Issue - meetings

To consider the Homes for Haringey half-yearly performance report.

The Committee received the Homes for Haringey Performance report, introduced by Rowann Limond, Executive Director of Resources, Homes for Haringey (HfH).

In response to concerns about the Audit Commission giving Haringey a low performance grade in the area of grounds maintenance the Committee noted that monitoring information showed that there had been a dip in the level of maintenance during the week of inspection.  Page 23 of the agenda pack showed the overall grades, which exceeded the 96% target.

The Committee noted that, although there were concerns about the reduction of Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) funding, those councils with ALMOs already in place would receive preferential treatment in the allocation of funds.

Officers noted the Committee’s concerns about the increase in rent arrears as people lost jobs in the current economic climate.  It was reported that ways other boroughs dealt with rent arrears had been investigated, including writing-off small amounts of debt where tenants had continued to pay rent thereafter and the possibility of obtaining the first months rent in advance.  Workshops dealing with debt management were offered to tenants and the threat of eviction was successful in encouraging rent payment.

A discussion about void properties took place and it was noted that the void time began as soon as a property was vacated until a new tenant moved into that property.  New tenants were assisted in setting achievable start dates for new tenancies and discrepancies in property vacation dates were monitored on a monthly basis. A briefing would be circulated in response to a Co-opted member asking how void turnaround times were affected by squatters (Action no. 117.1).

The Committee asked for figures for the number of tenants evicted as a result of anti-social behaviour (Action no. 117.2) and noted that Homes for Haringey was working with the Council to plan how funding could increase to ensure that the service dealing with anti-social behaviour continued.

The Committee would be sent the results of recent annual tenancy fraud audits as well as comparative data on the numbers of illegal tenants found in other Boroughs (Action no. 117.3).

In response to the information on Welcome Visits, provided at Appendix 2, a Committee Member asked for more information on the Notice to Quit (NTQ) process (Action 117.4).

RESOLVED to note the performance of Homes for Haringey for the period concerned and the actions being taken to improve performance where targets were not being met.