Agenda item

The Chair welcomed Phil Harris, Assistant Director Strategic and Community Housing, to the Committee to present the report on progress in response to the Audit Commission’s inspection recommendations for allocations and lettings. Mr Harris reported that improvement work was ongoing, and that progress against the action plan was monitored formally on a fortnightly basis. Since the Audit Commission’s report of October 2007, numerous changes had been made to address the issues raised, including changes in personnel, the development of a multi-organisational homelessness strategy, a comprehensive housing strategy, increased activity with the temporary accommodation user forum and the involvement of service users on interview panels. It was reported that the percentage of temporary staff employed had reduced from 29% to 20% during the implementation of the new structure, and that no redundancies had been made. The issue of temporary accommodation remained a priority, and the number of households in temporary accommodation had reduced from around 5,400 to 4,336 and was likely to have reduced further to less than 3,500 by the end of November 2009. It was the aim of the Service to have reduced this further to 2,600 by the end of 2010.

Mr Harris reported that, from a very challenging starting point, the Service was moving in the right direction and that all the recommendations raised by the Audit Commission in their report would have been addressed within the next 12 months.

The Committee asked about the issues relating to households placed outside the borough, and how these could be addressed. Mr Harris reported that the number of households placed outside the borough had reduced since 2003/04 from around 100 to around 30 families. In future, it was proposed that any leases procured or renewed would not be further than 1.5 miles beyond the borough boundary, and that the Council was working to dispose of leases held outside of that area. The Committee asked about the situation with households housed temporarily within Haringey by other London boroughs, and it was reported that the Council was looking to reduce the number of households being housed in the borough from other boroughs by means of procurement processes.

The Committee asked about the voluntary London Agreement to address the issue of private landlords abusing the system, and was informed that this was no longer in operation, as it had not been possible to obtain the transparency required. It was reported that the Council was continuing to work with private landlords, however, and it was hoped that this relationship would continue to develop. In response to a question from the Chair, Mr Harris confirmed that the situation had improved significantly, and that meetings with private landlords were now being held on a regular basis.

The Chair noted that a number of the recommendations contained in the action plan were ongoing, and asked how these ongoing actions were being monitored. Mr Harris reported that robust monitoring strategies were in place, with lead officers and a number of service improvement groups were tasked with carrying out the actions identified and that implementation of the homelessness strategy was supported by 9 delivery groups and monitored by an implementation group. Progress on all actions was monitored on a fortnightly basis by a Board chaired by the Chief Executive.  Mr Harris confirmed that he was the overall co-ordinator for monitoring progress.

In response to a question from the Chair regarding the level of assistance offered by the Housing Associations, Mr Harris confirmed that the Council was working with the Housing Associations to increase capacity. The Committee asked about the income received from private landlords, and how the management costs of these arrangements was funded. It was confirmed that management costs had been funded by Central Government, but that the changes in subsidy arrangements in 2009 meant that this income would no longer be received. The way in which the impact of this change would be managed was being considered as part of the business planning process. The Council was responding formally to a consultation on the changes and was also making preparations by reducing the use of temporary and emergency accommodation.

The Chair thanked Phil Harris, Assistant Director, for presenting the report and responding to all the questions raised in relation to the report.

RESOLVED

That progress made to the Allocations and Lettings service to improve this service area be noted.