Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from the following people:

Louis Antill Lewis

Paul Bridge

Carole Carter

Jo Murphy

Councillor David Winskill

The Chair will consider the admission of any items of Urgent Business. (Late items of Urgent Business will be dealt with under the agenda item where they appear. New items of Urgent Business will be dealt with under Item 11 below).

No items of Urgent Business were raised.

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

No declarations of interest were made.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 21 September 2009 as a correct record.

RESLOVED:

That, subject the inclusion of Jean Croot being added to the list of people present and the reformatting of parts of the document, the minutes of the meeting held on 21 September were confirmed as a correct record.

The Board received a report that set the full findings of the review conducted of the first year of the Homelessness Strategy. The report also set out how issues identified as part of this would be addressed during the forthcoming year.

The Board was reminded that an initial report had been received at the previous meeting where further information with respect to several areas had been requested. The report now set out the proposed structure for the delivery groups and the key points raised at the at the recent consultation event on 14 September.

In response to a query the Board was advised that funding had now been secured for the Rent Deposit Scheme. Although details of this were still to be finalised and it had been agreed that the scheme would be run by a Voluntary Sector group that would be based with the Housing Service at Apex House. This would be up and running by the New Year.

The Chair noted that key actions around addressing the needs of children with affected by the issues set out below were showing as ‘not achieved’:

• Special needs
• Complex medical conditions
• Child Protection Plans
• Children who acted as carers
• Children in Care placed outside the Borough
• Children in a family that Domestic Violence had been suffered
• Children from families where parents had been found intentionally homeless

Officers advised that the Children and Young People’s Delivery Group, which would lead on these areas, had now been established. This group would have its first meeting in January and any outstanding actions would be addressed then. There was agreement that officers from the Housing Service should liaise with Children’s Services to ensure that these issues were being addressed and to determine whether any additional support was required.

In response to a query the Board was advised that the information set out in the Action Plan was broken down and analysed in more detail with individual Delivery Group’s Work Plans.

The Board discussed the merits of using ‘Mystery Shoppers’ and there was agreement that Homes for Haringey should liaise with local Housing Associations to see how tenants might be trained to take on this role.   

Chair noted that there would be further discussion outside the meeting to take resolve the issues raised by the Board.

RESOLVED:

That the outcome of the review and the proposed structure of the Delivery Groups be noted.    

The Board considered a report that presented the new Housing Association Partnership Agreement and Protocol for adoption.

It was noted that changes to the document requested by the Board had now been made and the second stage of consultation had been undertaken. A further seven Housing Associations had responded during the second round of consultation and the document had also been taken to the Development Forum and Lettings Forum for comment.

RESOLVED:

That the revised Housing Association Partnership Protocol be approved.  

This item was withdrawn from the agenda.

The Board received a report that provided an update on the Common Management Standards (CMS) project.

It was noted that the CMS project aimed to bring together social housing landlords in Haringey to identify and develop new ways of working in partnership. An initial series of discussions would be held with a range of Housing Associations to ensure that the project reflected the business priorities of stakeholders.

The Board was advised that there were two key drivers behind the project; changes sought by the Tenant Services Authority and the current economic climate, which had seen an increase in the number of people applying for social housing.

It was noted that work was being undertaken, in partnership with the Housing Strategy team to map the partnership work that was already happening and this would be used to inform the project.

The Board discussed the report and Housing Association representatives welcomed the project. However, it was noted that anything agreed as part of the project should be not be overly complex as the various Housing Associations would have their own operating arrangements that any commonly agreed standards would have to be integrated into. In addition there were already several rationalisation programmes that being undertaken and these would need to be taken into account.

In response to a query the Board was advised that the Graduate employed to work on project had been selected from a scheme funded by central Government. There was no flexibility within this to specify that the person employed should live locally.

The Board was advised the Community Safety Team had recently undertaken a Needs Assessment and the information collected as part of this may be useful. It was noted that where areas were very densely populated statistics often became skewed.

In response to a query the Board was advised that once the mapping exercise had been undertaken a report would be submitted setting out how this would be taken forward.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.  

The Board considered a report setting out performance against Local Area Agreement (LAA) targets within its responsibility during Quarter Two. An update with respect to Temporary Accommodation was also tabled.

Following discussion at the previous meeting the format of the Quarterly Performance had now been revised to focus primarily on the targets within the Boards sole responsibility. An overview of performance during Quarter Two and the measures being taken to address areas of under performance was given.

The Board was advised that there was ongoing discussion with the Government Office for London (GOL) regarding the targets currently attached to NI 154 and NI155. It was contended that these were too high given the current economic climate. Once a response from GOL had been received the Board would be advised.

In response to a query the Board was advised that people living in Temporary Accommodation would be entitles to Benefits.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

The Board received a briefing on the role of the Safer Communities Executive Board (SCEB) and its work.

It was noted that the SCEB was Chaired by Councillor Nilgun Canver. It met on a quarterly basis and provided strategic governance in terms of performance against LAA targets and the Safer Communities Strategy. It also monitored projects funded from the Area Based Grant and other funding received for projects aimed at improving community safety.  

Beneath the SCEB sat six Partnership Boards and a Performance Management Group (PMG). The Partnership Boards were themed under the following headings:

• Acquisitive Crime
• Anti Social Behaviour
• Domestic Violence
• Drug and Alcohol Action
• Other Violent Crimes
• Youth Offending

The Chair thanked Jean Croot, Head of the Safer Communities Unit, for her presentation.

 RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

The Board received a briefing paper on the new Challenge Fund for Social Housing / Family Intervention Projects (FIPs) initiative that has recently been launched by the Government.

The Board was advised that the funding was intended to assist tenants in social housing ho faced eviction or other enforcement action due to anti social behaviour or other problems.

Prior to discussion the Board watched a film produced by ? on how an existing FIP operated in Bolton.

The Board discussed the merits of bidding for funding and there was agreement that rather than creating a new project any bid should be based on enhancing an existing project. This would also be beneficial in terms of the bidding process as it had been indicated that projects demonstrating sustainability would be considered more favourably.

It was noted that the Safer Communities Team had recently began a FIP to tackle gang crime and to take practical measures to prevent young people becoming gang members. There may be an opportunity to expand on this project.  

The Chair endorsed this approach and officers agreed to work up a bid on this basis.

RESOLVED:

1. That the briefing be noted.

2. That officers should work up a bid for funding, to extend an existing project in the Borough and report back the Board at its next meeting.

To consider any items of Urgent Business admitted under Item 2 above.

No new items of Urgent Business were raised.   

To raise any items of AOB.

Management of Social Housing on Mixed Estates

The Chair noted that he had received several complaints from residents that social housing on mixed estates was not maintained to the same standard as private housing.

Housing Association representatives concurred that this was often an area of concern and there was that officers from Homes for Haringey should meeting with the Chair outside the meeting to discuss this issue further.

Emergency Planning

There was agreement that in the light of recent Housing related emergencies in South London that it would be useful to review how the Partnership would react in an emergency situation and the access that Partners had to one another’s emergency planning documents. 

Sub-Letting by Leaseholders

Officers from Homes for Haringey agreed to look into concerns raised with respect to this. The Chair noted that if members of the Board felt it was necessary, following discussion outside the meeting, a report could included on the next agenda on this issue.

To note the dates of future meetings as set out below:

23 February 2010, 6.30pm, Civic Centre.

Dates for the new Municipal Year 2010/11 will be circulated once the Council’s Calendar of Meetings has been drafted.

It was noted that the next meeting would be held on 23 February 2010.