Agenda item

To receive a written report from the Executive Member for Housing Services and to question the Executive Member thereon.  Notice has been received of the following questions:

 

(i)         From Cllr Livesley

“Would the Executive Member confirm the details of the progress made on Housing Modernisation over the last three years?”

 

(ii)        From Cllr Greenwood

“How was the substantial reduction in rent arrears achieved?”

 

(ii)        From Cllr Cuthbertson

“What has been the effect of the introduction of rent payments by swipe card?”

A written report was received from Councillor Sunderland, the Executive Member for Housing.  Councillor Sunderland then responded to a series of questions put by Members in accordance with Standing Orders.  Prior notice had been given of ten questions to the Executive Member under this item.  These were taken in the order set out on the list circulated around the Council Chamber, until the 10 minute time limit had elapsed, as follows:

 

(i)           From Councillor Livesley:

 

“Would the Executive Member confirm the details of the progress made on Housing Modernisation over the last three years?”

 

The Executive Member replied:

“The figures are as follows:

Since 2003 the following works have been completed.

·        1377 properties have received Tenants Choice

• 1696 homes have had upvc double glazing fitted
• 747  fire doors have been fitted
• 217 roof coverings have been replaced
• 164 properties have had new doors fitted
• 9 blocks of flats have been re-rendered
• 332 homes have received either new boilers or full heating systems.
• 196 home have received new fires.

There are also the programmes of works which have been completed under the York Pride works:

·        Replacement of door entry systems

• Repairs and maintenance of communal areas, concrete paths repairs/ground works.
• Improved communal and security lighting
• And 49 burglar alarms were fitted across the city. Estate managers liaised with Safer York Partnership to identify those at risk.

 

 (ii)       From Councillor Greenwood

 

“How was the substantial reduction in rent arrears achieved?”

 

The Executive Member replied:

“The Current Tenant arrears have reduced by £500K over the last two years. £300K in 2004/05 when the department exceeded the target by £100K and a further £195K in 2005/06 achieving the targets set.

 

There are a number of factors that have led to the achievement.

 

The creation of a specialist income management team – In September 2004 the role of the estate manager was changed in the City based team. The staff were split between Tenancy management function and Rent recovery function. This was initially seen as a pilot for a year.

 

Over recent years there had been a trend for the arrears to increase. The arrears rose from £783k in March 2003 to £1,047k in March 2004 and at September 2004 the debt had risen by nearly £100K to £1,131k. The reasons for this trend were various:

• Lack of focus on arrears;
• Implementation of the new integrated system;
• Staff resources v Customer priorities.

 

During the first six months of the pilot between September 2004 and March 2005 there was a dramatic improvement in performance. The trend had been reversed with the arrears standing at £784k. The overall reduction across the two teams during the period were as follows:

 

The specialist team saw a 29% reduction with £236.5k coming off the arrears. The remaining generic team saw a reduction of £125k, a 25% reduction.

 

The progress continued through the remainder of the pilot and in January 2006 a report was received on the success of the scheme the report came to EMAP and was approved by Lib Dem members. This allowed for a permanent change to a specialist income management team and a separate tenancy management team which were both incorporated into the restructure of the department.

 

Some of the reasons for the success of the specialist approach are:

• Greater focus on the task less distraction away from targets.
• Earlier intervention, catching the debts at a earlier stage ensuring that the debt is more manageable for the customer.
• Greater specialist knowledge, allowing staff to pursue benefit cases more rigorously.
• Greater focus on individual targets that were owned by the individuals and the team. This lead to staff motivation a willingness by staff to put extra effort in and come up with innovations.
• Staff changed working patterns doing out of hours working in the evenings and at weekends.
• Some of the other reasons for the successful reduction in the arrears are to some extent spin offs from the specialist approach.
• The introductions of a regular monthly newsletter giving staff regular up dates on the progress towards meeting their targets.
• Work with advice agencies to set up the court referral system that are run by HARP and CAB
• Debt advice service at council offices run by the CAB.
• Targeting customers who owe more than £250 at the rent free periods encouraging them to pay during this period this has lead to payments in excess of £250K during these four weeks.
• Evening and weekend visits and greater emphasis on face to face contact.
• Regular monthly monitoring at a senior level.
• The running of Media campaigns at Christmas. And the use of a rent arrears leaflet sent out with all arrears letters.
• The introduction of different methods of payment eg swipe cards and the internet allow customers to pay there rent outside council office hours. This along with the promotion of direct debit has contributed to an improvement in payment patterns.
• Regular meetings with benefits and their improved performance has helped as well.

 

The Housing Department has made excellent progress, at both collecting and preventing debt.”

 

(iii)       From Councillor Horton

 

“Why has the number of non-decent Council houses risen significantly on the 2005/6 year end  performance figures and how is the Council going to respond?”

 

The Executive Member replied:

“These have actually reduced from 1,574 in 2004/5 to 1,034 in 2005/6.”

 

(iv)      From Councillor Cuthbertson

 

“What has been the effect of the introduction of rent payments by swipe card?”

 

The Executive Member replied:

“The Swipe cards were introduced in July 05 and have proved extremely successful with our customers. They are able to use them at cashiers, the post office and any paypoint or payzone retail outlet. Between July 05 and 31/3/2006 we received 47,000 transactions this way and a total of £2,634,912 was paid using this method. The popularity has continued this year with nearly 16,000 transaction up to 21/6/2006 and a total of £843,311 received.

 

Customers are clearly taking advantage of the fact that they can use the scheme out of hours as we regularly receive between £20-£25K at the weekend.

 

It should also be remembered that each transaction is costing £0.45p as opposed to over £2.00 for the rent collector and the ATM at Acomb.  Customers now have over a 140 places in the city where they can pay. On 1/1/2006 we also introduced internet payments, we had 46 transactions up until the end of March and 105 transactions between April and June so this method is gradually increasing.  I firmly believe that the introduction of swipe cards has also contributed in some way to the reduction in current rent arrears.

 

Once again it needs to mentioned that Labour were also opposed to the introduction of this payment system.”

 

The 10 minute time limit elapsed before the following questions could be taken:

 

(v)       From Councillor Brian Watson

 

“What proportion of residents associations are still meeting on the usual monthly basis?”

 

(vi)      From Councillor Potter

 

“What level of support are residents associations now receiving from the Neighbourhood Pride Unit compared  to that previously received from Community Services and when will the SLA between Housing and Neighbourhood Services finally be agreed?”

 

(vii)     From Councillor Jones

 

“Could the Executive Member please explain the drop in tenants satisfaction?”

 

(viii)    From Councillor Horton

 

“Given that the average time to re-let Council properties has now risen to 32 days can the Executive Member inform Council how much potential revenue is being lost as a result and what effect it is having on the housing waiting list?”

 

 (ix)     From Councillor Merrett

 

“Can the Executive Member please explain what is being done to provide more protected accommodation and support to deal with those vulnerable tenants who suffer from unwelcome visitors who are a nuisance / problem  to them and other tenants?”

 

(x)       From Councillor Merrett

 

“Would the Executive Member advise how many affordable properties for sale have been agreed in section 106 agreements for housing developments completed to date,  how many of these properties were successfully sold to persons from the York Housing waiting lists, and how many remained unsold and were returned to the developer (including a breakdown by property type & bedroom number & price)?”