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Housing Directorate Overview

This report provides an overview of the Housing Directorate to inform the development of the Committee’s work programme including key priorities for the year; budget; performance; key risks and mitigations.

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee considered a report set out on pages 217 to 224 of the agenda which provided an overview of the Housing Directorate to inform the development of the Committee’s work programme for the coming year. The Cabinet Member for Homes introduced the paper with a short summary adding that close work with residents to deliver quality and value for money services would be their priority. The Sub-Committee were informed that this would be a process that took time but that a new Corporate Director was in place to bring stability and leadership to the directorate. Work was underway on re-procurement of the Responsive Repairs Contract which had been reported to the Scrutiny and Overview Committee before approval by the Mayor at Cabinet; the Residents’ Charter had also been approved at Cabinet. There had been detailed discussions with the Housing Improvement Board regarding the Housing Improvement Plan which would be reshaped and reinvigorated incorporating the views of residents. A project manager had been appointed to look at Regina Road, as well as a member of staff to focus on voids and an officer to work on customer engagement.

 

The Sub-Committee asked about previous poor service provided to residents and asked whether there had been consideration of compensating residents; the Cabinet Member for Housing reminded Members that this had been a recommendation of the Scrutiny and Overview Committee and was awaiting a response from the Mayor.

 

Members highlighted the burden on residents of private sector rents and poor-quality private housing and asked about licensing in the private rented sector. The Sub-Committee heard that the previous landlord licensing scheme renewal had been rejected by the Secretary of State as it was not backed by enough data and as there was not a housing strategy in place. The Cabinet Member for Housing stated that any new scheme would take time to develop and emphasised the importance of the private sector providing quality affordable housing. Members heard that there were examples of the Council prosecuting rogue landlords under other legislation and encouraged any known issues to be reported.

 

The Sub-Committee asked about plans to address backlogs of complaints that had been reported by tenants. The Cabinet Member for Housing explained work to catch up on complaints was ongoing but that the department was currently overstretched, demoralised and with a large number of vacancies. Progress was being made alongside development of key performance indicators (KPIs) which would also be reported to the Tenants and Leaseholders Panel. The Head of Homelessness & Assessments informed Members that, on the homelessness side, it was known that there were common complaints, and these were being looked at to improve the strategies being used. It was explained that a different kind of service was required and there needed to be greater openness with residents about what was and was not possible.

 

The Chair raised concerns around the General Fund and other authorities placing people into emergency accommodation in Croydon; there had been previous pilots to address this but the results of these had not been fed back to the Sub-Committee. It was asked whether evidence-based work would be done to address this issue as it was well managed by other authorities. The Cabinet Member for Housing explained that there were many families in accommodation that did not meet their needs and noted the slow turn around and large number of voids. There were currently around 300 voids in the borough and data on this was poorly kept with records missing in some cases and an officer had been brought on to address this which would lead to lower costs on temporary and emergency accommodation as well as an increase in rental income. Current average turn arounds on voids were around twice what they should be.

 

Members heard that work had started on a new transformation plan on homelessness and temporary accommodation and there had been meetings with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities who had given positive feedback. There were two aspects to reducing pressure on the General Fund; the first was managing demand of placements to emergency accommodation and the second was moving people on to a permanent home. The transformation would look at an early intervention and prevention service and creating greater churn in the system. The Chair asked for this plan to be delivered to a future meeting of the Sub-Committee.

 

The Chair noted the focus on culture change in the report and asked that when plans on this were ready that they come to the Sub-Committee. On performance management of staff, it was highlighted that this had been an issue that had led to failures at Regina Road and it was asked how this would be improved going forward. The Cabinet Member for Housing noted that these issues had resulted from a lack of leadership and development of staff and that the employment of the new Corporate Director would be the beginning of this improvement journey. The Interim Head of Tenancy & Resident Engagement highlighted the need to invest in staff and systems that would allow for greater efficiencies in future. The Cabinet Member for Housing noted that there were fantastic staff in the service who deserved congratulating.

 

The Chair highlighted the lack of follow up contact with residents who had gotten in touch with the Council for help when at risk of losing their homes and highlighted the importance of document and information management. The Head of Homelessness & Assessments responded that there were a number of problems, with five different points of contact with the service and different information systems used by the directorate; there would be a move to an early intervention and prevention model which would hopefully help with these issues and provide savings in the future by preventing homelessness in many cases.

 

The Chair raised work done by ‘Generation Rent’ to produce best practice models on engagement with the private rented sector and asked whether this was something that the Cabinet Member would be willing to look at; the Cabinet Member for Housing responded that they would investigate this. The Sub-Committee highlighted that there needed to be greater partnership working with registered social landlords in Croydon.

 

Conclusions and Recommendations

 

The Sub-Committee felt that the report set out the correct priorities for the Housing Directorate for the coming year.

 

Request for Information/Work Programme: The Sub-Committee requested that the Temporary Accommodation Transformation Plan be shared with Members and an officer briefing be provided at a future date.

 

The Sub-Committee were of the view that recruitment, retention and staff capacity were still major risks within the directorate.

 

Request for Information: The Sub-Committee requested that the plan on Culture Change in the directorate be shared with Members when this had been finalised.

 

The Sub-Committee felt that the report lacked focus on the private rental sector and felt that more could be done in this area.

 

Recommendation 1: The Sub-Committee felt that there needed to be a greater emphasis on private sector rental accommodation and recommended that the work undertaken by Generation Rent be reviewed by the directorate and Cabinet Member for Housing to investigate best practice.

 

Recommendation 2: The Sub-Committee felt that there needed to be greater engagement and partnership working with registered social landlords to increase the numbers of residents moving from temporary and emergency accommodation into permanent housing.

 

Request for Information: The Sub-Committee asked that timescales for the Housing Strategy be provided alongside timescales for developing a new Landlord Licensing Scheme.

 

The Committee were concerned about documentation and information management within the directorate and the possible risks that this created for residents at risk of homelessness.

 

Recommendation 3: That greater detail on the proposed move to an early intervention and prevention model be provided to Members alongside additional information on information management.

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