Agenda and minutes

Venue: Civic Hall, Leeds, LS1 1UR. View directions

Contact: Emma Lomax 0113 3783330  Email: Emma.Lomax@leeds.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Welcome Introductions and Apologies

To agree and sign off the minutes of the previous meeting.

Minutes:

JG opened the meeting and welcomed all in attendance. Everyone introduced themselves and apologies were noted. New board members Neil Battison, Dennis Moody.

 

2.

Exempt Items

Minutes:

None

3.

Late Items

To identify items which have been admitted to the agenda by the Chair for consideration.

 

(The special circumstances shall be specified in the minutes.)

Minutes:

None

4.

Minutes of Previous Meeting

To confirm as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on

Minutes:

The previous meeting minutes were approved as a true record.

5.

Chair's Report

To receive an update from the Chair on scrutiny activity, not specifically included on this agenda, since the previous Board meeting.

Minutes:

Firstly, can I apologise to the board and our two guests for having to cancel the March meeting, this was due to the late notice we had that taxi drivers around the city were striking and this left us little option. Regarding our review of the Tenant Engagement Service as you are aware we halted Stage 2 to get further clarification from the service regarding the “Voice Panel“ and after speaking to Ian Montgomery before he went on leave, I was told his report is ready and I will talk further about this in Item 6 of today's agenda.

I had a meeting with Cllr Raffique the executive member for Environment and Housing and gave him an update of our Stage 2 review. We also discussed our meeting today. There will be a further meeting in early June.

I had a telephone conversation with Councillor Anderson, the Chair of Environment, Housing and Communities scrutiny board and gave him an

update of Stage 2 review. There will be further meetings in June that may or may not be with Cllr Anderson as we are at the period where they do sometimes change the Chairs of the other 5 Scrutiny boards.

There is to be a day conference being held in Leeds on the 21st of June by Northern Housing Consortium, a body that has a membership of councils and housing associations from across the north of England. Ian Montgomery will attend with the Chair of TSB.

 

6.

Housing Leeds

·  Impact of COVID 19

·  Measures put in place to aid recovery

·  Q&A

Minutes:

GT – As of March 2020 Housing Leeds were not allowed to enter homes and estates as before to undertake repairs/carry out tenancy visits and had to change ways of working. Had to work quickly to change policy and there were no annual visits being made. Acknowledged that they got it wrong to start with but have since been tweaking policy as restrictions have been lifted. As office employees were brought back on a hybrid approach some officers are in 2/3 days a week. If this flexible approach doesn’t continue to work for tenants moving forward it will be reviewed. Gerard advised there is a new Tenant Portal which should be fully implemented by Summer 2022.

The Everybody In initiative brought in by the Government meant that Housing Leeds had to find accommodation for everyone quickly and had up to 300 individuals in temporary accommodation. This led to a change in policy on how to engage with rough sleepers and victims of drug and/or alcohol abuse or victims fleeing domestic violence. Housing Leeds have created a new Women’s only hostel for victims fleeing Domestic Violence. Some tenancies which were created from the Everybody In initiative broke down due to several reasons including ASB. Housing Leeds are implementing new pathways to tenancy support for individuals, so they are completely ready for living alone and managing a tenancy agreement.

A further issue was delays with repairs because of the pandemic which caused a backlog of repairs. The backlog of cases was 9,000 which is now down to 4,000.GT advised this figure should be down to pre-pandemic levels within the next three months.

Covid 19 resulted in workforce shortages due to the self-isolation rules. Also Brexit has caused supply chain problems and an increase in material costs. The waiting list for Leeds Social Housing is continually growing and currently has 27,000 people on it. It was 20,000 two years ago. 7,000 of these are classed as Band A with urgent need. On average it takes people on average 3 years to obtain a council property. It would take 3-4 years to house Band A waiting list alone.

There is a supply issue with Social Housing stock – LCC used to turnover 4-4.5k properties per annum, this has dropped over the last 18 months and is now predicted to turnover 2k properties for the year.

The Right to Buy scheme has impacted housing levels, a reduction from 95k to 54k properties.

Housing Leeds are helping more people get into private rented accommodation, this is currently around 50-60 tenants per month. Landlords are now pricing rent due to increased demand across the city to above what some people can pay – this is a challenge. On average 200 new properties are being built per annum.

Voids – There have been delays in repairs caused due to the pandemic. This was 0.7% prior to the pandemic, currently this is 1.5%.

 

There are more financial pressures faced – housing is funded by rents which is 240 mil  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Phase 1 - Feedback and recommendations

Minutes:

Tenant Scrutiny Board considered the phase 1 recommendations that were still being tracked. Ten in total. The board then updated their position.

 

  Separate tracking document available.

8.

Forward Plan

Minutes:

Ian Montgomery will be at the next meeting, John advised his report will arrive with the meeting agenda at least 7 days before the next meeting. Board to question Ian on what Your Voice Leeds is about and where it is going. Stage 2 review will end after the next meeting

 

9.

Election of Chair and Vice Chair

Minutes:

PG advised election due for Chair and Vice Chair and gave overview of the process. Contact PG if anyone is interested in these roles. Closing date for expressions of interest 13/5/22. 

 

10.

Date and Time of Next Meeting

Minutes:

20th May 2022, 12:00 – 14:00. Civic Hall Committee rooms 6/7 and MS Teams