Agenda item

Yvonne Fox, Assistant Director, Housing/Keeley Johnson, Tenancy Services Manager:

a.    presented a report to update Members on the current position regarding the sustainment of tenancies, which continued to be a key priority for City of Lincoln Council with an increased need to provide tenants with essential support and guidance in light of the Covid-19 pandemic

b.    advised that there had been a continued reduction in income for many tenants with ongoing reductions in welfare benefits and an increase in zero hours contracts together with added financial difficulties of Covid-19 meaning that those people not only unemployed but in low paid employment faced significant challenges trying to sustain a tenancy

c.    reported that prior to the national government ban on evictions at the start of the pandemic the City of Lincoln Council had made a very clear promise not to evict any tenant due to Covid-19 where an individual was engaging; evictions had already halved in the 2019/20 financial year with a significant emphasis placed on multi-agency working to keep tenants in their homes

d.    presented figures on the current position regarding sustainment of tenancies and government assistance available as detailed at paragraph 3.1-3.3 of her report

e.    reported further on several measures that had been put in place as a local authority to support tenants covering the following areas:

·         Rent Free Weeks

·         Discretionary Rental Hardship Payment Fund

·         Befriending Service

·         Community Helpline

·         Early Intervention

·         Communications

f.     advised on the development of the Sustainment Team now approved with the pre-tenancy process completed in preparation for recruitment of the team hopefully in the next six months as detailed at paragraph 4 and Appendix A to the report

g.    highlighted that the Allocations/Voids and Tenancy teams had worked together to develop this new streamlined and effective support mechanism to help tenants particularly in the first three months of their tenancies

h.    added that the authority was also in the process of working with external agencies to provide a furniture donation service

i.      requested that members note the actions taken to support tenants in order to improve levels of tenancy sustainment.

Members discussed the content of the report in further detail.

The following discussions took place:

·         Question: How did the council recover charges for under occupancy in cases of tenants struggling due to having lost their jobs during Covid or on zero hours contracts?

·         Response: The housing service would normally look at moving those tenants to more suitable accommodation but this was not possible during the pandemic. Working with welfare advice officers made sure all eligible benefits had been applied for. If it was the case that Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) was not applicable in a particular circumstance the authority would meet the full charge for over occupancy until the end of Covid. The Tenancy Support Team had assisted with over 100 applications for DHP in the last few months. It wanted to maintain tenancies for those people engaging and help as many people as possible on a case by case basis.

Staff had also helped to claim welfare payments under the severe disability premium project amounting to £309,000 backdated into claimants’ bank accounts. This benefit was frequently under claimed.

·         Question: Was the Sustainment Team only available to Council tenants?

·         Response: The initiative was extended to NK and city wide. A working group was already active made up of the Allocations/Tenancy and Homelessness Teams, so that once the Sustainability Team was set up it could hit the ground ‘running’. A press release would be made as soon as this was possible.

·         Question: How did the Sustainability Team operate?

·         Response: The Tenancy Sustainability Team was open to all tenants although not all tenants needed it. Tenants that hit the vulnerability criteria were offered help automatically. It was also particularly helpful for new tenants. People required different levels of support. No tenant would be threatened with eviction before first being supported by a Tenancy Officer and offered free legal advice.

·         Question: This initiative was very welcomed. Would the team be able to manage success in terms of performance?

·         Response: Yes there were key performance indicators in place for the Sustainability Team e.g. level of support/cost of evictions reducing/ average level of debt/ number of referrals/customer satisfaction. Happier tenants made for happier communities which aided income collection and a reduction in anti-social behaviour.

RESOLVED that the content of the report and members comments be noted with thanks.