Members of the Tenant Scrutiny Panel gave a verbal
update on the work of the Panel. It was noted that:
- It had been
useful to exchange feedback.
Particularly with regard to vulnerable
people.
- The panel
listened as much as possible to residents and tried to feed in any
possible help from the Council.
- The panel
could give residents insight into the difficulties faced by the Council
and the work done to address them.
- The Director
of Housing had attended meetings and given talks.
- It had been
useful to engage with Housing Officers and to understand their role.
- There had
been frustration amongst some residents about being unable to get through
to officers. Tenants needed
somewhere to report issues to and pass information on.
- As part of a
response to this there was a reminder of the multiple Pop up Housing
offices across the City including the
Porkpie Library. This was a step forward in terms of being part of
the Council structure.
In discussions with Members and Officers it was
noted that:
- There were
approximately 17 residents on the panel, from all wards of Leicester. It had been set up following sessions
held the previous year with tenants, in which various communities had been
engaged with to see how they wanted to engage with the Council. The Council were keen to ensure that
anyone who wished to engage had the opportunity to do so. The Council were also ensuring that there
were other types of opportunity for tenants to take part.
- It was aimed
to look at the conditions of tenancy to ensure they were adequately
robust.
- The panel
were keen to recruit.
- The group
would join TPAS, who could provide training and support for tenants
getting involved in scrutiny. This
would help people to join and develop so that they could engage in the
most effective way.
- A log was
kept of the issues addressed by the panel.
This could periodically come to the Commission to look at the
impact of what as taken to the panel.
- The panel met
every two months and decided on the agendas themselves. Officers from the council ensured that
the panel was representative. Local
engagement work was done to bring in people from all communities. Engagement officers worked with people
from across the city to ensure the panel was representative.
- Officers
organised Housing Pop-up offices every week. These had proven to be popular with
residents.
- It was noted
that the job of housing officers had changed. They now had more responsibility around
such items as Fire Safety. Much of
their work was not visible to tenants.
As such, one of the reasons for Engagement Officers was to be more
visible. Engagement Officers could
be another point of contact for residents.
- One of the
Engagement Officers came to a craft group in Saffron ward at which patch
walks and community clear up days were discussed. Another idea discussed had been ‘skip
days’ at which the community were informed they could dispose of things in
the skip.
- Engagement
Officers could fulfil roles that Housing Officers were no longer able to
do. With Engagement Officers in
place, Housing Officers could now focus more on the landlord function.
- Engagement
Officers could find out the needs of residents. Engagement Offices could be more
flexible and add capacity to more bespoke issues. This made the team more dynamic.
- A work
programme for Engagement Officers was being developed,
and would go to the tenant panel for their input.
- Consumer
standards from the Housing Regulator needed to be complied with.
- It was
suggested that residents who had difficulty leaving their homes could be
communicated with by post in order to inform them
of the work of the Council and the panel.
Additionally, digital exclusion was an issue in communicating with
residents.
AGREED:
1)
That the update be noted.
2)
That comments made by members of this commission to
be taken into account.
Councillor
Clarke left the meeting during the consideration of this item.