Agenda item

Councillor James Murray, Executive Member Housing and Development, was present and made a presentation to the Committee, copy interleaved, during which the following main points were made –

·         It was noted that the availability of numbers of 4 BR and 5 BR properties was decreasing and under occupation moves were also decreasing

·         Across North London there are almost 12,000 households in TA and Islington has 959 the second lowest number behind Camden

·         Nightly booked is the most expensive TA and causes overspends since it costs the Council more than it is able to rcoup in rent. The overspend for 2014/15 is likely to be £2m. The plan is to reduce the number of households in nightly booked TA to reduce this overspend and every week between 10 and 20 households to be booked in so substantially more than that have to be moved out

·         In 2014/15 to date the numbers reduced in nightly booked temporary accommodation from 527 to 477.A reduction of at least 150 is planned during  2015/16

·         There are around 18,000 households on the housing register, of which 4,200 are Council tenants registered for a transfer

·         For 2014/15 it is projected there will be 1,300 lets a 20% drop in available properties

·         The social lettings agency will be launched in 2015 to offer a fair deal to  private renters and also a service to landlords

·         Responsive repairs, gas and voids services have now been brought back in house and are located at offices in Brewery Road and Northway House for gas and there are a number of challenges that are being looked at

·         99.7% of rents due for 2014/15 have been collected and the LBI collection rate is lower than Partners (PFI) collection rate

·         Average re-let time for voids for LBI is 19 days and for PFI is 24.3 days

·         Concern has been raised by Members and Residents about PFI performance, especially around lifecycle repairs and a number of actions were being taken to address these concerns

·         Islington remains committed to delivering affordable new homes to its residents and between 2015-2019 plans to deliver 2000 new units and as part of this the Council is planning on developing 500 new units of housing similar to the development at Vaudeville Court

·         A Member enquired how may points were required for a next generation tenant to get a property and it was stated that this was dependent on a number of factors but without new generation points being applied these people would not be able to be rehoused

·         In response to a question it was stated that a review of allocations policy would shortly be taking place, however if new generation points were increased this would be at the expense of other people in need not being rehoused as there was only a limited amount of properties available

·         It was stated that in relation to the social lettings agency that the Council did have a small lettings agency at the moment called Islington Residential so the Council did have limited experience in this regard. However it is not proposed to grow the business too quickly as it was important to get it right and build it up gradually over the next few years

·         Concern was expressed at some of the data provided by PFI regarding their performance and it was stated that the data was currently being assessed by an independent expert appointed by PFI

·         Councillor Murray stated that the Council were buying properties using current Right to Buy receipts using these for temporary accommodation in the short term and in the long term returning them to Council housing. An allocation of £6m had been made to purchase 20 properties

·         It was stated that with regard to consultation that this was dependent on the type of development and the TRA was involved as soon as possible and proposals discussed with them and tenants were involved as soon as possible

·         In response to a question Councillor Murray informed Members that he would provide details of how much rent arrears were written off in the previous year

·         Reference was made to recent reports with regard to PFI relating to communal repairs, voids and leaseholder satisfaction and it was stated that these should be circulated to Members of the Committee

·         A Member enquired as to the current position on overcrowding and it was stated that the figure had reduced however some people were not moving because of the uncertainty over rents. There was an expected drop in the number of properties to let of 20%, and in particular in relation to 4BR and 5 BR properties

·         The Chair stated that if there were any further questions from Members these should be forwarded to Councillor Murray

RESOLVED:

(a)  That once the data on PFI performance, referred to above, has been analysed details be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee

(b)  That the Executive Member Housing and Development be requested to provide details of how much rent arrears were written off in the previous year

(c)  That the recent reports with regard to PFI relating to communal repairs, voids and leaseholder satisfaction be circulated to Members of the Committee

(d)  That any further questions on the presentation be forwarded to the Executive Member Housing and Development for consideration