Agenda item

Councillor Donald Nannestad, Portfolio Holder for Quality Housing:

a)    presented a report to Performance Scrutiny Committee covering the following main points:

-       Homelessness – this continued to be a significant issue in Lincoln. The number of people who presented themselves as homeless varied in the first two quarters of the current year from a low of 21 in April to a peak of 52 in July. The Government homeless and rough sleeping initiatives during the pandemic had been responded to well and this continued to be the case.

-       Tenancy Services – the staff in Tenancy Services had worked extremely hard to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on rent areas and collection. The two-week rent-free period was brought forward from Christmas to the start of the financial year. A discretionary rental was set up hardship fund which had assisted 179 tenants.

-       Housing Repairs – one effect of COVID-19 appeared to have been a reduction in the number of repairs reported. Priority repairs were being carried out within 24 hours and urgent repairs within 3 days.

-       Voids – At the end of quarter 2 there were 65 void properties. The process of bringing these back into use had been substantially affected by COVID-19. This had resulted in the turnaround time being 50 days which was up from 32 days.

-       New Build/Allocations – The pandemic had slowed down work on new properties but the five new properties on the site of the former Markham House building on Swift Gardens were completed and had been let to tenants. Although work on De Wint Court extra care unit had been affected, this was still hoped to be finished in the current calendar year.

-       Health – The COVID-19 pandemic had completely dominated health over the last year. In terms of general health, the data from Public Health England showed that life expectancy at birth for both men and women continued to deteriorate and continued to be worse than for the rest of England. Economic deprivation was a significant factor in health and housing was another major factor.

b)    invited members’ questions and comments.

Question: Members asked if there were any figures available for New Schedule Repair System and how this linked to the Climate Change Agenda and any updates for the Green Agenda?

Response: The Scheduled Repairs System was at its trial stage and there were no figures available yet. The contract for the vehicle fleet was being retendered so we may be able to obtain hybrid vehicles. Better quality materials that lasted longer were being put in properties so not as many yearly repairs would need to be carried out. Fleet costs should decrease if hybrid vehicles were added to the fleet.

Question: Members asked for figures of people that were in B&B’s, if there were any families and what the cooking facilities were like so that children had access to hot meals?

Response: B&B’s had no cooking facilities and hotels were not serving food which was a problem across the country. There were 4/5 people in B&B’s and 15 in temporary accommodation which had access to cooking facilities. Vouchers and support to provide meals for people that didn’t have cooking facilities was provided.

Question: Members asked how many staff had been furloughed and how many had been re-deployed.

Response: In the first phase there were 47 staff furloughed and 40 in the second phase. Some staff were allocated to the befriending service, delivering food within the City, Business Grants Payments and staff were also trained to help cover the Lincare phone system.

Question: Members asked what the intention was for the two-week rent-free period for tenants as it occurred at Easter time last year?

Response: The hardship fund was available to help tenants meet payments and so far it had helped over 100 tenants.

Question: Members asked whether there was an update on the Housing Related Support Grants from Lincolnshire County Council and what process was in place for evictions?

Response: The existing Housing Related Support contract  was extended  until of October, this helped people with complex needs. The new contract started at the beginning of October. Evictions had been suspended and there would be a long wait to get a court date due to backlogs. Judges had prioritised domestic violence cases over evictions.

Question: People could present themselves as being homeless up to 56 days before they were evicted. Members asked whether they could be evicted before this date.

Response: Tenants could only be evicted if a court order was obtained.

Question: Members asked how much it cost to get ‘buy back’ properties back up to a lettable standard and what the plan was for the future of buybacks.

Response: It cost approximately anywhere between zero and £10k to get buybacks up to a lettable standard, depending on the condition of the property. Future buyback properties were being looked at to sit alongside the new build properties.

Question: Members asked whether we monitored the environmental efficiency of our Council Houses and how tenants got electric points for cars installed.

Response: We held detailed accounts of the equipment that was installed in each property such as boilers etc, which helped us to look at future needs/upgrades. We also have a SAT rating for each of the properties in our stock. All new properties had electric charging points installed in them.

Question: Members asked whether vehicle telematics would be installed on the new fleet vehicles?

Response: Telematics software was already available within the fleet and the new fleet would have it also. At the minute data could not be accessed unless a complaint was raised and a year-end summary report could be run out of th software. The year-end data was an all-round figure which related to driver style as well as vehicle usage and not specific for each employee.

Question: Members asked whether the reduction in repairs being reported was due to people not wanting workmen in their homes.

Response: The reduction in repairs being reported was down to older tenants not wanting anyone in their homes together with a lot of people who were isolating.

Question: Members asked what hadn’t been resolved by the new voids provider.

Response: The contractor for voids was not equipped to deal with the amount of work we had with a lack in the amount of resources they had to work on these. This situation had improved dramatically since.

Question: Members asked whether something needed to be done to improve the life expectancy of residents in Lincoln as it was not good.

Response: Cllr Nannestad sat on a Physical Lifestyle Board which worked with businesses to promote more physical lifestyles. Children’s play areas helped promote this initiative and work was ongoing to improve housing.