Issue - meetings

This item was chaired by Councillor Todd-Jones

 

Matter for Decision.

 

To review the Social Lettings Pilot after one year from the point at which the first property was secured by the social lettings agency, which was established with a brand name of Town Hall Lettings (THL) and obtained its first property in March 2014.

 

Decision of the Executive Councillor for Housing:

 

     i.        To continue with the Town Hall Lettings (THL) until April 2016, applying lessons learned to date and with a particular focus on reducing rent arrears and collecting rent.

    ii.        Agreed for Officers to bring an updated review report to the Housing Scrutiny Committee in September with options for the future of THL after April 2016 including any ongoing financial implications

   iii.        To align THL with any existing and new Council initiatives, serving a wider range of customers, such as family housing, and explore additional procurement options.

 

Scrutiny Considerations.

 

The Committee received a report from the Housing Advice Manager.

 

The report referred to the key outcomes, learning points and value-for-money comparators emerging from the project. The recommendations from the report were critical because government funding would have been exhausted by March 2016 and it was clear that the Council and other partner authorities, who wished to continue to be involved, would need to commit resources to the scheme if it is to continue beyond this point.

 

In response to the Committee’s comments, Officers, the Director of Customer & Community Services and the Executive Councillor for Housing made the following statements:

 

     i.        Acknowledged that Universal Credit being paid to the individual and not direct to the landlord could be an issue in terms of rent collection not just for the social letting agency but social landlords in general.

    ii.        Best practice would be considered to ensure that rent collection was maximised.

   iii.        Figures for the age profiles of those customers who were benefitting from referral into the single homelessness service and Town Hall Lettings would be supplied outside of the meeting.

  iv.        The City Council kept their own record of the number of rough sleepers but had also commissioned the organisation ‘Cambridge Crime Reduction Initiatives’ to provide records. The organisation counted the number of individuals each month and took an average yearly figure. Weekly figures were also sent which were cross matched with the City Council’s figures.

   v.        Data from the last two years had shown that the number of rough sleepers had not increased.

  vi.        THL related to the general fund housing activity. Any write offs at the point which they were deemed unrecoverable would go through the Finance and Resources general debt process.

 vii.        Many tenants in THL were private tenants.

viii.        Unaware of other Local Authorities who had used the original funding to set up a social lettings agency, therefore it was difficult to benchmark.

 

Committee Mangers Note: Figures for the age profile are as follows:

 

Age profile of Single Homelessness Service (SHS) clients

(age of SHS clients at point of first contact with the service)

 

18-24	100
25-34	88
35-44	51
45-54	42
55-64	18
65+	2​

Note that over half of SHS were aged 30 or under at the point of first contact.

 

Age profile of THL residents

(age of THL residents at time of signing tenancy agreement)

 

18-24	7
25-34	10
35-44	5
45-54	7
55-64	2

 

The Committee:

 

Resolved (unanimously) to endorse the recommendations

 

 Councillor for Housing approved the recommendation.

 

Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted).

 

No conflicts were declared by the Executive Councillor.