Agenda item

This report sets out activities and progress on work areas within the Housing and Community Services Portfolio, which fall within the remit of this Committee. This information is provided in relation to the Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Services being held to account.

Discussion:

Members received an overview of progress on the area within the terms of

Reference of this Committee covered by Councillor Howard Doe, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Services, i.e.

·         All Housing Services (including HRA)

·         Homelessness and Housing Options

·         Adult learning

·         Libraries and Community Hubs

·         Voluntary Sector

·         Climate Change

·         Medway Commercial Group

·         Medway Development Company

Councillor Doe responded to Members’ questions as follows:

·         Rough sleepers – in response to what lessons may have been learned from the case referred to in the report of a highly challenging and vulnerable rough sleeper who had been housed, the Deputy Leader commented that this showed the Council did not give up on people but due to the difficulties he presented had been placed in a half-way house environment. The Council had recently been awarded £840,000 funding to tackle rough sleeping, with an additional amount dedicated to helping ex-offenders. While rough sleeping could never be completely eradicated, having the team engage with homeless people on the street had been effective in bringing numbers down, showing the importance of preventative work.

·         Re-letting void properties – regarding difficulties in re-letting properties vacated by someone in sheltered accommodation due to a specific disability, which was then re-let to a tenant with different issues, with the consequent potential to cause disruption, the Deputy Leader advised that all sheltered accommodation units were carefully managed and any disruption would be dealt with as tenants deserved a good quality service. Sheltered accommodation could not be provided indefinitely in the case of someone whose needs did not warrant this.

Regarding younger people with neurological conditions who did not meet the criteria for sheltered accommodation and what support was available as part of the Armed Forces Covenant, the Deputy Leader stated that the Council was in regular contact with the armed forces and tried to ensure that veterans received a comprehensive service from the Council. The age limit in sheltered accommodation was 60 but where someone did not meet the criteria attempts would be made to find suitable accommodation.

·         Children in Temporary Accommodation (TA) – the Deputy Leader stated that the housing team worked well with children’s services to meet the needs of children placed in TA. In response to what this joined up service was like, the Deputy Leader stated the Council housed children in as good accommodation as possible and any children with needs were referred by the housing team to children’s services. However, he was not in a position to provide any further details of the care provided by social services.

·         Affordable Housing – in terms of what type of housing would be delivered through the Housing Strategy and whether there would be any more social housing, the Deputy Leader commented that all schemes should be mixed tenure where possible. Recognising there were not enough council homes, the Council was building new homes and if more funding became available then even more would be built.

·         Support for staff – in response to a query about how staff at Kingsley House were supported given the stressful nature of their jobs, the Deputy Leader recognised the team worked under considerable stress while providing an exceptional service. They were able to access the same levels of support as other employees.

·         Rent arrears and Universal Credit – in response to whether universal credit had caused an increase in rent arrears, the Deputy Leader commented that universal credit was meant to encourage financial responsibility but he did not believe it was working as intended and should be reviewed again by the Government, as Universal Credit continued to have an adverse effect on rent collection levels.

·         Older people in rented accommodation – regarding what could be done to help people in the private rented sector when their income reduced dramatically on retirement but their rent remained at a high level, the Deputy Leader noted this issue was a wider problem. Often people in this situation were in accommodation no longer suitable for their needs and the Council was trying to increase the number of smaller high quality social housing units to enable those affected to downsize.

·         Storage - in response to a case of a tenant on Universal Credit and with debts who had been made homeless and had to pay for expensive storage facilities, the Deputy Leader sympathised with anyone in this situation and undertook to look at what help the Council could provide in the future.

·         At risk of homelessness – reference was made to a possible item for a future meeting on the effectiveness of the support the Council offered to people at risk of becoming homeless, including the Home Bond scheme and the Local Welfare Provision Scheme. The point was made that rental fees to property companies could amount to thousands of pounds.

·         Sofa surfers – accepting that rough sleepers should be the Council’s priority, the point was made that there were a large number of “sofa surfers” who were not visible to the Council. The Deputy Leader commented that if people in this situation did not approach the Council then it was difficult to help them but possibly more could be done to communicate to them how the Council could help.

·         Adult Learning Take up figures – regarding how take up could be increased, the Deputy Leader advised that a new Business Plan was being drawn up with the aim of increasing numbers and adopting a more commercial focus. Numbers had not increased as a drop in unemployment meant government funding had reduced. Information was requested on where people who accessed the service lived (by postcode) and whether the creation of a single centre had affected take up across Medway. The Deputy Leader stated the service would be expanded into Community Hubs and potentially the health service as well as the possibility of delivering courses on-line. As to whether the lack of academic courses was a gap which should be addressed, the Deputy Leader commented that in order to provide a class sufficient numbers were first needed.

·         Community Hubs - the Deputy Leader undertook to provide details of how many partners used the Hubs, adding he wished to see more partners use them, subject to space constraints.

·         Medway Development Company (MDC) - a query was made about the potential to move into the private rental sector market. The Deputy Leader commented on the need to be clear on the risks of such a move. MDC would be focusing on its original objectives before deciding whether to build rental accommodation.

·         Climate Change - noting the poor air quality levels in Chatham it was suggested that the Climate Change Advisory Group did not have the ability to make a difference and there was not enough joint working across the Council on climate change. The Deputy Leader acknowledged there was an urgent need to take action on climate change. He considered that there was effective co-operation across the Council on climate change.

·         Medway Commercial Group – the Deputy Leader was invited to attend, as Chairman of MCG, when the Committee considered a report on the investigations into concerns at MCG. The Deputy Leader noted that some of the losses incurred by MCG were a result of internal re-charges and the company was now moving to having service level agreements with the Council. 

Decision:

The Committee agreed to:

a)     thank the Deputy Leader for his attendance;

b)     invite the Deputy Leader to attend when the Committee considered the report on the outcome of concerns at Medway Commercial Group, and;

c)     add to its work programme consideration of the Adult Education Business Plan.