Agenda item - Housing Performance Q2 Report

Martin Reid (Assistant Director Housing Management)

14:45 – 10 Minutes

Housing Performance Report Q2 (copy attached)

5    HOUSING PERFORMANCE Q2 REPORT                                 19 – 38

5.1 Martin Reid then went on to advise the panel and attendees on the Housing Performance Q2 Report 2023/24, as per the agenda item. This included statistics on the levels of services being provided, the director made note of the increased efforts to clear the ‘back log’ of incomplete maintenance or other tasks that had been flagged or requested by residents.

5.2 Ian Knowles (Bates Estate Community Association) noted their disagreement with the director’s statement regarding the that the repairs were being completed in good order and made note that emergency repairs were particularly bad considering their specific context.

5.3 Martin Reid made reassurances to both the Chair and representative that their situation and the overall situation of emergency maintenance was a core service and should always be available.

5.4 Donna James (Bates Estate Community Association) asked the officers to explain the difference between an emergency repair request and being categorised as vulnerable by the housing authority.

5.5 Grant Ritchie (Head of Housing Repairs & Maintenance) clarified that the authority would qualify a lack of heating and hot water as and emergency and that those who qualified as vulnerable would possibly have more situations which could be qualified as an emergency, and also noted that this should not affect the service provided for emergency repair requests.

5.6 Martin Reid noted that it was important that issues regarding oversight of maintenance and emergency maintenance repair requests were brought to the panel to be addressed and that the authority could learn from them. As well as that the current figures for Q2 Maintenance Repair Requests were at 95% They also made note that boilers (heating and hot water) were now the operational responsibility of a contractor which the authority could engage in future discussions regarding current and future service delivery levels.

5.7 Ian Knowles noted that their emergency repair request was completed by a contractor who had only been given the job the same day, despite the emergency repair request being lodged several days prior.

5.8 Grant Ritchie clarified that emergency repair requests made on the weekend would usually be actioned the next working day and the cases lodged would be allocated as per their urgency.

5.9 The Chair referred to the representatives earlier point about emergency repairs and informed the attendants that they had also experienced a delay with emergency repairs on their own property recently. They also made further note that the temporary heaters when provided were electric and therefor at the expense of the tenant, but that they themselves had not been offered one.