Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr Schmitz.

A member with a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered must disclose to that meeting the existence and nature of that interest at the commencement of that consideration, or when the interest becomes apparent.

A member with a personal interest in a matter also has a prejudicial interest in that matter if the interest is one which a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would reasonably regard as so significant that it is likely to prejudice the member's judgment of the public interest and if this interest affects their financial position or the financial position of a person or body as described in paragraph 8 of the Code of Conduct and/or if it relates to the determining of any approval, consent, licence, permission or registration in relation to them or any person or body described in paragraph 8 of the Code of Conduct.

None.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business.  Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear.  New items will be dealt with at item 9 below.

None.

To approve minutes of previous meetings held on:

• 30^th November 2010

• 12^th January 2011

These were agreed by the panel.

Jackie Thomas, Director of Housing Management

David Sherrington, Team Leader, Communications & Chief Executive's Office

HfH provided a verbal presentation to the panel on issues pertaining to partnership working within the registered housing provider sector.  The following provides a summary of the key points made and subsequent panel discussions.

Homes for Haringey (HfH) is an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO), managing housing stock on behalf of Haringey Council.  HfH was created as the main delivery vehicle for the decent homes programme in the borough.  The management agreement has been extended until 2016.

HfH is primarily a housing management organisation, which is reflected in their funded activities and overall budget (i.e. just 5% is for environmental improvements).  In terms of capital investment in HfH stock, this is delivered through Decent Homes, though it was evident that there would be significant reduction in funds administered through this programme in the future.

It was noted by the panel that with the development of the Tenant Services Authority a much stronger lead had been taken with regulation of housing associations.  New standards had been developed which came in to effect on April 1^st 2010 and these were applicable to the whole of the social housing sector, not just housing associations.  HfH were thus included within these new service standards.

The panel noted that there were a number of ways in which HfH works with other housing associations and on collaborative housing projects within the borough.  It was noted that:

·        HfH are members of the Integrated Housing Board with other housing associations to discuss strategic housing issues in the borough

·        HfH have undertaken a pilot project working with other housing associations to look at issues on a multi-landlord estate (Campsbourne)

·        HfH participates in other local forums such as Asset Management, Customer Access and ASB

·        It was noted that together with a number of other housing associations, HfH were active contributors in the affordable warmth group

The panel noted that HfH have a good knowledge of local housing stock and issues affecting local tenants.  The panel noted that HfH had undertaken some intensive consultation exercises to support this, as illustrated through the local door knocking exercise to collect data from local tenants.  It was felt that this knowledge has the potential to increase the place shaping role of the organisation (in collaboration with other organisations).

It was reported that HfH do provide housing management services for a number of smaller Housing Associations in the borough, for example, out of hours repair service.  The panel noted that whilst this area provided considerable developmental and expansion opportunities for HfH, it was also an area of high risk, as the organisation did not have as developed knowledge about this housing stock as their own.  This was not a straightforward issue as there were many complicating factors, including VAT implications.

The panel were keen to understand what the main issues facing HfH in working with local housing associations.  A number of points were made to the panel which included:

·        There are so many housing associations/ registered social landlords in the borough which makes engagement  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Aaron Peake, Project Officer, Chief Executive Team, Homes for Haringey

Homes for Haringey gave a verbal presentation on the work of the Campsbourne Pilot Project, an initiative to bring together the work of a number of housing associations (n=6) on multi-landlord estates in Hornsey.  The following provides a summary of the main points from this presentation and subsequent panel discussion.

This project commenced in April 2010.  The aim of this project is to bring together the work of social landlords in this area to help develop and improve services for local people.  The premise was that many landlords would be facing the similar issues in working with tenants in this area, so it may be more effective to work collaboratively in resolving community needs.  Given housing associations reticence on working on issues related to common standards, an operational approach was taken with the project, which aimed to look at partnerships and joint working arrangements at a more practical and localised level. It was felt that this approach would help to build up trust and sound working relationships among project partners.  

During 2010, this project has undertaken tenant consultation with all social landlords and developed 6 strategic priorities.  Social landlords involved in the project signed up to a partnership agreement, which although not legally binding, provided a statement of intent of stakeholders.

The pilot project sought to identify all the community initiatives that housing associations were providing in the locality.  A number of common projects were identified across the partnership team including employment, language courses and youth training provision.  The project has also undertaken tenant engagement on a collective basis across all social landlords in the area, with a singular tenant consultation survey developed for all social landlords in the area with a door knocking exercise.  This had helped to understand local needs and shape local priorities.  

It was reported that national stockholders may be relatively easy to engage in such partnership work given the scale of operations and the presence of dedicated workers to support such collaborative projects.  It was however difficult to engage smaller stock holders, not because they were not interested in participating or supporting such an approach, but because they do not have the capacity to engage.  The panel noted that a key challenge for projects like this was how to successfully engage and support the participation of smaller housing associations.

The panel noted that although some housing associations may have relatively small resources to invest in community services, if priorities were aligned and resources pooled, the potential value of community investment could be significantly larger and operations may be more efficient.  The panel were keen to ensure that these principles should be explored further with housing associations through the consultation process and ascertain best practice in this sector.  

Stemming from the work of the Campsbourne project (e.g. pulling together work on different community initiatives undertaken by respective social landlords, consultation with tenants) three distinct objectives have been developed:

·        Develop community bids from the collaborative

·        Recruit a community development post to work across RSLs and with the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Overview on infrastructure deployed at other local authorities to support liaison between strategic housing services and housing associations.

A brief overview of the liaison and engagement structures with housing associations at a number of other Local Authorities was presented to the panel.   The purpose of this presentation was to help benchmark service provision in Haringey and to guide and inform later discussions on service provision.  The presentation is attached for information.

It is anticipated that further data collection will take place with other authorities and analysed with data already presented to identify key themes and trends which will inform the review process.

To receive a verbal update on the forward plan of work for the review:

• Future evidence to the panel
• Consultation with housing providers Wednesday 2^nd March 2011

The panel agreed a new date for the consultation with housing providers. This would be confirmed with panel members (7^th April).

It was confirmed that the National Housing Federation and the Cabinet member for housing would be attending the next panel meeting (March 7^th 2011).  It was hoped that a representative from the  TSA would still be able to attend, although a confirmation was awaited.

None.