Agenda item

Ian Swift, the Director of Housing Needs presented the Scrutiny Initiation Document, copy interleaved and the Committee received 2 presentations regarding Overcrowding in Islington and the following issues were highlighted:

The Director advised that following Committee decision to review overcrowding in Islington, a draft Scrutiny Initiation Document has been produced with details on how the exercise will be carried out.

Members were advised of the scope of the review, that the review involves taking evidence from external organisations and analysing data to help understand the scale of overcrowding in the borough and the impacts of overcrowding on residents health, education attainment, well-being, housing conditions, safety and the wider impact on the community. Evidence will be taken from different stakeholders such as Islington officers, RSL, statutory agencies such as Children Service’s tenants, Adult Services, Health Agencies etc.

Ramesh Logeswaran, Head of Housing Needs gave a presentation and the following points were highlighted:

·       Overcrowding is categorised as a household needing one additional bedroom and severe overcrowding is when a household requires two or more additional bedrooms.

·       Overcrowding needs to be tackled as it is associated with increased physical and mental health problems, poorer educational achievement by children, increased risk of infectious or respiratory diseases, increased risk of accidents and fires, reduced stature in children. It is also evident that poor diet and nutrition is higher in people living in overcrowded conditions which can have an impact on family life and relationships which in some instances lead to family breakdown and increased social tensions with neighbours.

·       Overcrowding may be as a result of a number of factors including  family size growth with additional children, other wider family members joining the existing household, guardianship orders and foster arrangements etc

·       Housing Needs supports families in overcrowded households, providing advice on mutual exchanges as one of the best ways for tenants to alleviate their overcrowding irrespective of housing points awarded. Advice is provided on how to prevent damp and mould formation as well as support to rent storage space from the council and to manage energy costs.

·       For severely overcrowded tenants, the service can arrange for the provision of space saving furniture to alleviate the effects of severe overcrowding, undertake home visits with tenants to signpost tenants to other services e.g. Social Care, Bright Spark, SHINE, Property Services (re repairs).

·       Advice is also provided on bidding, local letting schemes and mutual exchanges

·       The Service supports downsizers to move to create voids, in particular offer personalised service to support tenants who are typically vulnerable through the process of downsizing. This generally comprises advanced identification of properties and joint viewings with tenants.

·       To promote downsizing, there is also support with financial incentives for each room ‘released’, support to access a a decoration allowance, moving support, utilities re-connections etc.

·       Mutual exchanges is a great way for residents to downsize, thereby releasing their larger home for a larger household. Housing Needs support tenants who wish to exchange properties with another social housing tenant and this is a joint exercise between Housing Needs and Homes and Communities.

·       Within Housing Needs, officers advise residents on how to register online for the service and explain how tenants can entice others registered looking to move. There are also incentive provisions around decorative/white goods, what is referred to as ‘works in occupation’

·       In terms of performance, the meeting was advised that the Service was unable to meet its target of assisting both overcrowded families and underoccupiers move into appropriate or suitable housing, however it met its target for moving households into appropriate housing via mutual exchange.

·       The demand for social housing is on the rise due to high rents in the private sector, 2922 households approached the council for advice during 2021/22 financial year.

·       In June 2022, 907 households live in temporary accommodation, of which 472 households are living in private sector accommodation. As of April 2022, 15,402 households are on the housing register.

·       In 2021/22 financial year, the council let 829 LBI ( Islington Council) properties and 193 Housing Association properties totalling 1022 properties.

·       Meeting was advised that in 2021/22, 30% of lettings were social housing tenants moving home, 36% to homeless households and 34% are to households on the Council waiting list.

·       Members were informed of the budgetary pressures on the Housing General Fund with the result that the Service will need to significantly reduce the number of households in private sector temporary accommodation to below 300.

·       With regards to the 39 Islington Council New builds in 2021/22, meeting was advised that 9(23%) allocated to downsizers, 8(21%) to tenants seeking a transfer from their existing homes,11(28%) were for like for like transfers and not regarded as overcrowded and 11(28%) were let to applicants on the housing register.

·       Meeting was advised that of the 28 Social housing transfers, multiple chain of moves were progressed leading to households in housing need being placed in suitable homes and this comprises of both overcrowded and severely overcrowded families, homeless families, downsizers, tenants with significant health and welfare issues, domestic abuse survivors, new generation scheme and care leavers.

·       In the case of the 16 Housing Association new builds, 5 were let to waiting list cases, 8 were for overcrowded of which 2 were severely overcrowded, 1 for welfare/medical, 1 for medical/wheelchair need and 1 for downsizer.  

Helena Stephenson, Islington’s Head of Housing Partnership informed the meeting of the issues of overcrowding from the tenants perspective and they include :

·       1396 LBI Overcrowded tenants are registered for rehousing due to fire safety concerns, noise and anti-social behaviour complaints and other wellbeing and safeguarding issues. Another reason for seeking to move is related to damp and mould and additional ‘wear and tear’ repairs

·       Meeting was advised that with regards to fire safety, there is a Fire Risk Assessment programme to address items left in communal areas and associated Fire Safety advice which promotes storage solutions.

·       A suggestion to include as part of the review exercise community groups such as the Somali Welfare Centre was noted. Officers were advised to contact GLA about the Seaside and Community Homes Schemes which provides social housing for over 55’s.

·       The Director acknowledged that overcrowding is a national crisis and as the private sector is unable to meet high demand for housing there will always be instances of overcrowding in households and only building more homes will address this issue.

·       On the issue of living rooms being designated as a bedroom, the Director noted that legislation dates back to 1950’s and successive governments have not passed a new legislation.

·       With regards abandoned properties, meeting was advised that the Council will have to investigate the circumstances first as in some cases tenants may be admitted to hospital temporarily or Nursing homes, after which the property can then placed into void status.

·       On the issue of language being a barrier for tenants interested in mutual swaps, the meeting was advised that the Council has a team in place and information is available online.

·       Meeting was informed that the Service works with its housing partners to address overcrowding and especially in identifying voids.

The Chair thanked Ian Swift, Ramesh Logeswaran and Helena Stephenson for their presentations.

RESOLVED:

·       That the Scrutiny Initiation Document be agreed subject to inviting representatives of community groups as part of the review and for officers to liaise with GLA officers on any funding/initiative available to address overcrowding.

·       That the presentations be noted.