Subject: Housing Committee Work Plan progress update and Housing performance report - Quarter 1 2022/23

Date of meeting: 28 September 2022

Report of: Executive Director Housing, Neighbourhoods & Communities

Contact Officer: Name: Martin Reid

Tel: 01273 293321

Email: martin.reid@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Ward(s) affected: All

1. Purpose of the report and policy context

1.1 This report illustrates progress against Housing Committee work plan 2019-23 priorities and targets, as well as other Housing service targets. The report covers Quarter 1 of the 2022/23 financial year and is attached as Appendix 1.

1.2 Information highlights from the quarter include:

· Customer feedback – 126 customer compliments received, and 65% of stage one complaints responded to within 10 working days

· Private sector housing – 59.59% of Houses in Multiple Occupation have met all special conditions (of those licensed for over 12 months)

· Major adaptations – waiting times for applications were 17.2 weeks for private sector homes and 4.9 weeks for council homes

· Housing needs – 1,806 households placed in temporary accommodation, down from 1,890 at the end of the last quarter

· Housing supply – 15 additional council homes delivered

· Council housing management – 95.27% of rent collected from tenants and 83% of calls answered by Housing Customer Services

· Council housing – empty homes – 198 homes were let, and the number of empty homes reduced from 251 to 204

· Council housing repairs and maintenance –98.1% of emergency repairs completed within 24 hours and 86% of calls answered by Repairs Helpdesk

· Council housing investment and asset management –the proportion of ‘Decent Homes’ slightly increased from 95.6% to 95.9%.

2. Recommendations

2.1 That Housing Committee note the Housing performance report Quarter 1 2022/23 and Housing Committee Work Plan progress update.

2.2 That Housing Committee note the additional performance indicators relating to private sector housing included in the Housing Committee Work Plan progress update and Housing performance report, Appendix 1, page 16 of 25.

2.3 That Housing Committee approve the re-scheduled and reviewed Housing Committee Work Plan attached in Appendix 2.

2.4 That Housing Committee note progress on each area of work set out in the 2019-2023 Housing Programme under Appendix 3.

3. Context and background information

3.1 The Housing performance Quarter 1 2022/23 & Housing Committee Work Plan progress update report in Appendix 1 uses red, amber and green traffic light symbols to provide an indication of performance, and also trend arrows to provide an indication of movement from the previous quarter.

3.2 This report also includes a re-scheduled and reviewed Housing Committee Work Plan in Appendix 2 and an update on progress on each area of work set out in the 2019-2023 Housing Programme in Appendix 3.

4. Analysis and consideration of alternative options

4.1 This report is for noting so alternative options are not required.

5. Community engagement and consultation

5.1 This report has been to August 2022 Area Panels for residents to comment and enquire upon and discuss.

6. Conclusion

6.1 Members are invited to comment and enquire upon this regular quarterly report, and to make recommendations for future versions.

7. Financial implications

7.1 The financial implications are contained in the body of the report. Two areas of performance with significant financial implications are the collection HRA property rents and the length of time that properties are empty. The collection of rents at 15.1 in Appendix 1 show that for 2022/23 Quarter 1, 95.27% of collectable dwelling rents is forecasted to be collected, a 0.39% decrease on the collection of rents during 2021/22. This is due to an increase in arrears of £0.400m since the start of the financial year, which is of concern. £0.300m of this increase in arrears relates to those on Universal Credit. Over the last two years the percentage of rent collected has fallen in the HRA but the latest quarter 1 figure shows a greater decline and is cause for concern. Council tenant rents are used to manage and maintain council homes and therefore any rents not collected reduces the resources available for this. Work is underway to identify actions that will help to improve this going forward.

7.2 Indicator 15.18 shows that the total number of council empty properties decreased from 251 to 204 during the Quarter 1 and the number of re-lets during Q1 2022/23 (176) is significantly above 2021/22 levels, which averaged 118 per quarter, a big improvement for quarter 1. The cost of empty council properties for 2021/22 was £1.479m but the forecast for 2022/23 is showing an improved position of £0.979m due to the significant reduction in the number of empty properties. Recovery efforts to tackle the backlog of empty council homes include using approved procurement routes to increase contractor capacity and largescale recruitment of new permanent staff who can carry out works directly.

Name of finance officer consulted: Monica Brooks

Date consulted: 25/08/2022

8. Legal implications

8.1 There are no significant legal implications to draw to the committee’s attention arising from this regular performance report.

Name of lawyer consulted: Simon Court

Date consulted: 20/09/2022

9. Equalities implications

9.1 There are no direct equalities implications arising from this report.

10. Sustainability implications

10.1 Although this report is for noting, the workplan updates within it include progress on objectives relating to sustainability, as well as monitoring of the average energy efficiency rating of council homes, which stands at 68.2 (out of a maximum of 100).

11. Other Implications

11.1 There are no other direct implications arising from this report, which is for noting.

Supporting Documentation

1. Appendices

1. Housing Committee Work Plan progress update and Housing performance report - Quarter 1 2022/23.

2. Housing Committee Work Plan - re-scheduled and reviewed.

3. 2019-2023 Housing Programme, update on progress.