Agenda item

To receive a report from Laura Martins (Acting Strategy & Policy Hub Manager)

Laura Martins (Acting Strategy & Policy Hub Manager) and Susan Sharry (Head of Housing Strategy) presented a report on the consultation being undertaken on the Housing Allocations Scheme.   Councillor Levy explained that this was the first time an item was presented to OSC for pre-decision scrutiny. Comments would contribute to the consultation which ends on 8 September 2017.

The following issues were highlighted by Laura Martins :

• The Housing Allocations Scheme was being reviewed in order to continue to prioritise applicants fairly whilst ensuring that it meets current legal requirements. It aims to help in the prevention of homelessness and temporary housing pressures and to effectively manage estate regeneration.  An undertaking was made in 2012 that the scheme would be reviewed at this time.
• The scheme aims to simplify the process.  There are severe pressures on social housing in the borough and whilst the scheme will not solve this problem it is hoped that members of the public will be able to understand as clearly as possible the realistic options available to them.
• One of the main challenges has been to ensure that people who would be most affected by the policy would be able to take part in the consultation. As part of this, 10 community sessions have been held and also a meeting with ‘registered landlords’ group would take place on 8 September 2017. Officers have also engaged directly with communities and discussions held with community groups. There have been advertisements in the local press and the council website.  As at the time of this meeting there had been 577 responses
• The responses currently indicate that a lot are in favour of the proposals.  It is apparent that the aim to reach people affected by the policy has been realised with 32% of respondents claiming either Council Tax support or Housing Benefit.  24% have a disability or long term health problem and 26% of respondents are from a BME community.
• Responses will be analysed and evaluated, and a report would be shared and discussed with the Executive Management Team and the Cabinet Member by early October 2017. The final version of the Housing Allocation Scheme document will go to Cabinet in February 2018. The scheme will go live in 2018.

Councillor Smith said the new scheme proposals do not appear to be very different from the existing ones, it appears to mainly ‘fine tune’ the policy.  He spoke of the large number of questions in the survey (approximately 50 to 60) and said it was positive that we had received a significant number of responses. He said the issues were very thought provoking.

In answer to a question from Councillor Levy about whether help had been given to people to guide them through the survey process, it was answered that support had been provided including that given for community groups.

Susan Sharry spoke of the key proposed changes to the scheme:

·         The number of ‘demand groups’ to be reduced from 6 to 5, with existing Enfield Council and housing association tenants together under Group 1.  There continues to be a group ‘Enfield Council’s estate regeneration applicants with decant status’.

·         The register would indicate a ‘cut-off’ position so that if people do not have enough points they will not be able to bid. This is to ensure people have a realistic understanding of their chances.

·         There is a proposed ‘auto- bidding’ process for those who are currently not bidding for properties although they may be in the most need. This is particularly relevant for those who are in ‘long term’ letting accommodation which is expensive for the local authority.

·         Previously only applicants with children under 15 years could bid for properties with gardens, this would no longer be the case and it is proposed that this would now be open to all.

·         Where points were allocated regarding ‘employment’ and were previously thought to be ‘unclear’ this would be clarified.

The following issues were raised:

·         Applicants will be provided support and advice on how to use the bidding system. For applicants on the system who fail to bid despite help being provided they will be linked to the auto-bidding system and a bid will be placed automatically.

·         Every year a lettings plan is approved by the Lead Member for Housing and Housing Regeneration where a quota of properties are assigned to each of the ‘demand’ groups.

·         Councillor Rye spoke of the ‘local connection’ criteria, which he said could be considered as a contentious issue. He asked if this was based on case law and if other local authorities use the same time period as Enfield or whether this could be changed to 5 years?  It was confirmed that this was determined by case law.

·         Councillor Rye said some may consider it to be appropriate for a ‘harsher’ process to apply for those people who are living in properties that are being ‘under-occupied’ to encourage them to ‘down-size’. It was explained that for people with a larger property looking to down-size this is being encouraged by a higher number of points being allocated to them. Officers were also working closely with people to enable them to move to a smaller property. However, this is not always possible because of their requirement for high quality properties in their desired location.

·          It was suggested by Councillor Rye that there be a more prominent role for members in dealing with difficult housing situations that arise, in a similar way to how the former ‘housing panel’ operated.

·          There were concerns raised about the new IT systems needed to ensure the new scheme could be launched. Details of costs/ suppliers would be provided. Action: Laura Martins/ Susan Sharry.

·         It was requested that a geographical map be provided showing the location of consultation responses. This would be provided with the final report.

·         It was confirmed that those people who became homeless prior to November 2012 were awarded a higher level of points as we cannot discharge our duty by an offer of suitable accommodation into the private rented sector.

·         Concerns were raised about people who have been bidding for an incorrect property –i.e where the property may only be for a person with disabilities.  It was confirmed that at present officers verify applications. The new IT system should ensure that applicants are given a warning when entering inappropriate information.

·         Under the section regarding advertisements for available homes - where  mention is made of the type of tenancy being offered, such as secured or assured tenancies -  it was confirmed that these were legal terms.

·         In section 3.3 which refers to Household income, assets and savings – it was mentioned that applicants would not qualify for the housing register if their income is considered high enough for them to be able to afford alternative housing in the private sector – it was asked if we had an idea of what these figures would be.  It was thought approximate figures to be used would be savings of £50K, family income of £70K pa. and a single income of £40K pa.

·         It was thought there was a lot of manual input to operate the scheme at present, the new system should allow for more standard letters to be put in place. It was anticipated that it should allow for applicants to be kept better informed.

·         It was thought more should be done to provide more desirable properties for those people wishing to downsize – to enable larger properties to be released.

·         Reference was made to the Government’s proposal for ‘time limited’ tenancies, this was a voluntary proposal put forward to local authorities. Enfield had decided against this proposal.

Councillor Levy said it was encouraging that the consultation had received so many responses and he thanked Laura Martins and Susan Sharry for their report.    It was noted that the report of the consultation response would be discussed with the Executive Management Team, Council and Cabinet member by early October 2017.