To consider the council’s progress against its strategic priorities for housing with a focus on scrutinising the delivery of new homes.

The Committee received a presentation that provided an overview of the Council’s activities to deliver housing priorities over the last 18 months and covered (i) housing projects delivered; (ii) work in progress; (iii) planned work including the key housing challenges; and (iv) an update on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA). The main points raised as a result of questioning maybe summarised as follows:

The Committee:

v  Was pleased to hear on the progress being made with house building and welcomed the volume of buyback on right to buy properties to house homeless households.

v  Noted The buyback scheme has benefits for both the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and the general fund. In terms of the former, the additional stock will help to sustain the HRA rental income whilst assisting in mitigating the financial pressure arising from the increased cost and requirements for temporary accommodation to house homeless households in the general fund.

v  Noted that many councillors have seen a deterioration in the quality of service being offered by most registered housing providers who are managing and maintaining existing homes, providing associated services within Tower Hamlets e.g. housing repairs and anti-social behaviour (ASB).

v  Was reminded that Tower Hamlets Housing Covenant had set out a commitment by the Borough, its ALMO Tower Hamlets Homes and registered providers with homes in the borough to work together to (i) provide quality value for money housing services; (ii) share a commitment to Tower Hamlets residents; and (iii) maximise the supply of affordable housing and housing options.

v  Noted that covenant signatories were required to 1 Listen to and respect residents’ views; 2 Respect diversity and provide inclusive services; 3 Operate transparently and openly; and work cooperatively with properly constituted and representative resident groups; 4. Respond to Members’ Enquiries and information requests within published timescales; 5. Ensure residents live in warm, safe, weathertight, and decent homes; 6. Remedy resident repair requests in an appropriate and timely manner; 7. Actively participate in tackling Anti-Social Behaviour; 8. Be members of the Common Housing Register; 9. Evidence value for money in service provision; 10. Share key performance data to identify and share best practice; 11. Maximise opportunities for residents to take-up work, training and apprenticeships; and 12. Identify opportunities for Right-to-Buy receipts generated in the Borough to be invested in new housing in Tower Hamlets.

v  Commented that it would be of use to be able to identify which of the partner housing associations in the Borough are delivering against the  twelve objectives.

v  Noted that there are number of ways that the Council can work with its partners e.g. the Borough therefore shares and promotes good practice.

v  Noted that some registered housing providers are very positive about  strong partnerships in the Borough and that they do not see that within all councils.  Although not every housing provider is engaging to the same level and there is a challenge there the Lead Member; the Mayor and other ward members have very challenging conversations with housing providers about the quality of their services and plans for the future.

v  Noted some of the continuing challenges of rising rent, fuel poverty and the impact of the departure from the European Union on cost of labour, skills, and materials.

v  Noted in terms of the winter strategy the Lead Member was happy to share more detail on what the Councils approach has been in terms of its rough sleeping plan and what is being developed in terms of data and outcomes.

v  Noted that in regard to the data on how the Council are currently performing on the implementation of improvement the last strategic quarterly performance monitoring report submitted to Cabinet showed an increase in kind of work in terms of prevention work.

v  Noted that the Lead Member had met with a whole range of senior managers from housing providers last week to talk about how the Members enquiry process can be improved with reference to housing issue’s.  The Lead Member indicated that the seniority of those attending illustrated a tangible commitment within these housing providers to make sure that they get the Members enquiry process right. In addition, the Councils  own Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Sub-Committee provides an opportunity for Members to review and scrutinises those decisions made or actions taken in connection with the discharge of the Council’s housing functions. 

v  Commented that the housing providers should not wait for the new consumer regulation to look at how they can improve their services and engagement with tenants.

v  Agreed that the Council needs to be proactive in obliging the regulator and the government to adhere to these very worthy objectives. Housing providers must maintain tenants’ homes so that they are safe and of a decent standard and that housing providers  provide a quality service. Where things go wrong, complaints must be handled effectively, and things are put right. The relationship between tenants and housing providers should be underpinned by shared expectations of fairness and respect and a shared understanding of their respective rights and responsibilities. Housing providers must demonstrate that they understand the diverse needs of the communities that they serve, and their services must reflect that. Whilst tenants need to understand, use, and have confidence in the recourse that they have to get problems resolved.

v  Stated that Councillors had to have confidence that housing providers ’ are (i) committed to their tenants as they are responsible for meeting the regulatory standards; (ii) supporting their tenants to shape and scrutinise service delivery, to hold their housing provider to account and for understanding their performance and telling the Council if they are not meeting a standard.  Arising from discussions on this matter the Committee expressed concern that in October 2021 following receipt of a fire safety report from an engineering advisory consultancy, Clarion Housing Group had permanently moved all 120 households out of Clare House with immediate effect. Clarion had it was felt not handled this serious situation effectively and the relationship between tenants and Clarion had been compromised and that this will need to be addressed.

v  Noted that the Council has a number of incentive schemes designed to help tenants to downsize to smaller homes when their household needs change. These tenants can access a whole range of incentives depending on what is most appropriate for them on a kind of sliding scale according to the size of the property as well as what becomes available. Whilst in terms of “knock throughs” to create one home out of two adjoining properties this needs to be considered very carefully because whilst it may help solve an immediate families housing issues. It does take a property out of circulation therefore stopping another family on the waiting list being able to get a property.  Therefore, the Council primarily considers a “knocking through” to increase the available room by utilising that which is considered to be “Dead Space” in a property (e.g. old storerooms) and not consider knocking through two properties unless there was a set extenuating circumstance, such as a severe medical need.

v  Considered waiting lists for larger families, roof top scheme potential, incentives for rationalising and obtaining a better understanding of the housing management panel process and decisions.

Following a full and wide-ranging discussion, the Chair thanked all those Committee Members in attendance together with (i) Councillor Danny Hassell

(Cabinet Member for Housing); (ii) Karen Swift (Divisional Director, Housing and Regeneration); and (iii) Rupert Brandon (Interim Head of Housing Supply) for their contributions to get a sense on what has been delivered to date, the future plans and the challenges that the Borough continues to face.

Accordingly, the Committee asked that the Cabinet Member for Housing to consider the above comments and the following recommendations.

1.    It would continue to monitor this area via the Housing and Regeneration Sub-committee and look forward to re-visiting how the Council has taken on board the Committees feedback in 2022.

2.    Having raised concerns about the lack of accountability for many of the housing providers who are signatories to the Tower Hamlets Housing Covenant felt that more affirmative action was required from the Council to hold these signatories to account.  Accordingly members indicated that it wished to know what sanctions can be used to get the covenant signatories to delivering against the twelve objectives.

3.    Having heard the progress of the Councils Housing Options service on its work with the Homeless transformation programme and the rough sleeping delivering plan and recommended using the opportunity to follow up on the outcomes on residents who are experiencing homelessness but remain housed in hotels.