Agenda item

O Jackson presented the Supported Housing Update and offered Committee the opportunity to ask questions.

Cllr Mahmood asked for clarification on the support we provide and whether it was more or less than other authorities.  O Jackson mentioned that the other organisations in the appendix relate to how often the tenant was visited by the Supported Housing Officer.  We offer a wide range of support to tenants from daily visits to very low level support with quarterly visits.

Cllr Mahmood queried the meaning of passported groups.  O Jackson confirmed it was tenants who had a tenancy prior to the Supporting People charge coming in.

Cllr Mahmood asked about the difficulty getting people into Supported Housing and the higher vacancy rate, presuming the charge isn’t an issue, but wondered what the impact will be.  O Jackson advised that as part of the work Fiona mentioned earlier, we’ve really looked into why people don’t want to move into Supported Housing, why people have rejected a property when they had bid on them and we’ve not actually come across any instances where the charge has put people off.  That could be because the charge is relatively low but we would also need to be aware of the impact of any increase in charge on any future demand.

Cllr Mahmood said the report mentions Housing Benefit and queried if this should be Universal Credit.  L Warden clarified that anyone of pensionable age is entitled to Housing Benefit and not Universal Credit.

Cllr Freedman queried if the proposal for charges was compulsory but also people have discretion.  O Jackson replied that the charge is mandatory but with other providers there is a tiered service, where the tenant can select the level of support they require and we would like to operate this system.

Cllr Freedman asked how the charge will be administered.  O Jackson said that our income team arrange and collect the support charge, it’s applied on our housing management system Orchard and they will work closely with the tenants to ensure the charge is collected.

Cllr Freedman wondered if there will be some tenants current benefits mean that all the current charges are paid and then suddenly there is another charge they are responsible for, will there be concern amongst tenants.  O Jackson replied that he didn’t think there would be concern as when they apply for the property the charge is included in the offer letter.  We’ve undertaken communications to let tenants know about the charge.

Cllr Freedman was concerned for existing tenants who will suddenly get an increase in their bills, you’ve clearly tried to reduce the impact in the past and it seems fine for people moving into the property, but will we be including the charge in the maximum threshold for Housing Benefit.  L Warden said we have discussed this and where a tenant has a £6 charge and Benefit would cover half of it, the Council pays the other half because they are on Benefit.  If the decision was made that they pay the other half we would need to discuss the impact of the potential increase in costs, but additionally there are extra administration costs for us, one of our preferred options would be that it only applies to new tenants not existing tenants.

Cllr Adeleke said it looks like we are charging less than other providers and asked if the current level of charges will it have significant negative impact on the Council finances.  Cllr Adeleke also asked if the list on page 116 which we are being asked to consider, is it for Members to respond to this.  O Jackson said that the current charge does not fully cover the cost of the service, should we pass all of the costs of the service to tenants, these charges were set when the service was very different and we have some figures that show that it will have an impact on the HRA, it’s one of the reasons why we wanted to include it in the review of the charge.  In terms of the second question it would be good if Members would be able to forward their thoughts and we would welcome Members view, as they are the key areas that will support this review. No decisions have been made yet so we want to gain a much balanced and broader view as possible.

Cllr Adeleke said that given the environment we are in now, it’s not the time to introduce increased charges, it would be sensible to delay it until this pandemic is over or slowed down.  O Jackson confirmed we had considered this and we do not intend to introduce it this financial year, we also need time to undertake the consultation.

Cllr Mahmood mentioned that increasing the charges, worrying about the impact people on Benefits and in favour of a combination of options five and six, but he will send through his detailed thoughts by email.

Cllr Griffiths highlighted that Members comments are very important as part of the consultation and whilst it’s important for tenants on Housing Benefit, that this might tip them over the edge, it’s also important to bear in mind the people that aren’t on benefits, but also do not have savings, this could tip them over the edge too, we have to look at it in the round, bearing in mind tenants also have to pay for TV licence, so that has significantly impacted tenants.  Also this is ringfenced to housing only, the HRA account, not the general fund and we are a not for profit organisation, we support the community, if tenants are using this service, they should not all be charged this additional amount, the General Fund should subsidise this fee for our tenants as a community benefit.  This fee has not been increased since 2011 and whatever we come up with, we should put a formula in place that automatically increases it in line with inflation or some other way that Housing use.

Cllr Pringle mentioned that she was always happy to contribute and she would echo the comments about Covid, the situation is a lot to take on board, we did see some economic bounce back, we don’t know where we are in terms of this emergency, introducing conversations about financial demands is a step too far at the moment and it should be kept under review.  We can’t make assumptions about when this will be over so we have to be realistic.

The report and comments were noted.