Agenda and minutes

There were no substitutions made at the meeting.

The Assistant Director (Housing Operations) declared a disclosable pecuniary interest in the following items of the agenda by virtue of his son and daughter being on the Council’s Housing Register in priority Band C. He advised that he would leave the meeting for these two items confirming that he had no involvement with his son and daughter’s case and had declared the interest under his own registration of interests form:

·         Item 8 Review of the Housing Allocations Scheme; and

·         Item 9 Review of the Tenancy Policy

The Terms of Reference and Work Programme were noted.

(Director of Communities) To consider the attached report.

The Chairman allowed this report to be heard first at the meeting. The Panel received a report regarding a Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) Consultation Paper entitled “Right to Move” from the Assistant Director (Housing Operations). The Consultation Paper was issued on 10 September 2014 with a closing date of 22 October 2014.

The Consultation Paper explained that the Government expected local authorities to ensure that their Housing Allocations Schemes, residency requirements enabled social tenants to move across local authority boundaries for work related reasons so as not to impede labour mobility. The proposed regulations would remove the residency requirement for local authorities or housing association tenants who sought to transfer from another local authority district in England in order to be closer to their work or take up job offers, apprenticeships or work related training opportunities in order to avoid financial hardship.

The Government further proposed to ensure that authorities set aside a proportion of lets for tenants who needed to move for this purpose with a minimum expectation of 1% of lettings.

The Panel was asked to consider two questions:

(a)          Should the contents of the paper be taken into account when framing the Council’s revised Housing Allocations Scheme?

The Panel was advised that under the Council’s current Housing Allocations Scheme, any Home seeker needing to move, including existing tenants with a good tenancy record, to be nearer their place of work or related issue, were placed in Band C. This provision did not meet with the Government’s expectations as a person would need to meet with the Council’s 3 year Residency Criteria to be included.

Officers suggested a further exception to the Residency Criteria be made and  a paragraph be added at 14.3 (f) in the scheme as follows:

“Are in or have secured either permanent employment comprising of a minimum of 24 hours each week, or an apprenticeship or full time work related training and currently live either in excess of 50 miles from their current or intended place of work. Journey distances will be based upon Internet based Journey Planners.”

It was suggested that the existing Band C (i) should be amended as follows, complying with the above:

“All Home seekers (in accordance with paragraph 14.3 (f) of this Housing Allocations Scheme) who need to move to be nearer to their place of work or to take up an offer of permanent employment, an apprenticeship or full time work related training.”

(b)          Does the Council wish to respond to the consultation paper?

It was suggested that the Council respond to the consultation paper setting out the following:

(i)    The Council would welcome the Government’s proposal to “spell out” in more detail the circumstances in which they would expect local authorities to apply the addition to the “hardship” reasonable preference category for those needing to move for work or work related training.

(ii)   The Council asked that it was clarified whether such preference would only apply to those in financial hardship and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

(Director of Communities) To consider the attached report.

The Chairman agreed that this report should be heard as the second item on the agenda. The Panel received a report regarding the Review of the Housing Allocations Scheme from the Director of Communities.

The Government required local authorities to have a Housing Allocations Scheme for determining priorities and the procedure for selecting a person for accommodation. Government guidance allowed for authorities to decide how accommodation should be allocated based upon local priorities, provided schemes were both legal and rational.

The Council’s Cabinet asked that an item should be included in this Panel’s Work Programme for 2014/15 to undertake a 12 month review of the scheme. The Panel received a copy of the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) Guidance on Social Housing Allocations for Local Authorities, to which the Panel had regard in respect of all its deliberations on proposed changes to the Housing Allocations Scheme.

Housing Portfolio Holder’s Initial Views

It was noted that the Housing Portfolio Holder had held informal discussions with Cabinet Members to inform his initial views on the 12 month review. It was suggested that the Panel had regard to these initial views, in order to ensure that the Panel did not put forward any proposed changes which were unlikely to be agreed by the Cabinet, These were as follows:

(1)  That the residency Criteria be increased with new applicants who had lived in the district for less than five continuous years immediately prior to the date of registration, not qualifying for inclusion on the Housing Register.

(2)  That all existing home seekers, on the Housing Register, who had lived within the district for less than 4 ½ continuous years immediately prior to the date the new Housing Allocations Scheme was introduced, should be removed from the Register.

(3)  That all existing home seekers who were removed from the Register due to not meeting the Local Eligibility Criteria should be allowed to re-register if or when they meet the new criteria, but that their registration date would be the date of re-registration.

The Portfolio Holder advised that despite the local housebuilding programme there was still a shortage of social housing. He felt that local residents with the longest connection to the district ought to be prioritised.

Exceptions to the Residency Criteria

The current scheme already had some exceptions to the Residency Criteria. However the Government’s Code of Guidance suggested that some other exceptions should be considered. It was officer’s view, though, that the wording within the Code of Guidance was very open to interpretation, particular potential exceptions relating to applicants with a “strong association” to the District.

The Housing Portfolio Holder had therefore suggested that no exceptions should be made to the criteria for those with a “strong association” to the district as this could lead to inconsistent decision making. However, his view was that, in accordance with “expectations” under Government Guidance an exception should be made for existing social housing tenants who were seeking to move from another local authority in order  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

(Director of Communities) To consider the attached report.

The Panel received a report regarding a Review of the Tenancy Policy from the Director of Communities.

Under the Localism Act 2011 registered housing providers were granted additional powers allowing for local decisions on the management of social housing. This included enabling providers of social housing with the option to use flexible tenancies for a minimum period of 5 years. Flexible tenants generally enjoyed the same rights as secure tenants, including the Right to Buy, subject to the current qualifying criteria. On expiry of the fixed term, the tenant would be assessed against an agreed Assessment Criteria to determine whether a further tenancy should be granted. If another tenancy was not offered, there was a requirement to provide the tenant with advice and assistance.

The Cabinet adopted the current Tenancy Policy with effect from 1 September 2013 further agreeing that the Housing Scrutiny Panel review the success of the Pilot Scheme to grant Flexible (fixed-term) tenancies on all properties of 3 bedrooms or more, after 12 months of commencement.

Extending Flexible (fixed-term) Tenancies

The Housing Portfolio Holder had held informal discussions with Cabinet Members on the 12 month review. As a result, the Portfolio Holder made a formal decision that he was minded that Flexible (fixed-term) Tenancies should continue for a fixed term of ten years, but that the Council’s Tenancy Policy should be amended with Flexible (fixed-term) Tenancies being extended to include all Council re-let properties, except sheltered accommodation.

It was noted that if Flexible (fixed-term) Tenancies were extended to include all properties, this may discourage some tenants from transferring or down sizing accommodation as they would have to enter into a new Flexible (fixed-term) Tenancy and would no longer have a Secure (Lifetime) Tenancy. Therefore, it was suggested that, in addition to Pre-Localism Act tenant protection, whereby they were granted Secure (Lifetime) Tenancies for one move only when transferring, all existing Post-Act Secure (Lifetime) Tenants should also be protected in the same way.

Following discussion on this particular issue by the Panel there was mixed feeling regarding the effects of extending flexible tenancies, the Chairman was concerned about the need to preserve mixed social housing with different income groups living next to each other. However the Panel supported extending flexible tenancies.

Means Testing tenants as part of the Assessment Criteria

Under the review of the Housing Allocations Scheme, officers were recommending that where any lead applicant/s whose gross annual household income exceeded £76,000 they would not qualify to join the Council’s Housing Register.

It was recommended that for consistency, there should be an additional requirement under the Assessment Criteria which determined whether at the end of the fixed-term, if a further tenancy should be granted. The additional requirement would be that, generally, a further tenancy would not be granted if the tenant/s annual household income exceeded any financial criteria adopted for admission to the Housing Register (currently proposed at £76,000) at that time. The Panel supported this recommendation.

RECOMMENDED:

(1)  That the 12 month Review of the Tenancy  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

(Director of Communities) To consider the attached progress report.

The Panel received a progress report regarding the HomeOption Choice Based Lettings Scheme from the Assistant Director (Housing Operations).

The Choice Based Lettings Scheme introduced in November 2007 was administered externally by Locata Housing Services (LHS). Under the scheme, all vacant social rented properties were advertised to applicants on the website and a two weekly Property List giving details of location, type, rent, service charge, council tax band and landlord of the available accommodation. Applicants applying for a property by expressing an interest in up to a maximum of three properties for which they had an assessed need.

At the end of the two weekly cycle, the Council analysed the expressions of interest received and allocated each property following a process in accordance with its own Housing Allocations Scheme. Generally, the property was offered to the applicant in the highest band, who was registered the longest and had expressed an interest for the specific vacancy. The results on properties advertised was published on the Council’s website which helped applicants see how long the successful applicant had been waiting and gave greater transparency in the allocation of accommodation.

Between 1 September 2013 and 31 August 2014 345 properties had been allocated to home seekers on the Housing Register. A further 49 properties were allocated direct to homeless applicants and an additional 11 to applicants leaving supported housing.

Some of the 345 properties allocated from the Housing Register had been advertised on more than one occasion, as they were difficult to let, this had resulted in 427 advertisements being placed on the website and in the Property Lists. With 24,307 expressions of interest being made, this was an average of around 70 expressions of interest from home seekers each time a property was advertised. Most properties attracted in excess of 200 expressions of interest. Almost 97% of home seekers expressed an interest in properties over the Internet.

Around 71% of all applicants registered on the Housing Register had participated in the scheme during the last year.

Housing Register Activity Report

The Housing Register Activity Report for the same period showed the number of lets and number of home seekers in each of the three priority bands. It should be noted that there were 82 (23%) properties refused during the period.

As a result of the introduction of the Local Eligibility Criteria under the current Housing Allocations Scheme, the numbers of home seekers on the Housing Register on 1 September 2013 had substantially reduced. As at 31 August 2014 there were 1,563 homeseekers on the Housing Register compared to 6,219 in June 2011. Under the revised scheme, a new Supplementary Waiting List was created enabling applicants over 60 years of age who had not met the residency criteria, or had a housing need, to bid on properties in sheltered accommodation. As at 31 August 2014 there were 210 applicants on this list.

Support currently Provided to Vulnerable Applicants

The Housing Allocations Team within the Housing Options Section offered a great deal of support  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

(Director of Communities) To consider the attached report.

The Panel received a report regarding the Annual Review of Protected Characteristics – Housing Applicants and Lettings from the Assistant Director (Housing Operations).

In previous years, the Panel had undertaken an annual review of the ethnicity of applicants on the Housing Register and compared this with the ethnicity of those allocated accommodation, considering any disparities and whether there should be any resultant changes to the Housing Allocations Scheme. No such disparities had yet been identified.

Following the introduction of the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty in 2011, public bodies had to consider all individuals when carrying out their day to day work. There were nine “Protected Characteristics” which had considerations as follows:

·         Age

·         Disability

·         Gender reassignment

·         Marriage and Civil Partnership

·         Pregnancy and Maternity

·         Race

·         Religion and Belief

·         Sex

·         Sexual Orientation

Due to the requirements of the Act the Panel was asked to include within the annual review, a review of the Protected Characteristics of home seekers on the Housing Register compared to those allocated accommodation. Generally, it was found that the statistics confirmed that the Protected Characteristics of home seekers housed in Council accommodation were similar to those on the Housing Register. Therefore, it was recommended that no amendments be made to the Council’s Housing Allocations Scheme.

One member of the Panel suggested that a potentially isolated group was widowers and requested that they be added to the list above. However it was noted that they were not one of the Protected Characteristics. It was agreed that housing management staff would be alert in identifying such persons and offer to signpost them to support groups.

RECOMMENDED:

That no further recommendations be made regarding amendments to the Council’s Housing Allocations Scheme as there is no evidence of a significant disparity between the Protected Characteristics of applicants on the Housing Register and those allocated accommodation.

(Director of Communities) To consider the attached report.

The Panel received a report regarding the Housing Service Strategy on Rent Arrears from the Assistant Director (Housing Operations).

The concept of Housing Service Strategies was originally introduced around 15 years ago. The strategies gave more detail than the Council’s main Housing Strategy on the various housing services provided. In total 16 Housing Services Strategies had been produced to date.

The strategies were produced to a common format that set out how individual housing services would be delivered. They have assisted the Housing Service in achieving the Customer Service Excellence award and had been important in meeting the minimum requirement for housing related support funding under the conditions of the contract.

RECOMMENDED:

That the Housing Service Strategy on Rent Arrears be recommended to the Housing Portfolio Holder for adoption.

The Chairman advised that he would make verbal reports on Items 8 and 9 of the agenda at the next Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The next programmed meetings of the Panel will be in Committee Room 1 at 5.30p.m. on Tuesday 20 January 2015 and then on Tuesday 24 March.

The next meeting of the Panel was scheduled for Tuesday 20 January 2015 at 5.30p.m. in Committee Room 1.