Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

It was noted that apologies had been received from the following:

Niall Bolger

Lisa Redfern

Eugenia Cronin

Louis Lewis

Gloria Saffrey

Rowan Limond

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2008 as a correct record.

The Board received the minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2008 and the following issues were raised:

Minute Number LC34

In response to queries as to whether the meeting referred to under points two and three of the resolution had taken place, the Board was advised that it had not. The Chair advised that he would discuss this matter further with officers outside the meeting.

In relation to this minute, it was also queried whether a meeting had taken place with the Assistant Director for Planning to discuss the involvement of the Supporting People scheme. It was agreed that the Board should be provided with an update on this issue.

In response to a query as to whether the work had commenced in relation to the formation of a pre planning protocol, as discussed under paragraph 5, the Board was advised that it had not. There was agreement that an update in relation to progress against this action should be provided at the next meeting.

Minute Number LC44

Concern was raised that there was no LAA update on the agenda for the meeting as agreed under paragraph 5 and set out in the resolution agreed by the Board.

Members of the Board stressed that it was essential that the Board received information on the negotiation of LAA targets. It was also essential that the Board began to put plans in place to address how the targets within its responsibility would be delivered.

The Assistant Director advised that over recent months it had been necessary for the Housing Service to concentrate on the production of the Homelessness Strategy as there were stringent statutory deadlines in place governing its production. This had resulted in there being a lack of capacity available to support the Board. He assured the Board that the issues raised would be taken forward prior to the next meeting.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2008 be confirmed as an accurate record. 

Members of the Board must declare any personal and/or prejudicial interests with respect to agenda items and must not take part in any decision required with respect to these items.

No declarations of interest were made.

The Chair will consider the admission of any items of urgent business. (Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be considered under agenda Item 11 below).

No items of urgent business were raised.

To elect a Chair for the new Municipal Year 2008/09.

RESOLVED:

That Councillor John Bevan be appointed as Chair for the ensuing Municipal Year.

To appoint a Vice-Chair for the new Municipal Year 2008/09.

RESOLVED:

That Jo Murphy be appointed as Vice-Chair for the ensuing Municipal Year.

To appoint a representative to the Haringey Strategic Partnership for 2008/09.

The Board discussed the appointment of a representative to the HSP and there was agreement that is would be useful if details of the HSP’s Membership were circulated in order to assess whether it would be appropriate for one of the partner organisations to take this role rather than the Chair.

There was agreement that the Chair should be appointed as the Boards representative as interim measure.

RESOLVED:

That Councillor John Bevan be appointed as the Boards representative on the HSP.

The Board received a presentation from the Community Link Forum (CLF) setting out it’s objectives and work to date and giving overview of the recent CLF election process.

It was noted that the CLF had been established as a means of improving the link between the Community and Voluntary Sector and the Partnership. Following ratification of the CLF Agreement by the Haringey Strategic Partnership (HSP) in July 2007 work had been carried out by the organisation that had culminated in the CLF Elections in April 2008.

The CLF was allocated three places on each of the Thematic Boards; three of these were allocated to the elected CLF representatives and one was allocated to a representative from HAVCO.

The representatives elected to the Integrated Housing Board were as follows:

• Sue Brown
• Ibilola Campbell
• Louis Antill Lewis

The Chair thanked Pamela Pemberton of HAVCO for the presentation.

RESOLVED:

That the presentation be noted.  

To confirm the Boards Membership and Terms of Reference for 2008/09.

(The recently elected Community Link Forum representatives will be formally added to the Boards Membership).

The Board received a report requesting that it formally confirm its Membership and Terms of Reference for 2008/09.

Membership

It was suggested that the Supporting People Provider Forum should be included within the Boards membership. The Forum formed part of the decision making structure attached to the Supporting People Partnership and represented all of the support housing providers in the in Borough. It was suggested that, if the Board was agreeable, a representative should be appointed from the Forums Practitioners Group.

It was noted that the CLF had been established in order to facilitate the involvement of Community and Voluntary Sector organisations within the Partnership and concern was raised that any such group should be appointed via the CLF elections.

This point was acknowledge, however, it was contended that the Forum differed slightly to the other Community and Voluntary Sector organisations as it included private sector organisations. At present there was no specific organisation to represent the needs of vulnerable adults and the inclusion of the Forum would facilitate this.

There was agreement that there should be further discussion outside the meeting between the Chair, the CLF and the Supporting People representative.

There was agreement that St Mungo’s should be removed from the Boards membership. It was noted that when the Board had been established it was agreed that three RSL’s should be included within the Boards membership and there was agreement that the current membership list should be reviewed prior to the next meeting to ensure that the Board was best placed to deliver its objectives and the new LAA targets.

Terms of Reference

The Vice-Chair expressed concern that the Board’s current Terms of Reference did not reflect the purpose and objectives that had been envisaged when it was established. The Board had originally be intended to be a small group that would consider strategic issues, at short, regular meetings.

At present the Terms of Reference did not include enough detail regarding the Boards role and there was agreement that this needed to be strengthened.

In response to concerns that the Board had not yet produced any tangible outcomes the Assistant Director requested that Board members should advise him of any suggestions they had in relation to the way the meetings were run. There was agreement that the Assistant Director and Vice-Chair would meet outside the meeting to discuss issues of concern.

The Chair noted that he intended to discuss the issues raised with the Director for the Urban Environment and Assistant Director at his next 1:1 meeting.

RESOLVED:

1. That the Boards Membership and Terms of Reference be confirmed on an interim basis until the next meeting.

2. That the Boards Terms of Reference should be re-drafted in light of discussion above and brought back to the Board at its next meeting for confirmation.

3. That discussion should take place outside the meeting between the Chair, the CLF and Supporting People representative, regarding the inclusion of the Supporting People Provider Forum within the Boards membership.

4. That St Mungo’s should be removed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63.

The Board received a report that provided an update on the work that had been carried out to develop the Haringey Homelessness Strategy 2008/11.

It was noted that a multi agency Steering Group was meeting on a fortnightly basis to inform the homelessness review and the development of the Strategy. The implementation of the Strategy and delivery of the actions set out in the SMART action plan would be overseen by the Homelessness Strategy Implementation Group, which would on a quarterly basis.

The Board was advised that a review of Homeless and the existing polices in place had been undertaken and this would form the evidence base for the Strategy. As part of this staff and customer focus groups had been established and partners had been consulted via a Stakeholders event.

One of the key issues arising from the review was that there was a lack of coordination across the sector. The Board was advised that Partners had a fundamental role to play in delivering the Strategy and that the Integrated Housing Board would be at the centre of this. It was proposed that ‘Champions’ should be identified to Chair themed delivery groups and it was anticipated that these would be appointed from partner organisations. This would encourage engagement and improve coordination across the sector.

It noted that the Strategy was being worked on by the Council’s policy team and the feedback from the review was being fed into this.

The draft Strategy would be considered by the Council’s Cabinet on 15 July and published on 31 July. It was proposed that the Cabinet Member for Housing should be given delegated to sign off the Strategy.

A copy of the draft Strategy was tabled and circulated to the Board.

In response to a query in relation to the Council’s Lettings Policy the Board was advised that this was currently being re-drafted in order to make best use of existing housing stock. There would also be a shift in emphasis to deter people from presenting as homeless in order to be re housed quickly.

It was noted that measures were proposed to reduce the number of young people leaving home and seeking Local Authority housing. These included awareness raising sessions being held at local schools aimed at fourteen to sixteen year olds and would provide practical information on the costs and responsibilities attached to living independently.

In response to concerns that there was not sufficient reference made to the Private Sector the Board was advised that a separate Private Sector Lettings Policy would be compiled.

The Board discussed the new Area Based Grant (ABG) and the possibility that funding currently allocated to the Supporting People scheme would be added to the ABG during the next financial year. It was noted that there was no indication that this would be ring fenced and therefore schemes currently funded were at risk. At present the Accommodation Strategy drew on resources allocated to the Supporting People scheme.

The Assistant Director reminded the Board that there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64.

To consider any new items of Urgent Business admitted under Item 4.

No new items of urgent business were raised.

To discuss any items of AOB.

Councillor Haley, Chair of the Better Places Partnership (BPP) and Cabinet Member for ??, advised that at the recent meeting of the Better Places Partnership Board there had been agreement that it would be useful if links could be forged between the BPP and the Integrated Housing Board. 

As there were several areas where the work of the Boards overlapped the BPP had agreed that members of the Integrated Housing Board should be invited to attend a future meeting that would be looking at ??

It was noted that officers would contact members of the Board to confirm arrangements in relation to this. 

Members of the Board noted that the Housing Service seemed to be severely under staffed at present and that this had a clear impact on its capacity to support the Integrated Housing Board. It was requested that this point was recorded in the minutes.  

To note the dates for meetings during 2008/09 that have now been formally confirmed by Council:

• 15 October 2008
• 10 December 2008
• 23 March 2009

The Board was asked to noted the following dates of future meetings:

• 15 October 2008
• 10 December 2008
• 23 March 2009