11 06 2003

A MEETING OF THE HOUSING BOARD

WAS HELD ON 11 JUNE 2003

The Mayor (ex-officio), Chairman of the Policy and Organisation Board (Councillor Cully) (ex-officio) (P), Councillors Allen (P), Bone (P), Carter (P), Mrs Cully (P), Farr (P), Friend (P), Hayward (P), P Russell (P), Smith(P) and Mrs Wright (Chairman) (P)

6. MINUTES

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meetings of the Board held on 5 March and 15 May 2003 be approved and signed by the Chairman as true and correct records.

PART II

7. A REVIEW OF GOSPORT'S HOMELESSNESS STRATEGY

(Note: Councillor P Russell declared a non-pecuniary and non-prejudicial interest in this item, remained in the room and took part in the debate and voting thereon).

Consideration was given to a report of the Housing Services Manager (a copy of which is affixed in the Minute Book as Appendix "A").

The Board was advised that the Council had just published a Homelessness Strategy in 2000/2001. Since that time the Government had produced guidance, recommendations and a good practice guide. In addition, the new Priority Need Order had come into effect (31st July 2002) resulting in an expansion of the homeless customers that Councils had a duty to assist and the Council's development of the Supporting People Agenda had resulted in the provision of a range of further services for homeless households.

Production of a revised homelessness strategy had been deferred in 2002/2003 whilst the newly published guidance and good practice guide was being considered. Having considered these and more recent documents, such as the Audit Commission's report (Homelessness – Responding to the new agenda) and Government letters inviting Councils to adopt new targets, it had been considered that revisions should be made to the existing Gosport Homelessness Strategy. The Homelessness Act 2002 and attending regulations required that a strategy be published by the end of July 2003.

Appendix 1 of the Housing Services Manager's report set out the draft Gosport Homelessness Strategy 2003 to 2007. The Board was asked to consider the draft document and make any comments as part of the wider consultation required within the strategy. In addition, the Board was asked to approve the strategy in principle, and to delegate authority to the Housing Services Manager, in consultation with the Chairman of Housing Board and Group Spokespersons, to publish the strategy following the outcome of consultation.

The main amendments to the strategy were summarised as:

presentation emphasis:
incorporation of new schemes or updates (such as Supporting People matters);
an update on recent trends, and analysis;
production of firm targets to be devised following consultation

The Board was advised that the Government wanted to see detail in the strategy about the following:

a clear picture of current services across the district and identification of where services needed to be introduced and how this would be done;
an emphasis upon how the Council, in partnership with other agencies, prevented homelessness.
how the Council would deliver a continuous programme of service improvements guided by local consultation

The aim of the new strategy was to achieve the "fit for purpose" assessment criteria required by the Government and to fulfil the requirements of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment regime.

The Chairman, on behalf of the Board, extended her thanks to all officers involved in the production of the draft Homelessness Strategy.

RESOLVED: That -

the contents of the Housing Services Manager's report be noted; and
the Housing Services Manager be given delegated authority, in consultation with the Chairman of the Housing Board and Group Spokespersons, to develop and approve changes to the draft Homelessness Strategy following further consultation with the wider community

8. A REVIEW OF GOSPORT'S HOUSING ALLOCATIONS POLICY

Consideration was given to a report of the Housing Services Manager (a copy of which is affixed in the Minute Book as Appendix "B").

The Board was advised that the Housing Act 1996 required Councils to adopt a means of assessment of customers housing need. The complexity of the rules had been a reflection of the Government's desire to see those customers in most housing need being given the increasingly scarce resource of social housing (Council and Housing Association properties). More recently there had been discussion at a national and local level of the need to adopt more choice for customers.

There had been some simplification of the statutory framework under the Homelessness Act 2002 in certain areas of housing need assessment and there was no longer a statutory requirement to operate a housing register. However, given that the regulations had introduced some new categories that needed to be assessed, it was recommended that a register be maintained for administrative purposes and to continue the close partnership working arrangements that had developed in recent years.

The law also now required that all customers be assessed in the same manner. This was the single most important provision affecting the Council's Allocations Policy because it required an assessment of Council and partner Housing Associations tenants in the same way as other customers. Hitherto, these assessments had been dealt with differently under the Transfer and Waiting List policies.

The other main statutory change was the issue of which customer categories were eligible to be allocated accommodation. The law now specified which categories of customer were, or could be considered to be, eligible. This removed the discretion previously held by Councils to set their own eligibility rules.

The Housing Services Manager's report therefore considered the following key changes:

Balancing the demands of existing tenants, other customers and local communities by the introduction of a planned allocations system;
Eligible customer categories;
Additional customer choice;
Incorporation of the shared ownership list;
Transitional protection; and
An extension of the 'Right of Review'

The biggest issue faced by the Council was how to balance the needs of existing tenants with the needs of customers not yet in social housing. The recommendation was that a planned allocation system be implemented as this would allow greater precision of outcome when compared with a purely 'points' based solution. A planned system would also move Council policy a step further in promoting the long-term sustainability of communities.

RESOLVED: That –

i. approval be given in principle

(a) that the points system aim to maintain the status quo between current

waiting list categories (Paragraph 4.5 of the Housing Services Manager's

report);

(b) to the adoption of an allocations plan to achieve a "sensible balance"

between meeting the needs of tenant and applicant applications;

the target as measured by size of property (number of bedrooms) will

vary" (Paragraph 5.5 of the Housing Services Manager's report);

(d) that a mechanism be devised whereby no preference be given to applicants

who have been guilty of unacceptable behaviour serious enough to make

them unsuitable to be a tenant ( Paragraph 6.3 of the Housing Services

Manager's report);

(e) to the statement on customer choice ( Paragraphs 7.1 and 7.2 of the

Housing Services Manager's report);

(f) to the proposals for prioritising shared ownership applications (Paragraph

8.1 of the Housing Services Manager's report); and

(g) to the transitional arrangements for protecting those affected by the

changes (Paragraph 9.2 of the Housing Services Manager's report)

iii. the Board note the proposed Allocations Policy is subject to consultation

with customers affected by the changes;

iv. the Board note that the proposed Allocations Policy is subject to consultation

with Housing Associations that are partners to the Gosport Joint Housing

v. the Housing Services Manager be given delegated authority, in consultation with the Chairman of the Housing Board and Group Spokespersons, to develop the changes to the Council's Allocations Policy outlined in the report but that any significant issues that depart from these principles be referred to the next available meeting of the Housing Board for consideration.

9. A REVIEW OF THE GOSPORT HOMELESS CUSTOMER SUPPORT TEAM

Consideration was given to a report of the Housing Services Manager (a copy of which is affixed in the Minute Book as Appendix "C").

The Board was advised that Council had fully embraced the Supporting People agenda and this had resulted in substantial additional funding being made available to the Council. This funding was mainly revenue based and claimable year-on-year. The Council needed to consider how to distribute that money and develop services further to meet contract requirements and housing service objectives. The report considered the issues that needed to be addressed in making the best use of these resources.

The Council had contracted with Hampshire County Council to provide support to homeless customers under two contracts. On the 31st March 2003 there had been 120 homeless households in accommodation and receiving support under the first contract. On the same day there were 22 households in private sector accommodation and supported under the second contract. These numbers had exceeded original expectations.

There was substantial detail and complexity in respect of how much the Council had been advised it could expect to receive by way of grant money. However, the reconciliation process underway would be the means by which the final grant level would be decided. This reconciliation process was particularly difficult for the Council's homeless support schemes, due to the very high turnover of households as they were moved into and through the temporary accommodation stages of accommodation. However, it was highly probable that in excess of £100,000 grant would be payable to the Council for the Homeless Customers Support Team.

The County Council had indicated that this Council would be contracted to employ four full time officers (or equivalent) to service the contractual obligations. This was due to the successful implementation of the second contract (expansion into the private sector). For this reason it was recommended that one further officer be employed in the Supporting People team subject to confirmation that available funds would pay for the full employment costs.

There were a number of issues that the Supporting People contracts either generated or gave an opportunity for this Council to resolve. These were summarised as:

The need to provide management support to the homeless customers support team and servicing of the cross-district consultative framework
The resolution of the split between housing management and support work for Barclay House hostel and the Council's permanent properties let on a temporary basis;
The delegation of management responsibilities for Barclay House

In addition to these issues, it was emphasised that, although the Supporting People grant funding source was currently substantial, to ensure that this important funding stream continued, the Council had to demonstrate that its 'unit cost' for the provision of support was competitive. Given this situation, the Housing Services Manager would ensure that, when support schemes were reviewed, particular attention would be paid to unit costs and any effect these may have on support schemes competitiveness.

The Board was advised that the Council was now in a position to benefit from the work that it had put into developing the Supporting People Agenda over the last two years. This had presented the Housing Services Unit with an opportunity to develop a range of local support services for customers through grant monies administered by Hampshire County Council. Final confirmation of the exact level of grant to be made available was currently being awaited but it was clear that the grant would be substantial. There was therefore a need to further develop this important agenda and to do this, Members were asked to delegate authority for the development of the matters contained in the report to the Housing Services Manager, in consultation with the Chairman of Housing Board and Group Spokespersons.

RESOLVED: That –

(i) the contents of the Housing Services Manager's report be noted; and

(ii) the Housing Services Manager, in consultation with the Chairman of the Housing Board and Group Spokespersons, be given delegated authority to progress and implement the matters contained in the report.

10. EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC

RESOLVED: That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the under mentioned item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

11. TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT INSTALLATION AT GARLAND COURT

Consideration was given to an exempt report of the Housing Services Manager ( a copy of which is affixed in the Minute Book as Appendix "D") in connection with telecommunications equipment at Garland Court.

The previous recommendation relating to this item was discussed and it was agreed that, should Orange Personal Communications wish to pursue negotiations as a result of the recommendation in the Housing Services Manager's report, the Housing Committee's resolution of 8 November 2000 would be adhered to.

RESOLVED: That –

(i) the recommendations contained in the report be approved;

(ii) should Orange Personal Communications wish to pursue negotiations as a result of resolution (i) above, the Housing Committee's resolution of 8 November 2000 be adhered to.

CHAIRMAN