Agenda and minutes

To consider any apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Samata Khatoon and Ifrax Mahamoud (Co-opted Member).

There were none.

Broadcast of the meeting

The Chair announced that the meeting was being broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and could be viewed on the website for twelve months after the meeting. After that time, webcasts were archived and could be made available upon request. Those who had asked to address the meeting were deemed to be consenting to having their contributions recorded and broadcast and to the use of those sound recordings and images for webcasting and/or training purposes.

There were none.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 11^th September 2023.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 11^th September 2023.

RESOLVED –

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 11^th September 2023 be approved and signed as a correct record.

Requests to speak at the Committee on a matter within its terms of reference must be made in writing to the clerk named on the front of this agenda by 5pm two working days before the meeting.

There were none.

Report of the Director of Property Management.

This report provides information on the process for filling the vacant co-opted members position on the Housing Scrutiny Committee

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Property Management.

The Chair advised the meeting that sadly Andrea Radice had passed away and that Ifrax Mahamoud had stood down as a co-opted member, which meant that there were now two vacancies that needed to be filled. It was proposed and agreed that one of the positions be filled by Vic Seedman for the remainder of the municipal year, and the committee would give consideration to filling the other vacancy at the December meeting.

RESOLVED –

THAT Vic Seedman be appointed as a co-opted member for the remained of the 2023/24 municipal year, and that consideration be given to filling the remaining vacancy at the December meeting.

Report of the Director of Housing

This report provides annual performance information for the four housing associations (HAs) with the majority of HA stock in the borough and a summary of HAs’ performance in the delivery of new homes.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Housing.

Glendine Shepherd, Director of Housing, and Rizwan Siddiqui, Policy and Performance Co-ordinator, and they along with Carol Carter, Chief Executive Origin, Sandra Fawcett, Director of Customer Operations, One Housing (Riverside Group), David Hunter, Housing Director (Clarion), and Gemma Harvey, Head of Housing Notting Hill Genesis (North region), gave the following key responses to questions;

·       All housing associations and other providers were having to work within very challenging economic conditions these included increasing financial costs due to higher inflation and interest rates, cost of living crisis for tenants (which has led to further resources needing to be put in place to deal with the outcomes of this), along with the new building and fire safety regulations and further changes to the regulatory environment (especially around the coming consumer standards). This had meant that resources had to be reprioritised into these areas, and this had a knock-on effect in relation to resourcing service provision and housing development.

·       All large housing associations had teams dealing with complaints, with councillor enquiries also going through these routes. New processes and practices were being put in place to improve the way that complaints were being handled to make it easier to report issues, along with ensuring the complaint was being properly handled, and when necessary learned from. The number of complaints should not be seen as an issue as it showed that tenants understood they could and had a right to raise issues of concern, rather the key issue was had that issue been properly responded to and the way the tenant had felt going through that journey. This had not always gone as well as it should and there was more work that needed to be done in this area.

·       When necessary, tenant engagement arrangements within the associations would be used to seek the views of tenants regarding policy and operational changes to complaints handling and other such practice changes. Such changes would be made known to tenants through existing communication routes operated by the housing associations.

·       The housing associations present had tenant representation on boards, and a tenants committee which were used to provide tenants views on policy and operational issues. These positions were filled through tenants applying for the role when a position was advertised. They then went through an appointment process, with an officer making the decision on the appointment. This process was used as tenants on such bodies had to meet the same due diligence process and standards as other board members. Recruitment to these positions was proving to be challenging.

·       All housing associations work with and respond to the regulator and Housing Ombudsman guidance and directions for service improvements.

·       The regulator was currently investigating matters which may impact on Origin Housing Limited’s compliance with the Governance and Financial Viability Standard the outcome of which was expected over the next few weeks. Origin were also considering merging with Places for People (who were a national housing association), as the current  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Report of the Director of Housing

This report provides an update on performance for various aspects of the Housing service.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Housing.

Glendine Shepherd, Director of Housing and Ododo Dafe, Head of Innovation and Improvement, took the meeting through the report and they gave the following key responses to questions;

·       Rent arrears remained a key challenge for the Council, with tenants struggling with additional financial pressures from rising heating charges, rent charges and the general cost of living. Though the arrears had increased recent data showed a slow-down in the rate of growth. Officers had been able to recoup £200,000 this month through the interventions and support they had been given tenants to pay them pay off their rent arrears. Also in relation to arrears for some tenants who were receiving housing benefits, it should be noted that service charges were not included and tenants had to pay for these services themselves, the delay in receiving benefits due to the time taken for their benefit to be assessed, and not being in receipt of full benefit all had an impact on the figures. Tenants in rent arrears were being supported by officers through the difficult times they were facing, and processes had been put in place to ensure that officers went through appropriate stages before seeking rental contributions.

·       Officers were also enabling tenants to make contributions to their rent arrears easier. One of the ways they were doing this was enabling the tenant to now pay their rent contributions over the phone to the officer supporting them, rather than the tenant having to go through to another officer. The Council would though consider write-offs of the rent arrears if it was proving uneconomical to pursue the arrears, though it was not something it would do lightly.

·       The Council was working to achieve Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) accreditation and had been working with a full DAHA co-ordinator since March 2023. The Council was really just at the start of its journey in relation to seeking this recognition, and it would take the necessary time to get its processes and procedures right so at the end it was successful in its application.

·       The Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) Panel was being trialled for 3 months to assess and review applications made under this category. Following the three months trial then an assessment would be undertaken to see if the processes were working and see if it was making a difference, along with whether more time was needed to get a fuller picture. One of the things officers were considering was whether or not they could actually take out domestic violence from the harassment process and have it as standalone category, along with looking at different ways of attaching points to such a category as part of the Council’s allocation scheme.

·       Officers would provide members of the scrutiny committee with a copy of the presentation slides in relation to the process for seeking DAHA accreditation.

ACTION BY: Director of Housing (OD)

·       The Housing Transformation programme was seeking to look at all aspects of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Report of the Director of Property Management

This report provides an update on a range of property management services: repairs including damp and mould; building and fire safety; planned maintenance and retrofit; the Asset Management Strategy and roll out of the CCTV network across Camden’s estates. It also provides the November 2023 update on fire risk assessment actions.

The work outlined in this report supports a number of the ambitions set out in We Make Camden, in particular making sure Camden has enough decent, safe, warm, and family-friendly housing to support its communities.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Property Management.

Gavin Haynes, Director of Property Management, and Scot Reid, Head of Property Customer Services and Engagement, took the meeting through the report and they then gave the following key responses to questions;

·       The Council currently did not have a fund available to pay for the redecoration of a tenants home after a mould wash had been undertaken, but officers would look at what other options could be considered to help tenants who needed this kind of support and this would be picked up in a future report to the committee.

ACTION BY: Director of Property Management

·       The Repairs Service had set up a neighbourhood liaison team who were working with colleagues in neighbourhood services to seek to deal with tenants and resident’s repairs based issues. 

·       Officers would liaise directly with Councillor Nancy Jirira in relation to the cases she raised.

ACTION BY: Director of Property Management (SR)

·       The Council’s Contact Centre ensured that tenants were able to raise issues 24 hours and day, 7 days a week. Along with this tenants and residents were able to report issues via the Council’s Whats app, SMS and web chat messaging services, and these were now the most effective ways of raising a repair issue. The Contact Centre still provided a telephone reporting service that was available for people to use if they wished in the event of an emergency, they were a vulnerable tenant or did not have access to other means of communication.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted

To consider the report from the Cabinet Member Better Homes who has provided an update to the Committee regarding housing rent arrears, voids, and repairs.

Consideration was given to the report of the Cabinet Member Better Homes.

Councillor Meric Apak, Cabinet Member Better Homes, took the meeting through the report and gave the following key responses to questions;

·       There were a large number of agencies that were seeking to act on behalf of tenants on a ‘no win no fee’ basis, that were making the Council’s approach to tackling damp and mould more difficult due to the amount of officer time having to be spent dealing with the case. These agencies often had representatives out door knocking tenants seeking to take up work on their behalf, and the Council would look into what action it could do in relation to this.

ACTION BY: Director of Housing (MJ)

·       The Council only sought to use the eviction process as a last resort but it had to be part of the options available to the authority in seeking to deal with issues like rent arrears (especially where the tenant was unwilling to pay anything) or anti-social behaviour.

·       There were examples of operatives undertaking good quality work in the community which was being recognised by tenants and residents.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted

Report of the Director of Property Management

This report suggests a possible work programme for the scrutiny committee

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Property Management.

The meeting determined that in relation to the Homelessness Scrutiny Panel, the new Chair should be Councillor Kemi Atolagbe, and it should now be a 3 member panel.

The meeting was advised that the work programme should be revised to add for the December meeting the Cabinet report on the Camden Capital Works Framework Procurement, and for the January 2024 meeting a Local Ombudsman report.

The scrutiny committee Members agreed to contact the Cabinet Member for Better Homes directly regarding the issues (that were not already on the agenda), they wished him to address in his December report.

ACTION BY: Committee Members

Programme of meetings (new items in bold)

·       Housing Services (Housing Needs)Report to include: allocations, rough sleeping, sheltered housing.

·       Housing Supply: Report to include CIP delivery including small sites (Cabinet report),Temporary Accommodation Purchasing Programme, private rented sector

·       Camden Capital Works Framework Procurement (Cabinet Report)

·       Update on fire safety and regulatory standards

·       HRA Budget Update

·       Cabinet Member better Homes – Update

·       Work programme

JANUARY 2024

·       HRA rent setting(Cabinet report)

·       Tenancy arrears and rent collection

·       Cost of Living update

·       Update on fire safety and regulatory standards

·       Local Ombudsman Report

·       Cabinet Member Better Homes – Update

·       Work programme

FEBRUARY 2024

·       CIP annual report  

·       Report of Cabinet Adviser: Leaseholder billing and service charges

·       Homelessness Scrutiny Panel (provisional date)

·       Update on fire safety and regulatory standards

·       Cabinet Member Better Homes annual report

·       Work programme

Yet to be programmed

·       Tenants Satisfaction Regulatory Survey, when it was available.

·       Update reports regarding the Cabinet Adviser reports on Supporting Rough Sleepers, Estates Mission and Tenants Participation.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report work programme and the changes to the Homelessness Scrutiny Panel be revised as outlined above.

There were none.