Agenda item

Pre Decision Scrutiny on the: Housing Allocations Scheme, Tenancy Strategy 2012-13, Sheltered Housing

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee to undertake pre-decision scrutiny on the:

·    Tenant Involvement Strategy

·        Housing Allocations Scheme

·        Tenancy Strategy 2012-13

 

 

Minutes:

 Councillor Mary Markham, Cabinet Member for Housing, and Fran Rodgers Head of Strategic Housing, attended the meeting to give the Committee an update on Housing consultations.

 

Sheltered Housing Consultation

 

Councillor Markham advised the Committee that the Sheltered Housing Proposals would be considered by Cabinet on 14th November.  She emphasised that the proposals were in relation to the support provision and not the actual accommodation.

 

All Councillors have had an opportunity to take part in awareness sessions and this is the third time that the item had been discussed at Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

 

The main points of discussion were as follows:-

 

·         There had been a very good response rate.

·         Results were very much as expected with most respondents feeling that the current support system was very rigid and most customers without support needs felt that they should be able to contact staff as and when needed.

·         There was strong support for the sheltered housing staff and the lifeline system.

 

Members supported the intention to provide a more efficient and flexible service. They queried whether new technology could be used more widely. It was agreed that some residents could be contacted by E mail or text, but that would not be the starting point, but may be more widely used as the technology capabilities of people who are using the sheltered housing change.

 

Members were pleased to see the high level of respondents, but had concerns about what would happen after funding is changed in September 2013.

 

Councillor Markham expressed her thanks to all the officers who had been involved in the awareness sessions, everyone had worked very hard to make sure that as many people as possible were aware of the proposed changes.

 

The Chair confirmed that he would be addressing the Cabinet on 14th November to explain how the scrutiny process had been involved.

 

Tenancy Strategy

 

Under the Localism Act there is now a duty for Local Authorities to consider and revise how they wish to run their housing tenancies.

 

There have been a series of awareness sessions, workshops and surgeries. A reasonable number of responses have been received, of those responses there was an overwhelming majority in favour of the proposed changes. It was generally felt that with the exception of older people then tenancy for life was not appropriate, although if there were no changes in circumstances then the tenancy could be renewed on a five year basis. There was some debate around the financial thresholds that would be applied, whilst there was some agreement that it was not appropriate for people on high incomes to access social housing then the proposed capping levels were not seen as very high.

 

There was also concern expressed that if people were referred to private landlords most of their tenancies were of a very short term nature, only six months or a year which made it difficult for people to settle and feel secure in a property. There is work on going with landlords trying to encourage longer tenancies of say 2 years but it is still likely that a tenant would have to undergo an introductory tenancy period before longer periods would be offered. There were also discussions about key workers. The new scheme affords priority to those in work but who cannot afford to meet their needs without some support therefore there is no longer a need to have a separate policy for key workers.

 

Some Members also felt that many tenants were still unaware of the impact of the Welfare Reform Act would have particularly in relation to tenants on benefit who are occupying what may in future be seen as a property which is larger than they require. There have been several information sessions and new tenancies are being allocated with the forthcoming regulations in mind.

 

AGREED:       

 

1. That the information on the Key Worker Policy be circulated to the Committee.

2. Details regarding the financial thresholds of the new allocations scheme be circulated to the Committee.

Supporting documents: