Agenda item

To consider the Council’s Housing Revenue Account Business Plan 2020-2025 (2021/22 Review) ahead of its submission to Council in February 2022.

A verbal update on Council housing repairs will also be provided under this item, as requested by Members at the committee’s last meeting.

The Committee received the report of the Housing and Environmental Health Service Manager and the Housing Strategy Officer which asked Members toconsider the report which set out the HRA Business Plan 2020-2025 and reflected the revised cost and income profiles in the budget proposals for 22/23 - 24/25. The HRA Business Plan report had been considered by the Executive at its meeting on 6 January 2022.

Officers explained that on 5December 2019 the Executive had approved the final version of the Council’s Housing Revenue Account Business Plan. This plan detailed how, over the period 2020-2025, the Council would both invest in current stock, as well as increase overall housing supply in the district.

Members noted that it also provided a long-term financial forecast for the HRA over the period 2020-2050. It was now time to complete a review of the plan, in light of the time that had passed, as well as the unprecedented circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, along with other socio-economic factors, the Council faced significant financial difficulties in trying to maintain the Business Plan’s commitment.

The key issues were:

·      the introduction of new and essential safety investment in Council properties;

·      a continued deficit within the Housing Development Programme, which meant that the Council continued to sell more properties via Right to Buy than it replaced;

·      an ever-growing decarbonisation agenda which resulted in a widescale need for property refurbishment and potential regeneration; and

·      increased costs of materials and labour meaning the Council received less for its money.

The Committee acknowledged that growing cost and income pressures meant that changes to the Council’s plans for debt repayment were needed. The revised Business Plan proposed that, rather than maintaining repayment against the original 30-year timeline, repayment was extended to match the loans actually taken out. The potential for this change was signalled in the approved Business Plan, but Officers were now recommending that this was formalised so that a viable HRA could be sustained.

Officers also gave an update on housing repairs, due to the concern expressed at a previous Council meeting about the delays to work because of the pandemic. The Scrutiny Committee had considered the matter at its meeting in June 2021, where Officers had explained the processes and the issues being experienced. Since that meeting additional resources had been brought in to work on the backlog of jobs for the past seven months; 86% of the work had been cleared and a significant effort was being made to complete the remaining 14% as soon as practicable. Pre-pandemic there would have been around 1,500 to 1,800 jobs on the housing repairs system; at present there was around 1,000. The work was far from complete but Officers were working hard to get the delays cleared.

Members considered the report and repairs update and asked numerous questions on matters including the possibility of earlier and more specific appointment times for working residents, external painting, repairs to paths and fences, misting in double glazed windows, thermostat installation and their availability in Council properties, repairs turnaround for empty and void properties, contact details on letters to residents, grass cutting and properties with remaining solid fuel systems. Members were informed that grass cutting was the responsibility of the Contracts Team and that this would be forwarded to them as a concern.

Officers explained that specifically timed appointments were not possible at present, but that the new housing system would make the arranging of  appointments more detailed; specific times would be strived for when using the new system. With regards to the painting of the outside of homes, this wasn’t undertaken by the Council, although some render had been renewed at properties on Abbots Road in Selby.

With regards to fencing, around £50k worth of fence works were done each year, but when it came to paths there was no overall scheme across the district; where there were continual issues with paving the Council used concrete in order to reduce the need for further repairs. Around 4000m of new paths had been installed on the Council’s estates, but were not a priority compared to the work required inside tenants’ homes. Misting in double glazing had been addressed partially in 2019, but there was scope for further work again on this, as some units did need to be replaced.

Officers explained that there were three types of void properties with differing targets and delays; standard voids were doing well, major voids were slightly over the target 45 days due to resource issues, and refurbishment voids were ahead of the 180 day target. Members requested data comparing the past three years of progress on void properties and emphasised the importance of bringing voids back into use so that people needing homes could be housed. Officers informed the Committee that there was an ongoing shortage of some tradesmen which often further delayed work. 

Lastly, as there were different heating systems operating in properties across the district, the installation of thermostats varied; however, it was confirmed that the new air source heating systems did have thermostats installed as standard. A small number of properties were still using sold fuel as a heating system which made thermostat use very difficult. The Council was keen to move away from solid fuel (i.e. coal) due to the cost and the impact of the resulting carbon on the environment. Thermostats were useful so that tenants could monitor and adjust the energy use in their homes, which would be very important with the forthcoming increases in gas and electricity prices and the overall desire to reduce carbon emissions. Officers were asked to bring any back further figures and information on the above to the Committee.

Members acknowledged that they had asked Officers for a significant range of information and data; the Committee agreed that a single issue meeting on housing repairs should be arranged in the next few months in order to give Officers time to collate answers, and to give the Committee the opportunity to focus on what was clearly an important topic. The Executive Member for Housing would also be invited to the single issue meeting.

RESOLVED:

1.    The Committee noted the report.

2.    Officers were asked to provide the following information after the meeting or at a future ‘single issue’ meeting of the Committee focused on housing repairs, to which the Executive Member for Housing would be invited:

·         figures on the last 3 years of voids, breakdown of repairs progress, how many voids there currently were; and

·         the lack of direct contact details (i.e. email addresses/telephone numbers) on letters to residents.