Agenda item

Report of the Executive Director (Housing and Communities) which provides a summary of key performance of the Welwyn Hatfield Community Housing Trust.

Report of the Executive Director (Housing and Communities) providing a summary of the performance in the key areas of Welwyn Hatfield Community Housing Trust’s (the Trust) activity up to the end of the third quarter 2016/17, as set out in Appendix A attached to the report.  It was noted that the Trust had reintegrated to the Council and therefore this was the last performance report produced by the Trust for services managed by the Trust. 

A performance management report on the housing services in the future would be provided and the structure and presentation of that was currently being agreed.

During the discussion the following points were made:-

Housing Stock

·         The types of properties available.  During this quarter 23 properties were sold through the Right to Buy Scheme as listed within the report.  A total of 62 for the year to date period so far.

Rent Collection and Arrears Management

·         The bad debt provision for quarter three performance in the past reported arrears at their highest percentage for each previous financial year and this was reflected again for the current year with performance at 2.29% for December 2016.  It was anticipated that there would be a gradual reduction over the final months in quarter four.

·         Tenants facing difficulties were being helped by the Housing Team.

·         Rent collection was expected to achieve 100% at year end with the positive impact of the two rent free weeks.

Managing Under Occupation

·         58 moves had been achieved year to date.

·         The Home Mover Officers had worked with tenants, assisting with practical issues and other such matters associated with a property move and this service had helped vulnerable tenants to downsize.

Homelessness and Temporary Accommodation

·         There had been a decrease in the number of households approaching as homeless.

·         The number of complex cases had taken considerable time to investigate before a decision could be made – therefore people stayed in temporary accommodation for a longer period.

·         There were also many external factors which affected how long people stayed in Temporary Accommodation.  For example, currently many people were losing their private rented accommodation because recent changes to housing benefit rules meant that conditions were less favourable for private landlords.

·         Another factor was the availability of move-on accommodation both into social and private rented sectors. Members discussed the target figure of 55 and the achievement of the target.

·         Members considered the external factors which might have an impact on the figures, also whether additional resources would help to move the target figure to 60?

·         Consideration was given to accommodation for 18-25 year olds and new legislation.

Housing Needs Register

·         If an applicant had not bid for a property for six months or more at the point of the review, they were notified that their application would be cancelled unless there were exceptional circumstances to explain the non-bidding.

Complaints and Compliments

·         The Key Performance Indicator (KPI) summary for service activity was explained.  The percentage of stage two complaints responded to within target was showing as 80% for the quarter, this being below the target of 90%, due to one case out of the five being responded to four days after the expected date.  The case involved complex housing needs issues.

·         The nature of complaints was considered together with the increase in customer compliments received.

·         Officers were focussing on ensuring that the services provided met the highest possible standards together with areas of weakness to be addressed.

·         New processes were being developed, with staff training – in particular for gaining feedback from customers so that the Council could fully understand why customers were unhappy.

Repairs

·         Results of the Gas Servicing Customer Satisfaction – 563 residents scored 7 or above.

·         Gas safety checks together with the number of checks that were overdue. One property remained overdue as it was currently a potential abandonment case where an injunction would be pursued if there was no response from the Housing Management contact.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.