Agenda item

To report back from site visit to APEX House – Customer Service Centre and Housing Options Team.

To discuss with officers (Director of Housing Demand) if there are any further lines of enquiry the panel would like to make.

8.1 As part of its work programme for 2015/16, the panel at its last meeting agreed that it would visit Apex House.  The Chair reported back on the panels visit which was in two parts:

• Customer Service Centre – to understand how clients with housing needs initially present with the Council;
• Housing Options Team – to assess how housing needs are assessed and processed and what programmes the council has in place to prevent homelessness.

8.2 The panel noted the volume of client contacts received at Apex House Customer Service Centre (SCS) was approximately 300 per day of which a substantial proportion were housing related enquiries.  The panel noted that despite preventative efforts of the Council, many people continued to present as homeless at the CSC. 

8.3 The panel noted that the visit was particularly useful as this helped members to further understand the pressures within the housing allocations system and the impact that this has on temporary accommodation. From this visit, the panel noted that Haringey was supporting over 3,000 households in temporary accommodation and that within a newly configured Housing Register, there were over 7,500 waiting to be homed. Given the shortage of housing supply, it was recorded that the average waiting times for a two bed property, even for those in priority need could be up to three years.  The panel noted that such information would be helpful in managing local housing expectations.

8.4 The manager of Housing Demand attended the panel and presented a short paper (attached) and to respond to member questions. The panel noted the recently enacted changes to the Housing Register (HR), which now provides a more realistic presentation of those likely to find homes through the Council.  The removal of bands D and E from the HR was justified as no households had been homed given the relative priority of those in bands A, B and C and the shortage of supply. 

8.5 The panel also noted that there was a falling number of housing lets each year which demonstrated the limited capacity of the council to re-home people. For example:

• In 2011/12, there were 1,103 lets;
• In 2013/14 there were 848 lets;
• In 2014/15 there were 697 lets.

8.6 The panel noted however that the prospect of homing those applicants in band C within the new housing register was still very low given the scale of local housing need and shortage of supply.  The panel noted that housing legislation requires that the Council gives ‘reasonable preference’ to a wide range of people which must be recognised in housing allocations register, even if their needs or the prospect of them being re-homed is limited. Bands D and E in the previous allocation register were those already in housing but who wanted a different type of housing, and were typically those in the private rented sector but who wanted a council house.

8.7 Members of the panel noted the period of time that people are likely to be in temporary accommodation had risen and were encouraged that accommodation standards in this sector risen, particularly in the reduction of using Bed and breakfast accommodation.  The panel were keen to ensure that these trends continued and that standards should be continued to be monitored closely.

8.8 The Panel recognised the difficulties that front line staff face in this work in seeking to meet local housing needs and wanted to extend their thanks to those working in both these teams.

Agreed: To write to Customer Service Team and Housing Options Team to thank them for supporting the panels visit.