Agenda item

This report sets out the performance of housing services at Quarter 1 for the period 1 April 2023 to 30 June 2023. This is the first report setting out the new measures that were agreed at committee on 20 June 2023.

The Interim Business Improvement Manager was invited to present the report to members.  Attention was drawn to appendix 1 that set out the key measures, including benchmarking, to assess the Housing Service’s performance. These figures would be shared with residents via a new performance webpage to ensure transparency and updated quarterly.

The Chair then invited members to make comment or ask any questions. Referring to paragraph 3.4, concern was expressed that performance for quarter 1 had declined in nine areas,  in particular the declining performance regarding emergency repairs.  The Interim Head of Housing acknowledged this decline and advised performance, in terms of timescales, had been raised with the responsive repairs’ contractor.  As stated earlier during the meeting, steps were being taken to resolve these matters with the contractor through the flexibility of the contract and it was expected that improvements would be seen within the next few months.  In response Councillor Pendleton commented that she did not want to see further decline and asked the Chair to ensure the Committee was regularly kept updated outside of the meeting. 

The Interim Business Improvement Manager agreed to include in future reports the actual figures for temporary accommodation and, if achievable, to provide a breakdown of where in the District they were placed.   The Housing Options Manager confirmed that as of 11 September 2023, 203 households were in emergency and temporary accommodation combined.

Concern was raised about the shortfall in rent collections, The Interim Head of Housing explained improving rent collections to upper quartile performance, to between 98% and 100%, was an area of focus in the Service Plan.  The detrimental impact of arrears on tenants was acknowledged and work would continue to improve recovery rates.   The Interim Business Improvement Manager added that a dedicated Financial Inclusion Officer and Tenancy Sustainment Officer assisted tenants in financial difficulty.

The Interim Business Improvement Manager undertook to clarify the different housing arrears figures set out in the report.

The Housing Options Manager provided explanation of the bandings and bidding process in relation to the housing list, details of which were on the council’s website.  She undertook to provide the Allocations Policy to the Committee, outside of the meeting.

A non-member of the committee was allowed to make comment and ask questions. Reference was made to past performance of the Housing Service during his time as Leader of the Council.  He had supported projects, when led to believe these would result in significant improvements.  Whilst he acknowledged there had been some improvements, he expressed disappointment that performance was not improving quickly enough and asked when Quartile 1 performance would be reached.  The Interim Head of Housing advised the aim was to achieve quartile 1 performance regarding the priorities identified by residents.  He suggested a report could be presented to the Committee outlining the plan for each priority and when it was expected quartile 1 would be received.  Officers had not set out a timescale with a trajectory for improvements, but were able to carry out this work and would report the results to the Committee. 

The Committee noted the progress detailed in the report.