Agenda and minutes

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

JG welcomed everyone to the meeting and apologies noted for Rita Ighade.

None.

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

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

None.

To agree and sign off the minutes of the previous meeting

The minutes from the last meeting were approved as a true record.

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

JG addressed the board and guests and explained the purpose of the Chairs update.

JG advised of conversations with Peter, to finalise the agenda and forward plan of meetings until the end of the year. Works is also under way to update the Terms of Reference and re writing this in more tenant friendly language. The changes will be brought to the board via a draft and then tabled for approval. JG will also ask a member of the board to support him in this.

JG is due a meeting on 8^th November with Councillor Rafique, Executive Member for Environment, Housing and Communities to update him on the work of the Board. JG will also be attending the Environment, Housing and Communities Scrutiny Board, as well as the Housing Ombudsman Resident Panel next week. 

JG explained to the Board why the Housing Officers have been asked to attend the meeting, to find out more about the work they do.  This will then be followed on at next months meeting with a discussion with Team Leaders and Housing Managers from the same areas for the same questions and discussion. In December, Gez Tinsdale, Chief Officer Housing, will be attending, and we can ask further questions of him to give a full picture of the local housing management service.

For anonymity and allowing them to speak freely, the Housing Officer’s will be referred to in these minutes as Officer A, B, C and D.

JG asks the first Housing Officer to describe some of their common duties.

Officer A described how typically on a Monday the focus is on rent account checks which need any action, contact with the customer, payment or formal action to escalate from the prior week. Each week reviewing activity and any rent recommendations made. There are usually between 50-60 cases to review through CX, the computer system. Additionally, there can be further cases not processed by the system or to help with if there are other officers are on leave.  Rents related work is the main activity for Monday and can include looking at introductory tenancies and also considering the support needs of tenants who may be in financial difficulty.

JG – How long have you been a Housing Officer?

OA – Just over 3 years

JG – Is your patch an estate?

OA – It’s recently changed to a combination. I also have several high rises, two 16 storey blocks and two 11 storey and some maisonettes.

SB – How many tenants in total?

OA – Was around 360 at start, but due to staff shortages peaked at 405. It has recently been changed and now back down to 250 properties. 

JG asked OB the same questions

OB – I have been a Housing Officer in Seacroft for one year and I’ve moved patches twice. There were lots of bungalows on my first patch, so was managing issues related to more elderly tenants. I was then asked to move to a larger patch with more variety of tenants in Seacroft North which has 343 properties. There is a mixture of 2 high rise blocks and a mixture of maisonettes and 2/3 bed homes. The last estate walkabout I did was around 7.5 miles of walking the area in total.

JG – What is your Monday day like? On your patch are you alone and how many other officers in your Housing Office are there?

OB – My Monday is very similar to Officer A, we prioritise rents related work. In our office we are trying to look at tenancies over £150 in arrears.

There are 3 types of contact if you are progressing arrears, call, text/email and then visiting the tenant. On my current patch when I first started 80-120 would be the usual number of recommendations I needed to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

IM – We have shared an update with those members on the board who we have been asked to keep updated with progress and are happy to have feedback from them.  We have created a draft application form, promotional flyers and set up a database for the information about members to be held. We are still working on other items, such as email and social media communications, internal guidance for staff nd the induction material to launch and welcome new panel members.

JG – asked if there was a launch date?

IM – No launch date as yet, we need to ensure what I’ve just spoke about is all in place, but will aim to do as soon as we can, avoiding launching anything over the Christmas period.

November Meeting – Learning further on issues within local housing management service - Four Housing Managers/Team Leaders attending.

December Meeting – considering the TSM satisfaction data and an overview of the service from Gez Tinsdale

As discussed, November/December meetings will now be held at Civic Hall, Committee Rooms 6/7.

18^th November 12:00 – 14:00pm. 

Committee Rooms 6/7