My report to Council

Posted By: Doreen Brophy-Lee
Date Posted: 23/07/2009

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Housing Portfolio.

Mortgage Rescue Scheme

Since The Mortgage Rescue Scheme was introduced in Rochdale in January 2009, 99 enquiries have been made. The majority of enquiries have come direct from clients themselves and the others have come via Housing Advice or the CAB.

To date 37 clients qualify and are currently going through the process of collating all the evidence required to send to the zone agent for a decision. Of the 33 clients that qualify, a total of 134 people live in the affected properties that could potentially be rescued preventing in homelessness.

4 clients have been sent to the zone agent for a decision, affecting a total of 12 people residing in those properties.

Of those that did not qualify for the scheme; 6 had support from a debt adviser to assist with maximisation of their income, 12 were given debt advice, 4 had orders successfully suspended with support from debt adviser 1 found new employment, and 14 were given general advice and sent a self help guide pack.

Of those that did qualify for the scheme; 1 client was supported to maximise their income, 2 were given debt advice, 4 had orders successfully suspended with support from debt adviser, 2 were able to access their Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) with support from the debt adviser, 1 found new employment, 2 were given general advice & a self help guide pack sent and 2 found other solutions to help.

Of those non-active files, there have been 77 adults and 32 children that have benefited from intervention form the scheme.

An accumulative figure for active & non-active cases is; 159 adults & 96 children.

Grand Total 255 people

According to a report by Shelter & Joseph Rowntree, the estimated cost saving for the local authority for each family that is prevented from becoming homeless amounts to £9,000. If we count all the active clients that qualify this amounts to £333,000

Housing Revenue Account Options Review

Following on from my previous report, I would like to inform you that the Project Board has now met twice, and a staff team has been established to support the work of this project and of the Investment and Involvement Commission. A detailed project plan is being developed, and will include a communications plan, as I am keen to ensure that the positive messages of what we are doing in Rochdale are properly conveyed. We are planning for the launch of the Commission itself in September, and have appointed as an independent Chair a leading housing academic, Professor Ian Cole.

Update on Home Improvement Agency

We offer a Handyperson Service that can respond the same day to customers who have no heating or hot water, initially a visit will be undertaken by a Customer Support Officer to establish the problem (in some cases it will be an issue with the thermostat not being on the correct setting, or the installation will be under guarantee from Warm Front, or the customer has a service contract, in which case the customer would be supported in making the appropriate contacts). In addition, if the heating is not going to be repaired that day, we would arrange for the supply of temporary oil filled radiators for the main living room and bedroom and issue a Winter Warmth pack in conjunction with Age Concern (e.g. fleece blanket, thermos flask and packets of soup, thermometer, etc). Other services that the HIA could offer would also be identified during the visit and contact would be maintained until the heating issues had been rectified. Referral to Warm Front may also be required if no cavity wall/loft insulation and if the boiler cannot be repaired.
In cases where there is no obvious problem with the thermostat, no service contract or warranty, we would initiate a visit from a Gas Safe registered engineer to identify the problem and if fairly minor, carry out the repairs. If more major, there may be a need to make a referral to Warm Front, or consider a form of grant or loan assistance.

It is recognised that Warm Front is not an emergency grant and is limited in terms of assisting customers suffering from heating failures. If we are able to operate this service, it could be promoted by Age Concern and other agencies working with vulnerable people and would lead to more referrals to the HIA, enabling customers to access a holistic service and more referrals to Warm Front, to maximise take-up of the scheme and help to reduce fuel poverty.

Over the past 5 years, we have been awarded funding for the fitting of security lights for the most vulnerable people in the Borough. There is currently no specific funding for this type of service, or to deal with the requests for assistance when these lights stop working, either as a result of requiring a new bulb, or because they have exceeded their life. The lights have made vulnerable people feel safer and sometimes, a change of bulb, or small low cost repair could get them fully functional again.

There are often electrical emergencies that arise, such as the electrical installation has completely failed and there is no power to the property, or a partial failure. These are often for extremely vulnerable people who clearly can’t be left in a property for any length of time with no power and in some cases it may be a small repair that is required, which falls outside of the grant assistance policy.

The HIA receives many requests for minor electrical safety works, such as plug sockets not working, light switches not working, light fittings being broken/damaged or bulbs being stuck or needing replacement (often fluorescent tubes in kitchen lighting). We have no ability to assist customers with these items and can only currently offer a list of reputable electrical contractors. Many customers do not have the funds to be able to call an electrical contractor out to these works and often just live with the issues, which can put them at greater risk in some cases (no light in the kitchen, unable to use a plug point and using an alternative causing trailing wires etc, or using an adapter which overloads another plug socket etc).

Age Concern in Rochdale has been working with an electrical company over the past 5 years, who have tested electric blankets and replaced dangerous/defective ones. This company is not able to offer this service this year. This is a serious issue, as electric blankets are a significant cause of fire (we are currently working pro-actively in partnership with the fire service to reduce accidental dwelling fires in the Borough) and 70% of all those blankets tested over the past 5 years have been found to be defective or dangerous.

Ensuring that older people are not suffering from excess cold and fuel poverty, will help to alleviate hospital admissions and ultimately, deaths caused by cold related illness. Older people who are able to keep warm within their home are less likely to have accidents within the home, leading to hospital admission and surgery.

Dealing with minor electrical problems will delay/reduce more costly future repairs and also potentially lead to less accidents within the home.

Fuel poverty and excess cold are one of the most significant issues facing older people and one which is highlighted by older people at every focus group we attend. Being able to maintain their heating system efficiently is a key issue and one that can lead to older people deciding that they need to move into more specialist accommodation, where they do not need to worry about heating etc.

Encouraging the take-up of the Warm Front scheme where older people can be provided with modern and more efficient heating systems, will lead to reduced heating costs and warmer homes.

Proposals of new council house building

Following the confirmed successful RBH/Brighter Horizons bid for HCA funding for the Croft Street Pilot approved by Cabinet in November 2008 Brighter Horizons has started work with RBH and Strategic Housing services to develop a pipeline of follow on newbuild schemes. Some key principles have underpinned the work in identifying the proposed pipeline of development by the Council, RBH and Trustees of Brighter Horizons.

These include:
• Building quality properties for which there is demonstrable need and demand
• Support for RMBC regeneration priorities through Sustainable Communities
• Development which provides a good spatial fit with current RBH stock
• Making best use of available Council sites
• Deliverability
RBH’s successful pre-qualification for inclusion in the National Affordable Housing Programme was based on the delivery of a newbuild programme of 150 homes between 2008 and 2011.

Empty Property Strategy

In 2007 an Overview and Scrutiny Committee sub group was tasked with the job of studying the approach being taken by the Authority in relation to dangerous and dilapidated buildings. In addition to making recommendations relating to the Building Control Service, they also concluded a strategic approach to dealing with dilapidated buildings, empty properties and land, needed to be developed. A key action in that development was the establishment of a Strategic Steering Group.

The objectives of the Empty Property Strategy are:-

To increase intelligence into the nature and effect of the Borough’s empty
properties and derelict land and the impact of our work on the regeneration
economic development of targeted areas and the Borough as a whole.

To reduce the number of long-term empty properties by 50% of 2008/09 year end figures by 2012/2013.

To minimise the number of properties becoming long-term empty by identifying them early and working with owners.

To reduce the amount of derelict land remaining long-term empty and/or
being an eyesore etc and to deal effectively with problematic empty properties (including those that are dangerous and/or open to access) thereby improving the amenity and safety of local communities.

In order to deliver the above objectives, there will be 3 key areas of work:

Area Focused

Using a range of enforcement tools, a rolling programme will be introduced to target empty properties, derelict land and dilapidated buildings in certain Neighbourhoods and Key Gateways and Corridors within the Borough.

In each area there will be an initial easy wins period of up to a year, followed by up to two further years spent using our combined legal powers to solve some of the more intractable problem sites

Reactive

In order to best target our resources we will develop a framework for the actions to be taken with empty property, dilapidated and dangerous buildings and derelict land

Proactive

Prioritising existing workload within an identified area and Borough wide:

The existing and presenting case load of empty properties, dangerous land and dilapidated buildings far exceeds the resources the Authority has available to resolve. In order to target our limited resources to achieve the maximum effect, we have developed a prioritisation scoring system.


Councillor Doreen Brophy-Lee