Agenda item

The Committee received for consideration the Communities Departmental Business Plan providing an update on its priorities for the period 2017/20. It was noted whilst the plan enveloped the whole of the Departments’ priorities, the Committee’s role that day was to scrutinise the Housing and Leisure Services elements. With regard to Leisure Services, the Committee agreed debate thereon could be undertaken as part of its consideration of the Annual Update report on Leisure Services agendaed as a separate item that day.

The following issues were raised on those aspects of the report relating to Housing Services:

·         Reference was made to the imminent introduction of Universal Credit and the potential impact it could have on a tenant’s ability to pay their rent. A concern was expressed that whilst the Council was bound to initiate proceedings for the recovery of rent arrears, the costs of such action only served to exacerbate a tenant’s financial hardship. Accordingly, it was felt consideration should be given to examining ways of assisting tenants to avoid, as far as possible, hardship occurring.

The Head of Housing and Public Protection confirmed the Division, being aware of the legislation’s potential financial impact for tenants, was adopting a preventative rather that reactive approach to rent arrears. That included providing assistance to potential tenants, prior to the commencement of a tenancy, to evaluate their ability to sustain a viable tenancy, for example, assessing both rental levels and potential benefit payments.

·         Reference was made to the Department’s proposal to develop an online portal for tenants to access their rent account, outstanding repairs and transfer applications. A view was expressed the portal should also include reference to service charges for tenants living in housing complexes.

The Head of Housing and Public Protection confirmed the portal could be amended to include service charges.

·         In response to a question on the target to return 50 empty homes a year to the overall housing stock as affordable housing, the Head of Housing and Public Protection confirmed that following recent concerns voiced at the approximate 2,000 empty homes within Carmarthenshire, the Division had increased its resources for that element of its work, including doubling staff from one to two officers. That had resulted in the number of homes being returned to the Housing Stock increasing to approximately 110 per annum enabling the Council to achieve its target for at least 50 of those to be affordable homes. With regard to the remaining renovated properties, some would have been sold on the open market and others rented out in the private property market at higher rental levels.

·         Reference was made to the proposal for the introduction of a reward scheme for tenants. Clarification was sought on the type of options being considered and their achievability.

The Head of Housing and Public Protection advised that whilst no formal policy had been established, consideration was being given to whether its introduction could benefit both the authority and its tenants. If adopted, the policy could, for example, include reward offers for tenants who did not fall into arrears or those who left their property in good state of repair and decoration thereby, reducing the level of work undertaken in preparing a property for re-let.

·         In response to a question on the frequency of inspections undertaken to the Council’s housing stock, the Head of Housing and Public Protection confirmed the intention was for every property to be inspected once per year. Those inspections could be carried out in a number of ways including, for example, as part of the scheduled annual stock survey, during home visits by housing officers and by staff undertaking repairs.

·         Reference was made to the potential impact forthcoming legislation could have on the level of homelessness in the under 21 age group in receipt of universal credit who would no longer be eligible for housing benefit to cover their rent.

The Head of Housing and Public Protection confirmed the Department was aware of the legislation’s potential impact for both the under 21 and under 35 age categories, and as part of the Council’s statutory obligation to have an up to date Homelessness Strategy a review of the existing strategy was being undertaken to include the potential implications of the new legislation, and would be presented to the Council following the local government elections.

·         Reference was made to the proposal for the Council to develop a plan the management and procurement of temporary accommodation, and information requested on current expenditure levels together with the average length of stay.

The Head of Housing and Public Protection advised that in 2006, the authority spent in excess of £600k per annum on emergency accommodation. Since that time, the emphasis had changed from a reactive to a pro-active approach resulting in the current position whereby only 3-4 families per annum were placed in emergency accommodation for a few nights at a time at a total cost of several hundred pounds a year.  The current approach endeavoured to keep people at threat of being made homeless in their own homes for as long as possible as, quite often, people presenting themselves as homeless were not actually homeless but had been served with a notice to quit by their landlord. In those instances, the authority utilised the four to six week notice period to place families in temporary accommodation either from within the council’s own housing stock or, via other social letting agencies.

With regard to the average time people resided in temporary accommodation, that varied according to need and could extend to a number of years. Whilst the Council was happy to sustain that position provided it still met a persons’ need, it had to ensure the supply of properties available for temporary accommodation was sufficient to meet demand.

·         In response to a question on the proposal for the development of a longer term digital plan, the Head of Housing and Public Protection confirmed its aim was to make as many services as possible available to tenants on line. If successful, it would enable officers to spend time helping people, preventing homelessness and adding value to services. It could also reduce the need for officers to travel to peoples’ homes but, where such visits were required officers would be able to undertake work on line, reducing the time spent on administrative duties on their return to the office.

Whilst the emphasis was being placed on increased use of digital services, the Head of Housing and Public Protection assured the Committee tenants would still be able to access services via face to face/ telephone contact.

·         Reference was made to the scope and range of services provided by the Communities Department, and a view expressed that scrutiny of the Department should be undertaken by a single scrutiny committee, as opposed to the current position where responsibility was spread between three scrutiny committees. The view was endorsed by the committee.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the Communities Departmental Business Plan 2017-20 be received.