Agenda item - SOCIAL HOUSING WHITE PAPER

Agenda item

SOCIAL HOUSING WHITE PAPER

To receive a presentation (combined with Item 4 above) from Joanne Drew, Director of Housing and Regeneration.

Minutes:

Joanne Drew, Director of Housing and Regeneration and Sarah Stevenson Jones, Resident Safety Director gave a presentation on the Social Housing White Paper and highlighted the following.

 

1)    The Government have now published the Social Housing White Paper, which contains what all social housing residents should expect from social housing providers. There are 7 themes or charters comprising the White Paper.

2)    In addition, the White Paper sets out what the government will do to ensure landlords live up to the new charter and it means Local Authorities must be transparent about its performance and decision making. This will ensure that tenants and the Regulator of Social Housing can hold them to account.

3)    The 7 Charters outlined in the White Paper, relate to safety in your own home, landlord performance, improved complaints handling performance, to be treated with respect, landlords engagement with residents, a good quality home and neighbourhood and support for first steps towards homeownership.

4)    Enfield Council are well positioned to respond to ‘Safety in your own home.’

5)    ‘Landlord Performance’ will be increasingly in the spotlight and will include issues such as how anti-social behaviour is dealt with, which is extremely important for residents.

6)    Within the scope of the White Paper it is important to note how effectively the Council respond and deal with complaints, rather than the number of complaints themselves.

7)    Charter 4 is a key part, which relates to how we will listen to residents and respond to their views.

8)    Under Charter 5, the Ombudsman will have the power to refer any systemic complaints to the Regulator of Social Housing if appropriate.

9)    The review of the Decent Homes Standard and ensuring neighbourhoods are safe form part of Charter 6.

10)Charter 7 outlines the government’s commitment to provide social housing tenants greater opportunities to buy their own home. Half of the homes provided via the Affordable   Programme will be for affordable home ownership. A new Right to Shared Ownership will provide an opportunity to purchase a minimum stake of 10% in their home, with provision to purchase further shares in the future. It is important in Enfield to have a wide variety of housing products to meet the need.

 

 

The Chair thanked Officers for their presentation and asked for questions and comments from Members of the Scrutiny Panel.

 

11) It was noted that to engage with residents, focus groups, work-shops and ‘Housing News.’ would all be utilised and the Resident Engagement Strategy would be refreshed. Officers will also be working with the Customer Voice.

12) A suggestion was made that there should be more collaboration between landlords and residents to prevent referrals to the ombudsman. In response, it was noted that in order to resolve complex complaints, resident panels could hear the final stage complaint, a process which works well in other boroughs.

13)Once the pandemic has passed, it may be beneficial to encourage the formation of more resident’s associations to improve the sense of community.

14)The Right to Buy Scheme is still in operation but in addition, within the council house building programme the Council could build shared ownership homes at the lower entry level.

15) It was confirmed that the White Paper does not include private landlords who will not be part of the regulatory framework. Cabinet are due to consider setting up a voluntary charter that private landlords could sign up to, promoting good standards of housing provision.

16) A comment was noted that all residents, either tenants or leaseholders should be treated equally.

17)A question was asked in relation to the former Housing Advisory Board and the newly established Housing Advisory Group, specifically how will the administration ensure transparency in dealing with issues of concern from residents? In response, it was noted that an annual satisfaction survey will be carried out with tenants and leaseholders, the results of which will be submitted to the most appropriate governance forum.

18) It was noted that the private rented sector should be scrutinised in an appropriate way to ensure tenants rights are enforced and private rented landlords should be accountable. Enfield has the highest level of evictions from private rented accommodation in the country so this is a massive challenge and we need to take proportionate but reasonable actions to protect this sector. To support private landlords the council has established a telephone advisory support service as it is recognised that some tenants can be difficult. This will assist to sustain the tenancy in both the parties interest.

19)It was confirmed that an organisation called Better Homes Enfield was not involved in council housing service provision.