Agenda item

The Director of Housing submits a report to provide an update on the changes taking place in the regulation of social housing. The Scrutiny Commission is recommended to make any comments as they see fit. 

The Director of Housing presented the item, and it was noted that:

·       A new social housing regulator was introduced in April 2024 following tragedies such as Grenfell and the death of Awaab Ishak, to inspect all providers over a four-year period to assess against new standards. The Local Authority will therefore be subject to review and assessment of all activities delivered by the Housing Revenue Account with full details of the social housing regulator included in the report.

·       Social landlords will be graded following inspection and can range from C1 as the best to C4 the worse. C1 and C2 being the social landlord is compliant, C3 requires improvement and C4 if the social landlord is in serious detriment. The regulator has new powers and if a social landlord is found to be in serious detriment can undertake direct inspections, issue enforcement notices and unlimited penalties.

·       The Local Authority has and continues to work to prepare for the introduction of the social housing regulator and pending inspection. It has been challenging to undertake a self-assessment as the standards were issued in February 2024 and the regulator introduced shortly after in April 2024.

·       The housing division has many strengths but has identified areas for improvement. The regulator has made it clear to social landlords that they may not be expected to be fully compliant but require improvement plans for identified areas of improvement and processes are in place to provide assurance the division can meet the standards to the Deputy City Mayor for Housing and Neighbourhoods and can be reported to the Commission if requested.

The Deputy City Mayor for Housing and Neighbourhoods further highlighted that it had taken time for the detail of some out of standards to be issued which was important to benchmark against and commence development of an action plan of learning and priorities.

In response to questions and comments from Members, it was noted that:

·       The Local Authority is committed to ensure properties meet the decent homes standard and is 99.5% compliant by continuing to invest in housing stock to provide quality affordable homes for future generations. The service has robust safety and standards arrangements in place with a good intelligence that stock is of a good standard overall compared with others. However, the service is not complacent in its awareness that an aging stock can result in issues and some properties are sometimes returned in poor condition. 

·       A robust process in place to address damp and mould in council homes and work is also undertaken as part of the private rented sector strategy to support tenants in the private sector. Generally, there has not been widespread issues with damp and mould in the housing stock, although there are a small number of properties due to their design that have had problems. A specialist team has been created to manage cases including undertaking technical inspections and required work. Members were encouraged to ensure any cases of damp and mould be referred to the service.

·       Criteria is set to determine decent homes standards, including age of the building and whether it is of reasonable condition subject to time installed of bathroom, kitchens etc. The division hold data of the housing stock and use for programming capital investment. 

·       The installation of metres for property on district heating has generally generated significant savings for tenants. There have been some cases reported where bills are higher and a process has been put in place to inspect infrastructure and provide advice for using heating thermostats as most case relate to these types of issues. Members were encouraged to share cases with the service if tenants are experiencing higher bills.

·       The regulator will be inspecting all social housing landlords, including registered providers. Members were asked to share details if regular concerns are raised about external housing providers. 

·       High rise building owned by the Local Authority were inspected and none were found to have cladding to require remediation. Works have been completed at high rise buildings in the city, including the demolition of Goscote House and installation of sprinkler systems at towers in St Peters and St Leonards Court. Three high rise buildings were categorised as ‘high risk buildings’ and therefore required a building safety case to be submitted to the building safety inspector which is being reviewed but the service is assured on inspections by the Leicestershire Fire & Rescue Service that council owned high rise buildings are safe. 

Councillor Waddington raised concerns about communication and proposed that housing enquiries from tenants, councillors and members of the public be responded to in ten working days which was seconded by Councillor Bajaj. The Chair allowed for discussion in which Members were informed of tenant engagement sessions being developed that will also facilitate Member involvement to identify different practices for communication moving forward. The Deputy City Mayor for Housing and Neighbourhoods also highlighted varying processes for enquiries to be received by the housing division and indicated that a piece of work be undertaken to determine the viability. Councillors Waddington and Bajaj continued to move the proposal and following a vote the recommendation was carried.

AGREED:

·       The Commission noted the report.

·       Members to be invited to participate in tenant involvement discussions.

·       The Commission recommended that housing enquiries from tenants, councillors and members of the public be responded to in ten working days.