The Assistant Director,
Housing, Development and Transport, Housing Strategy Manager and
Head of Housing Management will give a brief powerpoint
presentation explaining the various housing services
provided by the council.
Minutes:
Discussion:
The Assistant Director, Housing, Development
and Transport began the presentation explaining that housing
services had transferred from the Business Support directorate to
the Regeneration, Community and Culture directorate on 1 April 2012
and, in accordance with the council’s Constitution, this
would now be in the remit of this committee.
The Head of Housing Management
and Head of Strategic Housing gave a presentation of the main
services provided by their teams, which included:
Five key standards to meet
covering all aspects of the service
The home standard
The tenancy standard
Neighbourhood and community standard
Value for money standard
.
As a landlord service the
council provided
- Repairs
and Maintenance – all works are contracted out and
approximately 800 orders raised a month
-
Tenancy and Leasehold Management
– includes management of arrears, estate inspections, void
management, letting of property, tenancy enforcement and
anti-social behaviour. Since April
2011, tenant arrears had fallen by over
£75,000 as a result of targeted campaigns
- Estate
Services (Caretaking – which residents pay for via a service
charge)
- Sheltered Housing –
8 schemes (280 flats) staffed with a manager
-
Resident Involvement.
Strategic housing
services provided
- Housing
Advice and Options – includes money and
debt advice, HomeBond (rent deposit scheme), domestic abuse advice
and Sanctuary Scheme, measures mortgage arrears,
interventions/mortgage rescue referrals, mediation and conciliation
and negotiation or legal advocacy for private rented
tenants
Members asked
questions and made comments which included:
- What did the council
do about problem tenants, particularly with anti-social behaviour,
and what methods and approaches were available to the council to
remove them, if necessary
Members were advised that the council would talk to the relevant
tenant and try and resolve the particular issue that had been
raised but the challenge was to involve other residents to give
witness statements that they were willing to follow up through
court action. The council did have an introductory tenancy scheme
which would result in a secure tenancy through good
behaviour.
- with a
large number of housing providers in the area, could the council
act to consolidate smaller provision with others to have a bigger,
overall effect?
The Head of Strategic Housing advised that the council worked with
25 providers and that some had transferred their units to larger
Housing Associations. The units with smaller numbers were usually
provided for specific services, for example units with disabled
facilities or for domestic abuse.
-
why did the council only award a secure (long-term)
tenancy and not any short-term tenancies?
Officers advised that flexible tenancies were only a recent option
which the council did not have plans to use in the foreseeable
future. The Tenant Scrutiny Panel was concerned that people would
not look after their properties and gardens if they knew they would
only be living there for a few years.
-
how quickly did the council intervene in rent
arrears?
The Head of Housing Management replied that the council intervened
on the first week of rent arrears, as it was easier to help clear a
small debt rather than let it get too difficult for the customer to
deal with. The customer would be signposted to where they could get
advice and how to set up a payment agreement etc.
-
service charges for the caretaking service - a lot
of tenants were on housing benefit, did it cover payment of this
service charge?
Members were advised that housing benefit covered some services but
not the caretaking service. Officers added that this would soon be
reviewed and options considered, as the charge did not currently
cover the cost of the service.
-
what would be the impact on the domestic abuse and
sanctuary service due to the Supporting People funding
reduction?
The Head of Strategic Housing responded that the majority of the
work came from the housing budget and was supported through the
Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) and would carry on unaffected. The
Supporting People fund supported some schemes with challenging
clients and there was an on-going review, so
officers were not yet aware of any implications to the current
service.
The committee asked that Members were kept informed of potential
changes due to the reduction of the Supporting People budget with
regard to housing services and that officers consider how best to
address this in order that Members of this committee could keep a
sufficient overview of the situation.
-
was the change to the benefit system and the current
economic climate factored in to future analysis, particularly for
debt?
The Head of Strategic Housing advised that the situation was
already challenging and would only increase with the change to the
benefit system. The affect on the council would be demonstrated by
how many householders would have the ability to deal with these
changes themselves or not and the number of householders the
council would need to help was currently unknown.
-
what powers were available to the council to prevent
sub-standard properties owned by private landlords?
Members were advised that the legal standard of
provision was quite low and often the expectations of the tenant
were much higher than the legal requirement. The council had a duty
at the highest level of risk but the number of properties at this
level was very limited. During the past year 385 properties had
been issued with an enforcement notice to remedy various
situations.
Decision:
The committee:
(a)
thanked officers for the presentation and
the answers provided to Members’ questions;
(b)
requested officers to look into how best
to keep Members informed of the
potential changes due to the reduction of the Supporting People
budget with regard to housing services.