Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Cinko-Oner and North.

There were no declarations of substitute members.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Housing Scrutiny Committee held on 13 May 2024 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

Chair reminded meeting that membership and Terms of Reference of the Committee was agreed at Annual Council on 11^th May 2024.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted

None

None

Borough Commander Andy Carter and Superintendent Jack May-Robinson provided the committee with the Police Annual Report and the following issues were highlighted:

·       The focus of the Police Force is primarily on community crime-fighting and working with Londoners to make it a safer place. It fundamentally resets how the force serves Londoners, transforming how to protect the public from harm, combatting violence against women and girls and safeguarding children. In addition, it is important that all measures are in place to prevent crime through a proactive and precise approach and providing the best results for victims of crime.

·       On the issue of culture change, the force has now embedded values and principles of policing by consent in how it undertakes its daily functions. Also it aims to ensure that in terms of its personnel recruitment that it becomes a more diverse and inclusive organisation so as to reflect the society it serves and in addition has put in place systems to root out discrimination and raise standards.

·       Meeting was informed that over 18months the Police was tasked into addressing the issues picked up by Baroness Casey’s review and with the conjunction with the leadership of Islington Council it has produced a local action plan with 10 actions that are easily measurable and monitored.

·       Board was reminded that following publication of the Baroness Casey Report, local partners and communities from Islington have requested clarity on the Borough commitment to take action locally, in order to address the points raised on policing.

·       The Central North Local Action Plan has been developed in order to deliver upon the “A New Met for London” Strategy from feedback raised by the local partnership and communities.

·       Delivery of the actions is to be monitored by the community through quarterly New Met for London meetings, which will enable community representatives to provide feedback as part of an ongoing conversation, and actions will also be monitored through quarterly strategic meetings with the Local Authority.

·       Board was advised that regular progress updates will be provided to partners and community to ensure confidence in the Police’s commitment to deliver on the specific actions within a year; to monitor progress; to continually review; and, ultimately, to change and deliver the Mission of More Trust, Less Crime and High Standards.

·       On the issue of Neighbourhood policing, focus is primarily on both coordinated crime fighting and community engagement activity by strengthening local links with communities to build trust by delivering consistency in staffing and staff retention. Also the Police have put in place a 2 year tenure for neighbourhood roles, thereby ending the current probationer carousel system.

·       With regards to enhancing professionalism, meeting was advised that a Board is in place which reviews complaints, misconduct and threats identifying opportunities for interventions around professional standards. The Board ensures compliance with policies and processes including focus on the areas that have been identified as a “risk of corruption.

·       In terms of citizen involvement, the Police have developed its approach to consultation and public participation in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Besserat Atsebaha, Director of Community Safety, Security and Resilience, Homes & Neighbourhoods and Nick Austin, Interim Project Delivery Manager provided anupdate on Islington’s Property licensing scheme in the private rented sector. The following points were highlighted.

•                 The Private rented sector now accounts for a third of housing in Islington and although many privately rented properties are satisfactory, a significant amount are not up to standard.

•                 Islington’s Private Rented Sector Charter sets out Council’s commitment to stand alongside private renters and work with private landlords to maintain and improve standards.

•                 Property licensing is one of the tools the Council employs to help address inadequate housing standards, rogue landlords, anti-social tenants, and the impact of poor management. In an area subject to licensing, all private landlords must demonstrate that they are a ’fit and proper’ person to let a property, obtain a licence and provide and manage accommodation to a reasonable standard.  If they fail to do so, the Council could take enforcement action.

•                 Director informed meeting that there are three licensing schemes currently in operation in Islington, mandatory, additional and selective.

•                 Mandatory licenses is a borough wide scheme for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO’s) covering five or more people from two or more household’s sharing one or more basic facilities such as a bathroom and/or kitchen. This obligation has been in place across the country since 2006 and does not expire.

•                 With regards to Additional licensing schemes, meeting was informed that it is a boroughwide discretionary scheme adopted by the council which commenced in February 2021, and covers smaller HMOs occupied by 3 or 4 persons who are not members of the same household who share kitchen and/or bathroom facilities. It also includes properties converted into self-contained flats where the conversion work was not carried out in accordance with the Building Regulations 1991. The Council’s additional scheme is due to expire in February 2026 unless a new scheme is approved.

•                 Selective licensing scheme is a discretionary scheme adopted by the Council in February 2021 covering the old Finsbury Park ward boundary for single and two-person household properties or a single family. This has now been expanded in May 2024 to cover the new Finsbury Park, Tollington and Hillrise wards.

•                 In response to a question, meeting was advised that Licensing schemes run for a maximum of five years and a fee is payable for each licence.

•                 In terms of benefits of a licensing scheme, meeting was advised that it enables Council to regulate the condition and management of private rented properties in the borough so as to improve property standards and management; protect our residents from rogue landlords; support the reduction of other problems being caused by poorly managed privately rented accommodation such as antisocial behaviour and waste management issues.

•                 Property licensing also helps deliver improvements by driving better management and faster resolution of issues; helps to identify landlords who do not proactively manage property standards and struggle with other property management  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

With regard to the topic to scrutinise during the 2024/25 Municipal Year, the following topics were raised and discussed:

·     Review of Community Centres
Members were advised that although officers are presently undertaking an information gathering exercise on this issue, no time scale has been agreed on completion date. Chair suggested officer’s exercise could be fed into the Committee’s formal review, stating that he would want the review to be undertaken from a resident perspective.
Executive Member stated that although this could be addressed via the Asset review, any scrutiny by committee is welcome

Private Rented Sector

·     Meeting was advised that in light of the challenges experienced by private renters such as high rent and quality of accommodation and the high cost of living, this would be a review topic welcomed by private renters as quite a number of properties in Islington are privately rented.

·       

The Chair moved a motion that Community Centres be the topic for review during the 2024/25 Municipal year is Community Centres and a potential review on Private rented sector. This was seconded by Cllr McHugh.

The Chair informed meeting that prior to the next committee meeting in September both he and the Vice Chair will be meeting the lead housing officers to scope the review with the view of drafting the Scrutiny Initiation Document (SID).

RESOLVED:
That community centres will be the main topic for review of the Committee.

That Committee consider a mini review or an officer update on Private Rented Sector.

Ian Swift, Director of Housing Needs and Strategy updated committee on Council’s commitment in addressing temporary accommodation by purchasing Ex-right to Buy Properties. The following points were noted:

·       The aim of report before Committee is to provide an update on the Council’s purchase of Ex - Right to Buy properties with funding provided by the GLA/DLUH&C and approved by Executive on the 19^th October 2024.

·       The Director advised that officers welcome suggestions from the Committee on any additional actions to ensure that the Council completes the purchases of these properties before the 31^{st of} March 2026 deadline.

·       The Executive Committee on the 19^{th of} October 2023 approved the borrowing of £85,304,000 within the Housing Revenue Account to supplement the funding provided by the DLUH&C to enable the council to purchase 310 Ex Right to Buy properties and to accept the DLUH&C capital grant funding of £81,725,260.

·       In response to a question on funding, meeting was advised that on 20^{th of} July 2023 Executive approved borrowing of £26,359,000 within the Housing Revenue Account to supplement the funding provided by the GLA/DLUH&C to enable the council to purchase 40 x 1 bedroom Ex Right to Buy properties, for care experienced young adults and people sleeping rough in Islington or the prevention of people sleeping rough, 20 x 2 bedroom Ex Right to Buy properties 20 x 3 bedroom Ex Right to Buy properties and 20 x 4 bedroom Ex Right to Buy properties for people who are homeless from Afghanistan and the Ukraine as part of the council’s humanitarian housing work. With capital funding totalling £20,591,000 allocated to Islington Council by the DLUH&C/GLA.

·       Council has purchased 156 Ex Right to Buy properties in Islington since these programmes commenced. This performance shows the council has completed the purchase of four properties every week since the 19th of October 2023 approvals provided by the Executive.

·       Therefore, combining the completed purchased properties with the properties due to completed soon will result in 246 (60%) of properties being purchased from the 410 properties in the programme. The Housing Operations services aim to complete the purchase of a further 164 Ex Right to Buy properties in the before the end of the 2025/2026 financial year.

·       In response to a question, Director stated that he would circulate a heat map showing the locations of the Ex-Right to Buy properties.

·       On the question of whether these properties could be subjected to right to buy, meeting was advised that these properties are to address temporary accommodation and protected from sale.

·       An updated report with more details will be shared with committee in the near future.



RESOLVED

That the report be noted

An update report on Void be scheduled for a future meeting.

Ian Swift, Director of Housing Needs and Strategy updated committee on the

progress of the recommendations following the committee’s review into overcrowding and under occupation. The following points were noted:

·       The Action plan has been designed in partnership with Adult Social Care, Homes and Neighbourhoods and Children’s services, plus Health agencies.

·       The Housing Scrutiny Committee conducted a 12-month strategic review for Overcrowding and Under-Occupation, by considering presentations from across the council, presentations from partner agencies including Housing Associations, legal advice agencies etc, reviewing all available data and considering best practice from other councils.

·       The Review conducted by the Housing Scrutiny Committee approved twenty recommendations and these are contained within the attached Action Plan

·       The Housing Scrutiny Committee decided at the January 2024, to receive regular updates to all future Housing Scrutiny Committee meetings on the progress in implementing these recommendations to ensure momentum continues with this important work.

·       The Action plan identifies the following progress for implementing the twenty recommendations: 9 (45%) Green, 10 (50%) Amber and One Red to implement the recommendations in full. Please note since the last update provided in February 2024, the actions in Green have increased by three, Ambers have reduced by four and Reds have increased by one.

·       The housing crisis continues to be challenging for Islington Council and all council’s with a 25% increase in the use of temporary accommodation for homeless households in Islington, a reduction in available lettings for Islington Council and Housing Association homes, an increase in households joining the housing register, an increase in Home Office evictions for people with a legal right to remain in the country with limited eviction notices provided to these people and reduction in new build affordable housing due to the current economic environment. However, it remains of the greatest importance to implement the twenty recommendations approved by the Housing Scrutiny Committee despite the context provided.

RESOLVED:
That the 6 monthly progress report be noted.

RESOVED:

That the draft work plan be noted.