Agenda item

[To receive an update from Lynda Eyton, Client Relationship Manager – Housing Managing Agents] Report will be send to follow.

A report was submitted requesting Board to consider and provide comment and feedback in relation to the Council’s Housing Strategy Landlord Services Team in relation to the progress made against the Consumer Standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing.

The report provided an oversight of the monitoring arrangements of the management of the Council's housing stock carried out by the Managing Agents, Wolverhampton Homes and three Tenant Management Organisations, and outlined the steps being taken by the Landlord Services Team to ensure the Council was able to respond to increasing regulation and was prepared for inspection by the Regulator of Social Housing.

The management of the majority of the Council’s housing stock was transferred to its newly formed Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO), Wolverhampton Homes (WH) in 2005 for the delivery of the Decent Homes programme.  The rest of the stock was managed by Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs). The management functions carried out by the managing agents was governed by the management agreements (Modular Management Agreements in the case of the TMOs) that existed between the Council and each managing agent. The next break clause in the management agreement between the Council and Wolverhampton Homes, who managed the majority of the Council’s housing stock was in 2023 and the TMOs were reviewed annually.

Board considered that it was important to increase tenant involvement in the decision making processes. Board understood that there wereHMOs that managed the properties but that they didn’t actually get the money to manage the community and that it might be beneficial to hand over more resource to so the HMOs could have some additional autonomy.  Board considered that actions did appear to be going in the right direction and that it would be useful to have an update on progress to a future meeting.  It was confirmed that a new a new tenant scrutiny committee had been appointed and was due to start work at the beginning of April.  Board welcomed this but emphasised the need to involve the tenants that were living in the properties. 

Board considered that some of the issues were due to isolated houses and properties and issues like fencing disputes and noise issues. Board considered that it would be worthwhile knowing which properties did and did not fall under a specific organisation so that appropriate action could be taken.

Board queried why the report and actions had taken so long to come before councillors. It was stated that the report was completed in May 2021 and that the findings had been presented to the Council in July 2021. A Housing report had been considered by the scrutiny in September 2021 and since then the team had been working through the actions and working with Wolverhampton Homes to look improvements.

Board raised some concerns in relation to section 4.2 of the report:

The panel are also recommended to note the responsibilities of Councillors with regard to the Consumer Standards, in particular the requirements to:

· Maintain an oversight of the housing stock

· Understand the performance of the managing agents

· Understand the compliance and legislative requirements

· Receive annual reports on performance and compliance

· Quarterly monitoring to Cabinet

And to raise any concerns regarding performance or compliance with Housing Strategy.

Board questioned how this would be achieved with all 60 members of the Council as there was already a large reliance on the people who carried out the various roles in the housing ream. It was noted that councillors already had a heavy involvement in housing matters which included applications for housing and matters relating to the standards that people were living in. Board was keen to understand how the points referred to in the report were going to be maintained and managed. Board noted that the report gave councillors a specific responsibility and considered that this needed to be made explicit to all new and existing councillors.

The Director for City Housing and Environment stated that the ultimate responsibility would be borne by the Cabinet and the Cabinet Member for Housing. Therefore, as part of the governance that was proposed and the monitoring and accountability there would be quarterly performance reports. These reports would be within the public domain and available for scrutiny to consider. These regular updates would not only provide information on progress against the plan but there was also a wide suite of performance indicators, which would be regularly monitored. One of the key areas the reporting would be looking at was the Council’s relationship with Wolverhampton Homes and the TMOs.

Board considered that Housing was such an important area in the Council and for residents and that as a function of the Council some Board members considered that having a stand-alone director responsible for housing should be considered. Board also considered that the high number of working groups and subgroups could be detrimental to progress and requested that this be taken into consideration moving forwards.

Resolved:    That the report be received.