Agenda and minutes

That the Chair be authorised to host the DMC as a remote meeting due to the exceptional circumstances as a result of the Coronavirus National Emergency.

RESOLVED –

THAT the Chair be authorised to hold this meeting as a remote meeting due to the coronavirus national emergency.

Appendix A lists those Tenants’ and Residents’ Associations (TRAs), which have satisfactorily completed the registration process at the date of despatch of this agenda. It gives details of the representatives of those Associations to be co-opted onto the DMC, in accordance with the constitution, together with the names of the substitutes.

Appendix B lists those TRAs whose registrations have lapsed. If a TRA wishes to register it must hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM), open to all members, once a year (with an independent observer in attendance). The minutes must be sent to the Tenant Participation Team together with a membership list and a completed registered form.

RESOLVED –

THAT the ‘A’ and ‘B’ lists be noted.

Apologies for absence were received from John Webb and Jane MacWilliams.

There were no announcements.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chair said that there would be an update at the end of the meeting as to how housing services were dealing with the latest lockdown.

Report of the Interim Director of Finance.

This report summarises the financial position of the Housing Revenue Account and the draft recommendations on rent and service charges to be made to the Cabinet in January 2021.

The report also seeks the views of the DMCs on the draft recommendations.

Consideration was given to a report of the Interim Director of Finance.

Emma Cardoso, Team Leader (HRA and Capital Works), presented the report. She outlined key points, including the cost pressures the HRA faced and the fact that reserves had reduced over recent years in light of the central government’s former policy of mandating social rent reductions for 4 years.

Members raised concerns that a 1.5% rent increase would impact on tenants who had suffered from loss of income during the coronavirus pandemic – particularly if they were self-employed or worked in sectors which had been affected by shutdowns.

Angela Spooner, Head of Landlord Services, urged tenants who were in financial difficulties to contact their housing officer if they had difficulties in paying their rent. Officers might be able to assist them with income maximisation (if there were benefits they were entitled to that they were not receiving) and with requesting the social tariffs that were sometimes available from utilities for certain households.

Residents asked if tenants in rent arrears due to losing income during coronavirus shutdowns would be at risk of losing their home. Mary McGowan, Director of Housing Management, said that the Council was committed to not evicting people who were in difficulties due to the impact of coronavirus.

Members expressed disappointment about the number of voids. They commented the Council was losing out on revenue by not letting those properties out.

Officers said viewings and lettings had been more difficult during lockdown periods. Additionally, some properties were not in a suitable state to be let. Some properties were being left vacant because of pending HS2 work. Councillor Apak said that the Council was pursuing HS2 to get compensation for the loss of revenue from properties that were blighted by their pending works.

After the discussion, a member proposed that the DMC resolve that:

“In broad terms we think what the Council is proposing is reasonable, given the financial pressures it is working within. We understand that it has made very real efforts to achieve a balanced budget within all the constraints set out in the paper. However we are also mindful of the very real impact, both visible and known to TRAs and not visible and unknown, that this may have on residents so we would like the Council to be proactive and supportive in seeking out cases of potential or actual hardship and working with residents to minimise these.”

This was carried by 7 votes to 1.

Petra Dando commented that it was hard to judge the effectiveness of the enhanced caretaking service due to the disruption caused by lockdown.

Mary McGowan informed members that there may have been an effect on services as a number of caretakers had fallen sick and others were shielding due to medical conditions.

Costa Costa and Linda Treherne spoke to praise their individual caretakers for going above-and-beyond the call of duty during the pandemic. Ms McGowan said she would pass these complements on.

A member  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Chair asked officers to update the DMC about the impact of the latest lockdown on housing services.

Mary McGowan said that fewer staff had been asked to shield this time than last time. As mentioned above, it had been the number of shielding staff which had contributed to staff shortages in some areas of the caretaking service.  She said that weekly tests were available for frontline staff.

Officers said that the Council was assisting residents classed as ‘extremely clinically vulnerable’ with measures such as food parcels, which were available during the last lockdown.

Gavin Haynes said that repairs staff were doing urgent and priority repairs. He said that in mid-2020 there had not been many coronavirus cases among repairs staff, but there had been a spike in December. He introduced Danny Waite to the meeting, who was the new Head of Repairs and Operations.