Agenda item

F Williamson introduced the report.  Critical performance indicators are noted in Appendix A and each includes comments from the managers involved in those services.

With regard voids – have been looking into the reasons why we are exceeding the 0.8% void rate that the Finance Team had set out at beginning of year.  The report on this has not been finally concluded, but in terms of understanding detail around refusal rates, the report gives figures around number of applicants on active register and how many of those have bid for properties in the last 3, 6 and 12 months to understand association between housing need and frequency and type of bids.

Suffering pressures from staff being sick or on leave, which impacts allocations.

The trend is continuing on key to key times; doing everything we can to assess the evidence and target interventions.  Also looking to use some additional people from Housing to provide some support. 

In terms of other areas of performance; the % of dwellings with Gas Safety Certificate is amber because the target is set at 100%.  Access to properties is often down to issues such as tenants being in hospital etc.

Satisfaction with medium level ASB cases seems to be linked to the level of evidence we are actually able to obtain and often having to act in a mediatory capacity between neighbours.

In terms of positives; reassessed for ISO9001 accreditation, had some very positive feedback from auditor – awaiting final report but they are indicating that we will be recertified and we have met the new 2015 standards.

F Williamson invited questions on the report.

Cllr W Wyatt Lowe referred to pg 24 and asked for clarification in description of SH37 - number of rough sleepers approaching.  What does that mean?

F Williamson advised that we have a number of people that approach the Council as homeless.  There are a variety of circumstances that fulfil the homelessness criteria; rough sleeping is one of them.   Others could be parental eviction, sofa surfing, domestic violence or Landlords serving notice.  That indicator definition is the number of people that have identified by the Council as sleeping rough; they may have been picked up by DENS outreach but they still are recorded.

Cllr W Wyatt Lowe clarified; this is only those who have been identified as approaching us as a rough sleeper or DENS outreach workers have approached them and they have agreed to be classified as homeless?

F Williamson advised some rough sleepers are identified but do not have recourse to public funds. 

Cllr W Wyatt Lowe referred to voids and commented that he has found a lot of people who are on the housing list but do not know how bidding works.  Can we be more proactive in contacting people (be it a text or similar) to advise them that an available property meets their requirements and they may want to consider having a look?

F Williamson responded that Choice Based Lettings is predominantly online and some people can find that process challenging, particularly those seeking sheltered accommodation.  Have freed up half a post in the tenancy involvement team and we will be using that role to dedicate to supporting people that are on the housing register that would be looking at sheltered accommodation and working with them to bid on their behalf.

Cllr W Wyatt Lowe asked have you thought about use of text?

F Williamson responded that she would look into that, not sure if it is being used at this time.

Cllr W Wyatt Lowe referred to pg 62, bottom row – appears to be a typo – should be ‘good’ not ‘food?

F Williamson noted.

Cllr W Wyatt Lowe referred to the item on funding and bad debt provision/Universal Credit as pg 73 and asked; how are those estimates derived?

F Williamson responded that a number of measures have been used – one looking at pilot authorities and looking at number of people in Dacorum already on Universal Credit and the arrears accrued through transitioning to Universal Credit.  Looking at calculations from our own tenants and the numbers that will transition later this year, we were able to identify what the bad debt provision max and min levels would be.  The Income Team are in process of appointing a dedicated officer to assist those transitioning to universal Credit and help them understand the need to put some money away to contribute toward that debt.

Working very closely with Benefits Team to ensure support is available to everyone that will be transitioning and provide some presence in CSU to be able to provide advice; this will impact private tenants, not just our tenants.

Cllr England referred to pg 20 – number of days since last bid and asked; is it correct to say that there are 125 more people who are bidding in the 3 month period than in the next window up and then 244 more than in the over 12 months? 

F Williamson responded that we have not yet carried out full analysis of the figures.

Cllr Howard asked; is it the case that that if you apply for one property and do not accept the offer, you have to wait a certain amount of time before you can apply again?

F Williamson confirmed that if someone bids on a property, are successful and the property is suitable for their needs but they refuse the offer, they have to wait 6 months before they are able to bid again.

Cllr England referred to the Housing Register, asking; is 5800 on the register a figure that is going up or down?

F Williamson responded that it fluctuates; often when people know there is a new build programme going online there is an influx of applications.  They still have to go through the process and some may not meet the threshold but certainly, it increases interest in registering.

Cllr Armytage referred to pg 73 and the disposal of non-traditional housing stock and asked for more detail.

F Williamson confirmed that non-traditional does not refer to construction type.  We have some Victorian and period properties in the villages; these properties are not new town build properties as most of our stock.  They often attract a higher market value but are also more expensive to maintain due to insulation and heating costs etc.  If one of these properties becomes void we go through a matrix to decide if we would consider them for disposal.

Cllr England referred to the sheltered housing stock; the over 60 population is increasing; shouldn’t that make it easier to let that stock?

F Williamson advised that it is also about whether or not people would want to move to sheltered accommodation, it is something that needs to be looked into more.  At the moment there is no penalty for anyone over 60 to be under occupying a larger home such as a 3 bed.  As well as the under occupancy, as people age in a larger property they may also struggle to maintain over a period of time and when the property does become void it takes more work to bring it up to a lettable standard.

We are doing more work to identify people in those positions and support them in deciding if a sheltered accommodation property might be more suitable for their needs.

Cllr Griffiths added that a lot of work is done by the department to try to encourage people.  But as a nation we are encouraging and supporting people to stay in their own homes.  We need to be supporting people to plan for their future.

Cllr England asked; do you have a category of hard to let properties?

F Williamson responded that not under the national definition of ‘hard to let’.  But we do look at the schemes where we have a constant level of maybe 3 or 4 flats void at any given period.  General needs properties get allocated quickly, 2 bed properties have the highest demand.  We have no defined hard to let. 

The Chair commented that the key point is the void issue one so looking forward to receiving the report on how that will be tackled.

Report noted.