

1) Can you tell me if the above statement, is true?

People who own houses in the North Huyton New Deal for Communities
boundary may be entitled to a housing grant and loan from Knowsley
MBC. A mistake was made in the news story because the NDC boundary does
not completely cover all of the three wards, Stockbridge, Longview and
Page Moss.

2) How many people from the Longview estate have applied?

In a previous email sent to you on 11 March 2009 the Council explained
that a total of nine hundred and sixty enquiry forms were distributed to
applicable addresses under the Priority Area for Assistance scheme and of
those forms, four hundred and sixty had been completed and returned to the
Council.

One hundred and five enquiry forms are now being processed for housing
assistance. Longview is an electoral ward and to match addresses from
those one hundred and five enquiry forms against this electoral ward is a
long and drawn out process for the Council to undertake. I can advise that
the time it would take to complete this element of your request would take
the total time spent in retrieving and compiling the information for the
complete response beyond the appropriate limit of 18 hours allowed for
under the Freedom of Information Act.

3) How many applications have not yet had a final decision from
Knowsley Council

Five hundred enquiry forms have not been returned to the Council and so it
may be viewed that five hundred households may not have received a final
decision from the Council. Those remaining five hundred households will
be encouraged to apply for housing assistance during the term of
the North Huyton NDC PAA grant and loan scheme.

4) Does Knowsley Council have discretion to award Grants to
applications they deem appropriate to the Housing Assistance Policy

2006?

There is "strict eligibility criteria" for a person to be eligible for
housing assistance in the Council's Housing Assistance Policy 2006. If
there are "exceptional circumstances" with regard to a housing assistance
application, or in cases of extreme urgency, the Council may
authorise such applications or cases of extreme urgency. "Exceptional
Circumstances" are described in the Policy as:

"6.9 Exceptional Circumstances

In cases where it is considered that exceptional circumstances apply the
Executive Director may in consultation with the Cabinet Member for
Regeneration and Development determine applications for financial
assistance outside the terms of the policy. Such cases should still
conform to the general principles of this policy which is to provide
assistance to vulnerable persons, or within specified areas of the
Borough, to improve housing standards.

In cases of extreme urgency the Executive Director may authorise the
undertaking of works related to an application for Emergency
Assistance prior to the receipt of a complete application."

This means the Council may authorise applications for assistance, but only
when those applications comply with the criteria specified in the "6.9
Exceptional Circumstances" paragraph above and there are the existence of
Exceptional Circumstances.

If you should have any questions in relation to this response, please
contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Information Officer

T: 0151 443 3836

E: [1][Knowsley Borough Council request email]

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Dear Mr Woods

The attached completes the response, with regard your request for
information relating to Decent Homes Plus Assistance.

I trust this information is of assistance.

Yours sincerely

Mrs P Jackson

Risk & Resilience Officer

T: 0151 443 3044 E: [Knowsley Borough Council request email]

This e-mail and any attachments are confidential. It may contain
privileged information and is intended for the named recipient(s)
only. It must not be distributed without consent. If you are not
one of the intended recipients, please notify the sender
immediately and do not disclose, distribute, or retain this email
or any part of it and do not take any action based on it.

Unless expressly stated, opinions in this email are those of the
individual sender, and not of Knowsley MBC. Legally binding
obligations can only be created for, or be entered into on behalf
of, Knowsley MBC by duly authorised officers or representatives.

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caused, any direct or consequential loss arising from the use, or
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