Agenda item
Spotlight Session: Cabinet Member for Housing Management and Performance
The Sub-Committee will receive a presentation on the night which will provide an update on any new initiatives, challenges and opportunities that could improve housing services and better serve residents, partners and stakeholders in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
The Sub-committee will be asked to recommend to:
1. Note and comment on the information presented; and
2. Recommend any improvement action.
Minutes:
Spotlight Session: Cabinet Member for Housing Management and Performance
Councillor Sirajul Islam, Cabinet Member for Housing, presented a report on performance improvement at Tower Hamlets Homes (THH), the arms-length management organisation for Tower Hamlets Council.
Members wanted to know about THH future ambitions. Councillor Islam said that he was pleased with the stability that has ensued further to the improvement measures. He hopes THH will become an organisation that people are proud of.
There was a discussion on the statistical relevancy of the data as percentage figures provided but there were no base figures. Paul Davey, Director of Business Transformation THH, confirmed that the data is compiled by an outsourced company called Quest who survey residents on a long term basis. They get on average two thousand responses a year and this is considered to be a reliable sample size in the industry. Mr Davey said he could get the actual figures included in the next report.
A Member requested to learn more about the performance of other housing providers, particularly from the east side of the borough such as Lansbury Ward. This was noted by officers.
Susmita Sen, Chief Executive THH, informed the committee that the Neighbourhood Housing Officer role at THH has been amended with a greater emphasis on leasehold management duties, as half of THH clients are leaseholders. Back office functions have also been streamlined with clearer lines of accountability.
Members raised concerns around sustainability for some of the funded elements of the improvements such as the increased police presence and park rangers. They wanted to know what would happen once the funding ended.
Ms Sen said that many improvements could be achieved by agile working and were not necessarily about continued funding. Drugs are a known issue across the borough and she said she envisages continued support from the police and Council to drive drug dealing out of the borough.
Members advocated for a cross borough approach in confronting ASB. They were pleased to hear that resources had gone into the issue of tackling drug dealing but they did not want the Council to be perceived as simply pushing the problem out of the borough. It was noted that the ASB sub-group Chaired by Sandra Fawcett, was a useful forum for discussing the issue, sharing information and joint working.
The Chair asked for an update on THH service charges and capital works charges as he recalls there had been confusion over these. It was confirmed that the billing is now itemised and tenants are given several payment options. The issue has been resolved.
Members requested to see a charges comparison between THH and other local providers.
RESOLVED
- To note the report.
7.1 SPOTLIGHT SESSION: HOUSING PERFORMANCE MONITORING - QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE DATA FOR KEY REGISTERED PROVIDERS
The Committee received an update from Godfrey Heyman, Resident Provider Partnership Officer LBTH, on performance reports from the fourteen social landlords in the borough for quarter two and four 2016/17 and quarter two 2017/18.
The Committee:
- Said that it was difficult to understand the full picture because it was not comparing for same period as data was not available.
- Requested comparable data be presented in the next report.
- Requested that headings are included on every page of the table.
- Requested that future reports include actual sample size of those surveyed as well as percentage figures.
- Suggested that landlords should be invited to take part in these meetings.
- Requested that smaller resident provider organisations are invited to this meeting as an action.
Members thanked Mr Heyman for the update and acknowledge that they were privileged to have access to such data as this is not as readily available in other local authorities.
The Chair asked if providers have a general code of conduct when conducting tenancy audits. Sandra Fawcett, Chair of the Tower Hamlets Housing Forum, confirmed that there is not a consistent code of conduct policy when carrying out tenancy audits and every provider has their own policy.
RESOLVED
1. To note the report.
Supporting documents: