Agenda item

[Report of the Chief Operating Officer. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Housing and  Regeneration] The report will consider the future approach to managing and investing in the Council’s housing in Haringey and Cabinet will be asked to make decisions on the ownership  and management of housing stock following advice from the  Member Review Group  and an Independent Adviser.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration introduced the report which considered the future approach to managing and investing in the Council’s housing in Haringey. The recommendations had been compiled by a cross party housing steering group which had consisted of Councillor  Barbara Blake, Councillor Mann, Councillor Ejiofor, Councillor Beacham  and Mabel Obeng, a Haringey tenant. The Cabinet Member thanked the group and the independent advisor to the group Julian Wain for their considerable efforts over the last 9 months in investigating and analysing the best solution for management, regeneration and improvement of homes in the borough. Tenant’s interests and the best outcome for getting new housing into the borough had been key considerations of the review group and this had been continually kept in mind throughout the review, leading to the recommendations of the report.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration also highlighted the future funding gap for housing improvement and management and there would be a further financial review of the housing funding situation with a paper coming forward on this issue.

The Cabinet Member further flagged a future  review of the Council’s relationship with leaseholders.

RESOLVED

a)    That Homes for Haringey is retained as the Council’s Arms Length Housing Management company, and is offered an extended contract of 10 years in duration, with a review after 5 years, such extended contract to expire on 31^st March 2026

b)    That a new management agreement with Homes for Haringey is agreed, the approval of such agreement being brought back to Cabinet not later than March 2016.

c)    That the new management agreement should include:
- an expectation of continued improvement in performance, including reaching top quartile performance by March 2018, as per their business plan.
- that Homes for Haringey expands its offer to involve and engage tenants in the management of their homes
- that Homes for Haringey continues to maintain a high standard of leadership and staffing within the organisation and the board.

d)    That at this time, the functions relating to homelessness and allocations services as set out in Appendix A, continue to be managed by Homes for Haringey as part of this contract to 31^st March 2016.

Cabinet further resolved to note

a)    That a development vehicle is potentially the best solution to progress major estate renewal, maximise the potential for investment in the Council’s housing stock, and the delivery of new social and affordable housing. That the Council should aim to replace the same number of affordable habitable rooms and that the deal for tenants is broadly comparable under the Vehicle. A separate report on this will be brought to Cabinet in due course. 

Other estates:

b)    That the regeneration of Northumberland Park is considered in the context of a potential development vehicle.

c)    That given the high stock condition needs and repairs costs at Broadwater Farm, a solution is developed in conjunction with the residents in this context, and consultation with tenants should begin by December 2015.

d)    That a regeneration scheme at Noel Park is developed, which builds on the high land values and retains the estate within Council control for the long term and is self-funding.

e)    That those staff seconded to Homes for Haringey in 2014 from Community Housing Services, where it is appropriate to do so, be transferred to Homes for Haringey’s employment.  In addition, roles identified within Homes for Haringey that are in scope of the Business Infrastructure Programme and Customer Services Transformation will be transferred from Homes for Haringey to the Council. Trades Unions and employees will be consulted. Following this meeting, and if approved, the process by which this will happen will be agreed with the relevant parties. It is likely that TUPE will apply to both transfers.

f)     That any additional services that the Council considers it appropriate to commission through Homes for Haringey, or to transfer from Homes for Haringey to the Council, are identified  by the Council through the Assistant Director of Regeneration - the agreement of such being either part of the management agreement, or as appropriate to the decision to be made. No specific change to Homes for Haringey’s functions is proposed at this time.

Ongoing Investment needs

g)    That the Council determines an asset management approach that delivers the following:

·      Prioritisation between stock maintenance, regeneration and new -build housing.

·      Clear standards of maintenance to be achieved for the housing stock

·      Clarity of resources to meet those standards both in terms of amount and source

·      Programmes to meet those standards

·      Management of costs to help mitigate the continuing capital funding deficit

This should be in line with the Council’s overall Capital Strategy, and should inform the HRA 30 year business plan.

h)    Based on the models established for this review the Council should develop a 30 year business plan that provides a balanced budget and manages the continuing capital funding deficit on the Council’s housing stock. The Council should establish and maintain a consistent set of assumptions and financial approaches to Housing Revenue account management going forward.

Reviews:

i)      That Homes for Haringey must ensure a stronger system of reconciliations between work done, stock condition data and financial investment to ensure accurate physical and financial information are available at overall and estate level, such action to be in place by March 2016.  

j)      That Homes for Haringey conducts a review of the leaseholder management service, consulting with leaseholders as to the best way forward, based on the formal and informal satisfaction survey results provided to the review, and reports to the Cabinet Member and Chief Operating Officer by March 2016. Such a review should ensure resulting increases in Leaseholder satisfaction rates.

k)    That Homes for Haringey carries out a review of repairs responsibilities to ensure that appropriate responsibility is borne by the Council and its tenants and leaseholders, and reports to the Chief Operating Officer and Cabinet member in early 2016.

l)      That there must be a review of the Council’s rent policy, whilst recognising that the awaited rent regime changes due to be put in place shortly may prevent any changes to rent levels.

Alternative Options Considered

In the course of the review a number of options were considered and are listed below:

The Council retains ownership of the housing stock and:

i) uses the existing ALMO model to deliver housing services (the “as is” option)

ii) brings the management of housing services back into the Council

The Council transfers ownership of its housing stock to;

iii) an existing housing association or other organisation

iv) a new Housing Association (or other delivery vehicle) set up for the purposes of receiving the stock and services.

Options in 4.3 above also included consideration of the following alternatives:

•           Tenant Management Organisation

•           Co-operative model

•           Community Gateway 

•           Tenant Management Owned Association

Reasons for Decision

Given how quickly things are changing in the world of housing policy, making a decision about the future is no simple task. That’s why, over the last nine months, a group of Councillors from both parties and a tenant representative have been meeting to think hard about how Haringey Council should manage, maintain and improve its homes in the future.

It is important that the Council makes a clear decision about the future of housing management and improvement in Haringey. These three reports of the Future of Housing Review explain why a new approach is needed which combines retention of the arms-length management company to manage the majority of the stock, alongside a new development vehicle to lead and fund the regeneration of some of our major housing estates.

The Review Group believe, based on the evidence presented by the Independent Adviser and Independent Financial Expert, that the recommendations put forward to Cabinet represent the best way forward for the management and long term improvement any maintenance of both existing and new homes in the borough.