An opportunity to question the Cabinet Member for Housing & Estate Renewal, Cllr Emine Ibrahim, on developments within her portfolio.
Minutes:
Cllr Emine Ibrahim, Cabinet Member for Housing & Estate Renewal, responded to questions from the Panel on issues relating to her portfolio:
· In response to a question from Cllr Hare about the ongoing problems with maintenance on social housing estates in Borough, Cllr Ibrahim said that she recognises the challenges. Up to last year only 75% of Haringey’s social housing met the Decent Homes standard and the communal areas are also a huge challenge. There is a financial commitment to bring 95% of homes up to the decent homes standard by 2022 and also funding has been made available through the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) to go a step further to work towards Decent Homes Plus which covers the area from the kerb to the property so that communal areas are covered. Members should receive emails about major works that take place within their wards. Members who wish to receive more information about work in their ward can also write to Cllr Ibrahim as Cabinet Member. Cllr Hare requested a written briefing for all Panel Members from Cllr Ibrahim on Decent Homes Plus including details of the expected timescales. (ACTION) Cllr Gordon requested that Decent Homes Plus be added as an agenda item to a future Panel meeting. (ACTION) Cllr Ibrahim said that she was well aware of the challenges and historic perception about the issue of repairs and that the funds in the HRA must be used responsibly. Some cases come to the attention of Members because a resident has raised it directly with them but it was also important to be conscious of the cases that do not get directly raised with Members or that affect the most hard to reach residents. This includes residents for whom English is not their first language and local authorities do not have the same resources for translation services that they used to. Recently the Council retendered the floating support contracts for local community organisations with a focus on independent housing related advice including those that deliver services for communities identified as having a high level of need. Asked by Cllr Hare how these services are monitored for performance, Cllr Ibrahim said that this falls under the remit of Gill Taylor and a briefing on this could be requested for a future Panel meeting. (ACTION)
· On a request from Cllr Gordon for an update on the Broadwater Farm estate, Cllr Ibrahim said that all 90 secure tenants have now moved from Tangmere block and accepted alternative accommodation. With regards to the 24 leasehold properties, 12 properties have been acquired from Newlon Housing Trust, there are sales of 6 further properties expected to complete by November and negotiations are ongoing with the remaining 6 leaseholders. Of those 6 leaseholders, only 3 still live in the block. In Northolt block there were 83 secure tenants of which 54 have now moved. A further 9 have accepted an offer and are expected to move out in the next few weeks. The remaining secure tenants were being supported to bid for alternative properties as they become available. Of the 14 leaseholders there has been 1 completed sale, offers accepted on 3 others with 10 remaining. The decant of the blocks in Broadwater Farm have obviously had a negative impact on the availability of accommodation for others on the waiting list, most notably on the availability of 1-bedroom properties as most of the properties in Northolt block were 1-bedroom properties. With regards to longer-term plans for the Broadwater Farm estate, a report on this is expected to go to Cabinet in December on the procurement of the architects.
· Asked by Cllr Gordon about the delay to the work on the Red House site in Tottenham, Cllr Ibrahim said that the originally anticipated timeframe had been to have everything ready to go by the end of this year and this is still on target.
· Asked by Cllr Barnes about the inefficiencies that could arise through HfH customer services included cases raised with Members such as repeated problems for residents in registering their details, which end up wasting Member and officer time, Cllr Ibrahim said that she is happy to raise that concern and response by email in more detail. (ACTION)
· Asked by Cllr Moyeed about the high cost of temporary/emergency accommodation and whether savings could be made, Cllr Ibrahim said that this is a big challenge and that what temporary/emergency accommodation looks like has changed over the last 30 years. In the 1980s this meant homeless families being placed in B&B accommodation but in later years there had been examples of landlords charging a nightly rate and describing the accommodation provided as bed and breakfast although it was actually just a flat or house with breakfast items being delivered once a week. The experience of residents also varies depending on whether they are housed within the private sector or within publically owned temporary accommodation such as those on the Love Lane estate where are certain repair standards. The Council’s participation in the Capital Letters scheme, a pan-London programme involving 13 boroughs, should help to improve the quality of temporary accommodation and also reduce costs. The scheme helps to reduce competition between boroughs for accommodation thereby preventing prices from being driven up. The Cabinet had also agreed about a year ago to set up a Community Benefit Society as an independent charity in which the Council is a minority shareholder. The Council will lease former Right to Buy properties that the Council is acquiring to the charity for seven years for them to be repaired and managed as temporary accommodation and then returned to the Council after which they can be used as Council housing.