Agenda item

The Homes Sub-Committee is provided with a presentation on the development of a Housing Strategy. The Sub-Committee is recommended to:

1             Review the information provided and consider whether there are any conclusions or recommendations it wishes to make to be fed into the development of the new Housing Strategy.

The Sub-Committee considered a report set out on pages 15 to 28 of the agenda, which provided a presentation on the development of a Housing Strategy. The report had been included on the agenda to enable the Sub-Committee to review the information provided and consider whether there were any conclusions or recommendations it wished to make to be fed into the development of the new Housing Strategy. The Cabinet Member for Homes introduced the item.

The Chair asked what had informed the development of the key strategic objectives, and how these compared to other well-rated London authorities. The Senior Strategy Officer explained that the broad strategic themes were the same across London, and these had been taken to form the five key priorities with 14 objectives underneath in Croydon’s Housing Strategy. Members heard that there had been 20 Vision & Mission sessions to understand what ‘good looked like’ with residents, tenants, leaseholders, and staff. Following this, Housing Strategy leads had been identified from across the Council directorates to feed in Council wide priorities to the Strategy.  The Strategy had been developed with attention to the legislative context.

Members asked how the Housing Strategy had been developed to be complimentary to the Local Plan, and if there was a focus on improving the supply of social housing in the borough. The Senior Strategy Officer explained that the Council was looking at working with housing associations and registered social landlords in the borough to increase social housing stock, as it was not viable for the Council to build additional units. The Sub-Committee heard that one of the directorate leads was a Planning colleague who was working on the Local Plan. The Local Plan was developed using the Strategic Housing Market Assessment from 2019, and this would be reviewed over Summer 2023 to ascertain housing needs in Croydon and how this should be delivered. The Senior Strategy Officer explained that they had been involved in testing the priorities of the Local Plan with Planning colleagues. The Chair asked if officers were confident in finalising the Housing Strategy before the completion of the Local Plan, and it was explained that the Local Plan would be the mechanism for delivering the homes and that the Housing Strategy was developed so that it would be strategically broad enough to support the delivery of the Local Plan.

The Chair invited Councillor Fraser to ask a question on whether there would be a sufficient supply of affordable housing stock in the borough and engagement with housing associations. The Senior Strategy Officer explained that the Council was engaging with housing associations, and would be setting up a forum for this as it had been identified as a gap in the development of the Strategy.

The Sub-Committee asked for reassurance that these were the correct priorities for Croydon residents and asked how the Strategy would improve resident outcomes. The Cabinet Member for Homes explained that the priorities were being developed with residents at every step to ensure that they were correct, and that they were visiting residents to engage them on a one to one level and gather views their views to feed into the Strategy; it was highlighted that the Council would continue to listen to residents and adapt the Strategy to changing needs.  The Senior Strategy Officer added that this was an external document as much as it was internal, and needed to be visible to private landlords, the government and tenants so that they understood what the Council’s priorities were to maximise outcomes for residents. The Chair asked about the development of the HRA Business Plan and Senior Strategy Officer that this, the Asset Management Strategy and the Housing Strategy were all feeding into each other through close partnership working across the Council.

The Chair asked how the Strategy accounted for residents fleeing domestic violence and how the Council planned to work closely with housing associations who operated the majority of social housing in the borough. The Head of Homelessness & Assessments explained that the Homelessness Strategy was the primary document that dealt with partners such as housing associations. This was a statutory document, and the Council had statutory powers in these areas to work with registered social housing providers. The Homelessness Strategy also explained how domestic abuse was dealt with in a housing context. Members heard that the forthcoming Allocation Scheme would be developed with residents and registered social housing providers. The Chair asked if the Council needed to wait for these Strategies to be adopted before starting to deal with these issues and the Cabinet Member for Homes explained that they and the Mayor had been meeting with Housing Associations to engage on a number of issues. The Head of Homelessness & Assessments explained that work was under way to setting up a Housing Association forum.

The Chair asked about training of staff to ensure that they were able to engage with residents to find out all relevant information to identify where domestic violence was an issue. The Vice-Chair highlighted issues of mental abuse and the role shame played in underreporting. The Head of Homelessness confirmed that a training plan was being developed, and that work to better integrate with the Family Justice Centre on domestic violence work was ongoing to ensure there was a single point of contact. It was highlighted that better data capture in this area was needed to ensure the Council could access all available DLUHC funding.

The Chair asked what plans were in place to address anti-social behaviour and ensure residents were not afraid of reprisals when reporting this. The Senior Strategy Officer explained that this was picked up under tenant satisfaction measures and a Service Level Agreement had been developed with the Anti-Social Behaviour team. Members heard that reports of anti-social behaviour, and the perception of anti-social behaviour, would be mapped and reviewed quarterly. The Interim Director of Tenancy Services explained that when the Council would immediately send satisfaction surveys to residents once anti-social behaviour cases were closed.

Action

The Sub-Committee requested that more information be provided to Members on the new approach the Council is taking to address anti-social behaviour on housing estates.

Conclusions

The Sub-Committee welcomed the work done so far in developing the Housing Strategy and were supportive of the engagement work undertaken through the Vision & Mission sessions with residents, tenants, leaseholders, and staff.

The Sub-Committee were reassured that work on establishing a Housing Association Forum had already begun and asked that an update be provided to Members once this was completed.

Recommendations

1. The Sub-Committee recommended that the Housing department deliver training on Domestic Violence to all frontline staff.

2. The Sub-Committee recommended that the final Housing Strategy address the Council’s relationship with the Housing association and Registered Social Landlord sector in Croydon.