Agenda item

Report of the Director for Placemaking and Housing. To be introduced by the Leader of the Council.

The report seeks approval to a revised members agreement and articles of association in relation to Homes for Haringey. These have been revised as a result of the new arrangements following insourcing of the Council’s stock retained housing service in June 2022.

The Leader of the Council introduced the report which sought approval of two key Governance documents in relation to the Councils wholly owned subsidiary company Homes for Haringey (“HfH”). These are a revised Members Agreement and Articles of Association and connected approval of Special Resolution. 

It was noted that while the Council brought the management of its Council homes through its Arm’s Length Management Organisation ‘Homes for Haringey’ in house it still operated as the Council’s wholly owned company, assisting residents facing homelessness and needing safe and secure temporary accommodation by sourcing private sector leased properties on its behalf. Homes for Haringey was one of the vehicles that allowed the Council to assist residents and last year alone Haringey had received more than 4,000 homeless applications.

In response to a question from Cllr Emery on why the service for sourcing and leasing private sector properties remained under the scope of Homes for Haringey rather than the Council, it was noted that this was for sound financial reasons. It was further explained that the business case to allow the sourcing of the private sector leases through Homes for Haringey was agreed at the time Homes for Haringey was brought in house so that the Council could charge the full local housing allowance rather than charging a percentage of it. There was also a reminder that these private sector properties were for temporary accommodation lets.

RESOLVED:

1 That Cabinet, acting on behalf of the Council in its role as owner and sole

Member of HfH:

i) Approve the revised Members Agreement for Homes for Haringey (set out

at Appendix 1 of this report), which shall apply to HfH once adopted by the

Directors at a meeting of the HfH Board

ii) Approve the revised Articles of Association for Homes for Haringey (set out

in Appendix 2 of this report), which shall apply to HfH once adopted by the

Directors at a meeting of the HfH Board

iii) Approves the Special Resolution (set out in Appendix 3 to this Report) to

adopt new Articles of Association, enter the Members Agreement in

accordance with Recommendations 3(i) and 3(ii).

iv) Notes that, once approved, the Leader will sign the Special Resolution.

v) Approve that the Assistant Director of Partnerships and Communities be the

Councils nominated representative at HfH Board meetings and delegates

authority to the Chief Executive of the Council to approve changes to the

nominated representative as may be required from time to time.

Reasons for decision

Homes for Haringey is a wholly owned limited company of the Council. As such

it is required to have up to date Articles of Association and it is desirable that it

have a Members Agreement, setting out between the two documents clearly how the company will be governed and managed.

The existing Members Agreement and Articles of Association were approved in

May 2022. These were approved as part of the insourcing of the Councils owned housing stock, closure of the ALMO and change in management structure.

Following the insourcing in June 2022 the documents were reviewed further at a board meeting of HfH on 1 June 2022. It is understood that the Directors of HfH proposed amendments to both documents at their Board meeting on 1 June 2022.

The draft Members Agreement and Articles of Association incorporate amendments to meet both the requests of HfH and the Council’s requirements.

The new documents reflect the agreed governance structure for HfH as well as

having an up-to-date framework in relation to its operation.

Failure to approve the recommendations will mean that the Council does not have an up-to-date set of documents that best reflect the new structure following the insourcing of the Council’s housing stock from its ALMO.

As the Owner of the Company the approval of the new documents is a decision

for the Council to make via the Leader or Cabinet as set out in the 2022 Signing

Report.

There are no direct costs related to this approval. Furthermore, the approval of

these revised documents does not directly affect residents of HfH. The proposed recommendations relate to the effective governance and operation of the company.

The current approved Members Agreement identifies the Councils representative as the person holding the role of Assistant Director of Housing Demand (or such successor title) from time to time or such other person as nominated by the Owner from time to time to act as its authorised representative which shall be determined by the Owner in accordance with its constitution from time to time and notified to the Company in writing. The post of Assistant Director of Housing Demand is currently vacant, and it is therefore necessary to nominate another representative.

Once again as the Owner of the Company the approval of the Council

representative is a decision for the Council to make via the Leader of Cabinet.

Failure to ensure the Council has a nominated postholder will mean the Council

will not have a representative to act on its behalf.

Alternative options considered

The Council could choose not to approve the revised documents and retain the

existing documents in place. This option was rejected as this would mean they

do not reflect the current operating structure and are out of date.

The Council could choose not to nominate a representative on its behalf

however, this would mean it will not have a named representative to act on its

behalf and represent the Council at Board meetings and have oversight of the

management of the Company. This option was therefore rejected.