The Committee agreed an amended set of recommendations from its review of New Homes Build in Islington. It received a positive update on the rollout of fibre broadband across the borough, and discussed and provided feedback on the draft Homelessness Prevention and Rough Sleeping Strategy for 2024-2027.

New Homes Build in Islington

The Committee considered its final report and recommendations from its review of the New Homes Build programme in Islington, which had been discussed at a prior meeting.

There was extensive discussion on a proposed amendment to the first recommendation. The amendment suggested adding a timeframe of 2023-2027 to the recommendation that appropriate officer resources are available to deliver the council’s target of delivering 750 new homes. Councillor Ernestas Jegorovas-Armstrong argued for the inclusion of the timeframe, because

obviously that was literally written as an evidence base, but also in the homeless strategy, which we'll be discussing further on as an item as part of the action plan. Again, it actually very explicitly states that these homes will be built by 2027.

Councillor Diarmaid Ward, the Executive Member for Housing and Development, countered that:

the best kind of council homes, the ones that our residents need are ones that are finished and allocated. And so I think putting in timelines, rather than, you know, I think this committee's done a great job in reflecting what the issues are in the new build team and how we address those issues. I'm not, as the chair says, I think putting in timelines is kind of reflective.

Councillor Ward also argued that the council's financial position was such that it could not guarantee that it would be able to start building 750 new council homes by 2027. He offered to remove the 2027 deadline from the council's Homelessness Strategy.

The Committee eventually voted to amend the recommendation to read: Appropriate officer resources are available to deliver the council’s target of delivering 750 new homes, including completing current schemes, while being mindful of the financial constraints with the HLRA.¹

Councillor Jegorovas-Armstrong proposed a further amendment to this recommendation, to change the word delivering to starting, on the basis that the council's ambition is to start 750 new homes. The Committee did not adopt this amendment, but it agreed to a suggestion by Councillor O'Sullivan to change the wording to delivering 750 new homes, including completing current schemes, in order to address concerns that the initial wording may have implied that the target of 750 did not include homes in schemes that had already been completed.

Councillor O'Sullivan also asked for clarity on a recommendation that the council deliver a trauma informed holistic approach to homelessness.

The Committee agreed to the rest of the recommendations in the report, and thanked the officers for their work on the review, noting that it had been challenging to scrutinise the New Homes Build programme because of the political sensitivities of the subject.

The Committee asked Councillor Ward to ensure that residents were more involved in the planning and delivery of new homes in the future. They cited in particular the experiences of residents on the Parkview Estate and the Hathersage Estate, who had attended the previous meeting to share their concerns about the lack of communication and disruption they had experienced as a result of the new build programme. Councillor Ward agreed to this, stating:

anybody that doesn't get satisfied with what's going on with new build on the states, if my word, I'll go down there and talk to the residents. We've got to do better. You know, listening to those testimonies, you know, engagement and resident engagement is going to be really key.

Islington Broadband

The Committee received an update from officers on the progress of the rollout of fibre broadband across Islington. Officers reported that the programme was gathering pace, and that over 50 blocks had been cabled and were live, with over 10,000 council homes connected to Hyperoptic, over 4,360 connected to Community Fibre, and over 1,620 to G.Network. They added that free connections had now been installed at several community centres, including Sunnyside Community Center, the Chestnuts Community Centre, Highbury Grange, Hargrave Hall and Kings Square Community Centre.

Councillor Jegorovas-Armstrong asked for details on the uptake of the social tariffs that are available from the providers, and about any safeguarding policies in place to protect residents when they are being sold these tariffs. Officers said they would provide that information to the Committee.

Councillor Gilgunn asked for assurances that the providers would be required to return roads and pavements to the condition they were in before the installation work started, and that they would be responsible for any future repairs. Officers assured him that this was the case, and that the council was monitoring the quality of the work being done.

Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy

The Committee discussed the draft Homelessness and Prevention of Sleeping Strategy for 2024-2027. They were informed by officers that this was the first time the document had been seen by anyone outside of the Housing Operations team, and that they would have many times to critically comment on this.

Councillor Jegorovas-Armstrong welcomed the strategy's emphasis on a holistic approach and trauma informed practice, but asked how this would be measured. She also suggested that the council should consider extending the provision of 20 new homes for care leavers to young people living under special guardianship arrangements. Councillor O'Sullivan raised similar concerns, suggesting that the strategy should take a deep dive into the specific needs of young people, particularly those who had experienced domestic violence, and those from the gypsy, traveller and LGBTQ+ communities. She also asked how the strategy would address the needs of disabled people who are facing homelessness in the private rented sector.

Councillor Gilgunn welcomed the strategy's commitment to tackling rough sleeping and homelessness, but asked for more detail on the council's outreach work.

Councillor O'Sullivan raised concerns that Islington could become a magnet for homeless people from other boroughs if it was seen to be successful in tackling the issue. He suggested that the council needed to advocate for a London-wide approach, and campaign to prevent housing associations from selling off properties in areas of high housing need.

Dean Donaghey, a co-optee on the Committee, asked whether the council was ensuring that its acquisition of properties to house homeless people was spread evenly across the borough, rather than concentrating them in poorer areas.

Councillor Jegorovas-Armstrong queried the target of recovering 50 council properties subject to tenancy fraud, asking why that number had been chosen and if it could be worded better. Councillor O'Sullivan also questioned the feasibility of this target, noting that only eight properties had been recovered in the first quarter of the year. Councillor Ward said the number was based on the current performance of the council's fraud team, but that it would be challenging to achieve.

Councillor O'Sullivan queried the timeframe of 2027 given in the action plan for the delivery of 750 new genuinely affordable homes, reminding Councillor Ward that he had offered to remove that deadline from the council's homelessness strategy. Councillor Ward agreed to replace the timeframe with the same wording as in the new build recommendations.

Councillor Waller asked for more information about the council's team for tackling tenancy fraud, and whether a numerical target was appropriate. Officers agreed to provide data on the team's performance at the next meeting.

The Committee thanked the officers for presenting the draft strategy and action plan, and said they looked forward to providing further feedback in the future.