Issue - meetings

Following a report of the Operations Manager for Housing Services, the Homes Policy Development Group has made the following recommendation: that the draft Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard policy be approved.

Following a *report of the Operations Manager for Housing Services, the Homes Policy Development Group had made the following recommendation: that the draft Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard policy be approved.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Property Services outlined the contents of the report stating that the role of social landlord was very important and that there was a need to encourage engagement and empower tenants within the district.

Consideration was given to repairs and the timescales for attention.

RESOLVED that the draft Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard Policy be approved.

(Proposed by Cllr R B Evans and seconded by Cllr R J Chesterton)

Reason for the decision - Agreed housing policy provides a framework for decision-making which ensures that customer-facing teams deliver consistency in the discharge of duties to support good housing management.  This ensures that both properties and tenancies are managed effectively and reduces reputational risk.

Note:  *Report previously circulated, copy attached to minutes.

To receive a report from the Operations Manager for Housing Services presenting the draft Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard Policy. The landlord service, Mid Devon Housing, is currently reviewing previously adopted policies with the aim of rationalising them and ensuring that they support work to ensure regulatory compliance.  To this end, policies are being more closely aligned with each of the individual Standards within the regulatory framework.

The Group had before it a report * from the Operations Manager for Housing Services. It was explained that the landlord service, Mid Devon Housing, was currently reviewing previously adopted policies with the aim of rationalising them and ensuring that they support work to ensure regulatory compliance.  To this end, policies were being more closely aligned with each of the individual Standards within the regulatory framework.

The following was highlighted within the report:

·         The after effects of the Grenfell Tower disaster and the lesson’s learned regarding the need for tenants views to be heard. National housing policy would be changing as a result of this and a Government white paper calling for more tenant involvement had been issued at the end of 2020 with new legislation likely to be announced in the imminent future.

·         The Housing Ombudsman has responsibility for dealing with complaints.  As part of the new regime, there would be tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs) in place.

Discussion took place with regard to:

·         Tenant Involvement in ‘on-line’ meetings – the Council now had a Customer Engagement Co-ordinator who would be undertaking work in this area. Although formal meetings were not being run at the moment, lots of interest had been expressed and consideration of how best to run these meetings was being undertaken, such as offering evening meetings for those tenants who worked during the day.

·         It was confirmed that only missed appointments, previously confirmed over the phone, would be charged for.

·         Members had previously approved the Neighbourhood Management Policy which stated a zero tolerance for any obstructions brought in my tenants to communal hallways. These could pose a serious risk to escape routes should tenants need to evacuate in an emergency.

·         The need to remember that rented properties were people’s homes and a consequent need for respect.

RECOMMENDED to the Cabinet that the draft Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard policy be approved.

(Proposed by Cllr S J Clist and seconded by Cllr C J Eginton)

Reason for the decision:

MDH is a social landlord and is registered with the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH), meaning that it is a Registered Provider (RP).   The RSH sets consumer standards and the Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard is one of these.  The role of the regulator is to intervene where failure to meet the standards has caused, or could have caused, serious harm to tenants.  MDH is also obliged to manage complaints in line with the Complaints Handling Code issued by the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS) and completed a self-assessment against this, which is available to view on the Council’s webpages, in line with the requirements of the HOS.

Agreed housing policy provides a framework for decision-making which ensures that customer-facing teams deliver consistency in the discharge of duties to support good housing management.  This ensures that both properties and tenancies are managed effectively and reduces reputational risk.

Note: * Report previously circulated; copy attached to the signed minutes.