Issue - meetings

To receive the report of the Head of Scrutiny and Member Development on the opportunity to raise questions and issues with the Director of Neighbourhoods and Housing.

(Report attached.)

The Head of Scrutiny and Member Development submitted a report which afforded Scrutiny Board Members the opportunity to put questions to the Director of Neighbourhoods and Housing.

Appended to the report for Members’ information was performance monitoring information relating to BV212 (average time taken to re-let local authority housing) and BV66a (rent collected by the local authority as a proportion of rents owed on Housing Revenue Account (HRA) dwellings.) This information had been referred to the Board by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Neil Evans, Director of Neighbourhoods and Housing and Simeon Perry, Strategic Landlord Officer, Neighbourhoods and Housing, had been invited to attend the meeting to answer Members’ questions.

To summarise, the discussion focussed on the following topics:

-  The accuracy of recent press coverage regarding the number of people currently on the waiting list for council accommodation;

-  Research into social housing which is currently ongoing to determine the extent of housing shortages in the city;

-  The average time individuals can expect to be on the register whilst waiting to be re-housed, including the reduction in this figure for those in a priority category;

-  The numbers of first-time tenants who are evicted from Council properties, and the issues surrounding these evictions, such as rent arrears and anti-social behaviour;

-  What steps were being taken to tackle the problem of evicted Council tenants going into private accommodation in problem areas of the city to ensure that issues were resolved and not simply displaced;

-  The latest update on the status of Leeds as a Respect Action Area;

-  The projected costs of the extra support workers required to implement new schemes associated with the Respect Agenda;

-  The need for the Authority to work in partnership with the Police to ensure that breaches of anti-social behaviour orders are effectively tackled.

The Chair thanked Officers for their attendance and contribution to the meeting.

RESOLVED – That the contents of the discussion be noted.