Agenda item

The Director of Housing submits a report to update the Housing Scrutiny Commission on the Housing Capital Programme delivery for the first half of financial year 25/26.

The Director of Housing submitted a report providing an overview of the Tenancy Management Service, the support it provides and its performance as a social housing landlord to Leicester City Council tenants.

Key points included:

• The Director of Housing introduced the Head of Service for Housing to present the Tenancy Management Service overview. 
• The performance report was brought forward every year, to review the standard of the housing support offered. The city was made up of three districts, which covers 20,000 tenancies, 1,800 Leaseholders and three traveller sites which are covered by the traveller team. There is also the Star Service and Help Beyond Housing Team, who help support and house the most vulnerable Council tenants.
• Particular attention was drawn to 3.6 which covers the priorities for the service. These include fires safety, customer care, better estates, LiveWell and specialist support. It was noted that the priorities reflect the key standards set out by housing regulator. Another area highlighted was 3.7 which details the role of housing officers and the work they are involved in.
• A key performance area is fire safety. There are 1500 communal areas that need to be inspected, which is carried out by Housing Officers as part of their role.  Last year 95% of the fire safety inspections were completed on time.  Personal emergency evacuation plans were carried out, so tenants with special requirements such as disabilities, are identified and evac plans are put in place for them. Currently, 352 plans are in place for tenants which is an increase from last year. Other areas of note include updates to E-bike and scooter fire safety. In particular, the storage and charging of the Lithium batteries.   
• Tenants at the Burns flat raised issues about the conditions of cleanliness in communal areas. This was used as a chance to review all communal areas city wide improvements seen and revised improved services and intensive monitoring is now in place.
• Performance has been linked with the tenant satisfaction survey to highlight areas of improvement and how these targets were being met or worked towards. 
• Customer engagement and care had been developed through the engagement team and a tenant scrutiny panel. Projects such as pop-up housing offices and meetings have been beneficial in collecting feedback from residents. This data has been important in shaping and scrutinising the services provided. The team had been collecting the information on area and communities which the engagement was coming from so that it could be examined to see which areas and communities to focus on in the future. This also allowed for better communication between the Council and tenants about what could be achieved/delivered. 
• Projects were explored, such as the Community Garden to help tackle loneliness amongst the elderly and the star team’s work, helping residents with various issues. 
• Challenges of the sector were featured. It was explained how it could be hard to meet expectations from residents when it came to Anti-Social Behaviour cases. Things could not be done straight away as there are legal processes that need to be followed.

In discussions with members, the following was noted:

·       The increase in tenant satisfaction was praised and questions were raised about what is being done to increase it. It was noted that since the staffing issues have now been resolved and queried if there would now be a correlating uptake in the Fire Safety rating. In answer to this it was commented that the engagement team is already increasing, and this was being picked up from the positive interactions with residents. It was further advised that the fire safety rating has since increased from 95% to 98% which already showed an increase.

·       There was talk around how the data for the surveys was collected. In response, it was advised that the first year of the survey was mainly online with a small number of face to face only, but this raised accessibility issues. This year a company had been hired to address this. The company picked a random selection of properties in the city to conduct door knock surveys, with translation teams on site to aid accessibility. To be statistically valid a minimum of 1,000 tenants needed to be asked for this survey to be statistically valid. We completed

·       The issue of anti-social behaviour on Belgrave Road was raised by a Councillor. They were advised that their residents could contact the Community Safety Team who will come out and investigate any disturbance. The details to be shared after the meeting.

·       Questions were asked about £200k environmental budget and how wards can apply for the funding. It was advised that every year Housing approach the ward Councillors and tenants to ask how they would like the money to be spent. It was stressed that suggestions are welcome.

·       Further details about the personal evacuation plan for residents during a fire were requested. In response it was explained that a resident with issues would be identified, a plan for how they would escape in a fire would be planned and it would be assessed if they needed help evacuating. These details would then be passed on to the emergency services and held in a local locked box that can be accessed by Fire services and kept up to date.

·       A subsequent question was asked regarding the feedback from the pop-up housing offices and how the information was collected from these locations. It was advised that there was a QR code at the pop-up housing offices as well as on leaflets, so tenants can complete a three-minute survey either in the offices or at their own leisure.

AGREED:

1)    That the presentation be noted.

2)    That comments made by members of this commission to be taken into account.