Agenda item

Consideration was given to the Housing Strategy Refresh 2019-2022 presented by Tom Bell, Assistant Director of Housing, which had also been considered by the Health and Wellbeing Board at its meeting on 19^th September, 2018.

 

Sarah Watts, Strategic Housing Manager, gave a presentation using PowerPoint outlining the details of the early draft and the comments received to date which would help shape the strategy:-

 

·                2016-19 Strategy – The 5 themes.

·                Achievements.

·                The New Strategy – a chance to have your say.

·                Things that have changed.

·                Overview of housing in Rotherham.

·                Value of new housing.

·                The Vision – Three Year Strategy and Refresh.

·                Structure – five key priorities.

·                Timetable for refresh – phases.

·                Pipeline Projects.

 

A discussion and a question and answer session ensued and the following issues were raised and clarified:-

 

·                The development of eco housing, but careful use of the term in case this had a negative effect.

 

·                Meetings to consider Ward profiles and focus on the specific property requirements for young and active residents, but also around Adult Social Care, adapted properties and building communities.

 

Variations across the Wards were recognised and if specific property requirements were not reflected then evidence needed more refining to gain a better understanding of need.

 

·                Gas servicing targets were 100%, but many householders had not yet got their documentation.

 

There would be investigation into the delay of households not being issued with gas certificates.  Rother Living was a brand that was being attached to new housing tenures and houses for sale.

 

·                From the key priorities how explicitly could some of the issues within Wards be addressed and could a map be made available of land for use within the Wards. 

 

Meetings would take place to understand trends, new housing and demographics and this would be included within the Ward profiles and help to form the evidence base of any projects. 

 

·                Priorities for housing associations and working in partnership

 

There was a big push around home ownership and recognition that there was other tenures for people that needed affordable social housing and this needed to be retained in Rotherham for as long as possible.

 

Housing providers were accountable for around 5% of housing in the Borough. A forum of key providers would meet to develop projects at a City Region level. 

 

The Service was in the process of mapping out what housing owned land Rotherham had access to and this would feed in the development pipeline.   The Service would be working closely with the Council’s general asset team to work together on different pieces of land and provide a greater picture of what was available.

 

Housing in Rotherham had been recognised as one of the top three performing social housing organisations in the country. It was also seen as an innovator in housing delivery, both of which were key to the Government agenda.

 

There was good consultation about right to buy with a need to feed back on the process.  Rotherham was well placed to go and trial new approaches to make it work locally for building and replacing housing. 

 

·                Maintenance of existing properties and Ward walk arounds to highlight some of the problems.

 

A meeting would be set up a meeting with Repairs and Housing to walk around the estates with Ward members and pick up some observations.  The Service was investing in more new posts for estate management providing more frontline officers on estate management issues. 

 

·                Could further information be provided on Section 106 agreements and update provided on the Community Infrastructure Ley.

 

Strategic housing acquisition programmes through Section 106 agreements were where the Council negotiated the purchase of properties at a discount usually around 60% of the market value.  Value for money must be demonstrated and if it could not be then acquisitions were not made.

 

Liaison would take place with Planning and ascertain how a report could be brought back to the Select Commission.

 

·                The Strategy referred to social value and contractors.  Was there any appetite for this to include contractors paying the foundation living wage and not the Government’s living wage? 

 

Social value was incredibly important and the best deal would be sought from the investments across the Borough.  £66 million was being used from the HRA for new homes. 

 

Work was taking place with the local colleges and local schools and Waites had been appointed who distributed social value on their construction works.  This would continue in terms of the thriving neighbourhoods agenda and ward priorities.  

 

·                Social mobility and health technology had advanced since implementation of Rothercare.  What was the future of the phone line and were there any plans for this to be replaced. 

 

Rothercare was facing a big journey in the digital agenda of assisted technologies to maintain independence in residents’ own homes.  Technology was moving at a pace and Rotherham had not kept up with this with Rothercare telecare system being thirty years out of date.

 

A review was being undertaken to explore options good to ensure that housing and adult care moving forward had the improvements as a specific priority in health and wellbeing.

 

·                The vision was to revitalise the town centre and urban community, but there were more than one town centre.

 

In terms of the town centres it was not possible to do everything at the same time.   The Council was trying to improve the residential offer in the town centre and with the resources had three sites identified.  It was recognised that the Borough made up of a number of towns.

 

·                Members would appreciate a modern complaints system and for local housing officers being involved in the first instance for people moving into rented properties. The Strategy itself referred to the need to prevent families from exploitation and financial hardship.

 

There were now more people in low cost home ownership/shared ownership.  This could potentially help people with a lesser deposit.  Consideration was being given to products around such as try before you buy rentals and then moving towards home ownership.  There were some Government assistance purchase schemes.  It was important that the right needs assessment was undertaken in localities where new developments were created to meet local need.

 

The Council’s modern complaints system for housing took more enquires/interactions with customers covering thousands of repairs.  Occasionally things did go wrong, but these were put right first time and where possible they would not happen again.  It was with this action complaints were starting to reduce and not escalated at stage. 

 

The Councillors’ case management system was evolving and a process for making sure tenants’ had a voice with involved interaction with the Repairs and Maintenance Service.

 

·                Did the strategy meet the demand for specialist housing.

 

The Strategy enabled the Council to work on supported housing to meet needs best it could.  There was an overwhelming demographic demand for accommodation and an accommodation plan was being used with Adult Care and Children Services so the Council was better informed about their requirements.

 

·                Some insurance rules required a gas servicing certificate and to aid circulation could these be Ward generated and distributed with Ward leaflets.

 

Following last week’s gas awareness week it was reported the Council were now 100% compliant with its gas safety checks.  The next steps would be to start thinking about undertaking checks for private landlords.

 

·                Had consideration been given to the installation of solar panels on new properties given the summer weather and savings that could be generated?

 

Action was already being taken on how to maximise income and minimise spend on areas like fuel.  One key issue in the Housing Strategy helped with budgets with heavy investment into insulation and effective methods of keeping properties warm.

 

There were a number of problems with the Government’s feed in tariffs and grants for solar panels.  Whilst the use of solar panels would not be discounted in the future and smart investments revisited, consideration also had to be given to access, repairs and what happened with the equipment should tenants move to ensure householders remained safe.

 

Resolved:-  (1)  That the information and presentation be noted.

 

(2)  That a copy of the revised slides be circulated to the Improving Places Select Commission.

 

(3)  That consideration be given to a future report on progress of Section 106 Agreements and the Community Infrastructure Levy.