Agenda item

Context:

To provide a summary overview of Housing & Communities performance for 2018/19 and to provide an opportunity to scrutinise the achievements of the service in the context of last year’s demand.

Key Issues:

Housing & Communities has responsibility for the following broad housing functions:  Homeless Prevention and Homelessness; Housing Support Gateway; Disabled Adaptations; Assistive Technology; Empty Homes and Affordable Housing. 

Taking the Housing & Communities service as a whole, performance for 2018/19 is considered to have been good and that effective progress and improvement in key areas can be evidenced. The main challenge is considered to be avoiding the on-going need to use Bed & Breakfast provision.

Member Scrutiny:

·         In response to a question raised regarding the County Council building its own affordable housing, it was noted that this matter was still in the preliminary stages of developing the business case.  A report will be presented to Full Council in September 2019 to obtain the next stage of approval to proceed with the commercial development side.

·         In response to a question raised regarding the under spend for Social Grant and Housing Finance and whether this might be used to fund the provision of temporary accommodation for homeless people, it was noted that Welsh Government is encouraging the Authority to look at any alternative options to support temporary accommodation.  There is funding available via the Innovative Housing Fund.  However, the opportunities for Monmouthshire are more difficult.

·         Discussions are being held regarding the use of pods for homeless people.

·         Work has also been undertaken to expand the Authority’s temporary accommodation portfolio with Monmouthshire Housing Association being supportive of the Council in respect of this matter. 13 Units are coming online very shortly.

·         Ultimately, proper accommodation is required for homeless people.

·         With regard to Monmouthshire lettings, pleasing progress is being made.  The Authority is managing 26 units on behalf of private landlords.  There are also a number of expressions of interest which are currently being assessed. Monmouthshire’s shared accommodation has also been expanded. The short term emphasis is to continue to develop this as a brand with a view to getting the message out into the wider community.

·         Empty homes is a area that the Authority is currently reviewing. However, it was noted that the level of resource available is restricted.  The approach being undertaken is based on a bi-annual mailing session to empty homes that have been identified.  Feedback received is generally mixed. Over the previous months, officers have been reviewing this process with a view to putting more officer resource into it to change the activity to a monthly basis.

·         A survey has been undertaken on Abergavenny High Street regarding flats above shops and it is hoped that some opportunities might arise that could be further explored. The survey had indicated that of the 76 spaces above shops surveyed, 66% of those spaces appeared to be used with the remaining 34% appearing to be empty. Therefore, extended work will be undertaken with regard to the 34%.

·         The vast majority of homeless people that the Authority comes into contact with have a local connection to Monmouthshire.

·         It was noted that there is a significant number of single males who are homeless due to a variety of circumstances. Every homeless person who presents themselves to the Authority, officers engage with them to ascertain the circumstances of why they have become homeless, which may lead to the Authority having a duty under the homeless legislation. As part of the Monmouthshire package, a person presenting themselves as homeless is also referred to housing support.  A thorough assessment is undertaken which might pick up on other issues in which the individual might require other forms of support.

·         With regard to empty properties, work is being undertaken to identify whether there are more landlords that have more than one property and whether these are areas that Housing Associations could develop.

·         The high streets in Monmouth and Chepstow are also being looked at with a view to assessing vacant floorspace which could be converted to residential use above shops in a similar vein to the work being undertaken in Abergavenny.

·         Discussions have been held with Monmouthshire Housing Association in which two innovative housing projects have been completed. 

·         The Authority is doing all that it can with the resources available. 

·         In response to a question regarding whether there is a need for additional resources to tackle the issues raised, it was noted that conversations that have commenced have identified the need to fully understand Monmouthshire’s position. It was considered that this needs to be assessed with a view to presenting a report back to a future meeting of the Select Committee outlining the findings.

·         The Evolve process takes a Council service through a process that involves a number of various stakeholders to assess how that service is performing.  However, this process is in its early stages of development.

·         Careline has sat successfully within the Housing Department for a number of years.  Early stage conversations are being held with Newport City Council regarding that authority relaunching its own service and where Monmouthshire County Council might fit in as a neighbouring authority.

·         Funding has been received from the Intermediate Care Fund which has partly funded a dementia study.

·         It was noted that the Team is small consisting of three full time equivalent posts which does very well with the resources available.

·         The wider role that the Housing Department has to play in social care was noted and it was considered that this should be reviewed, going forward.