Transcript

Good evening. I would like to welcome the Mayor, all members, and our guests to the Town Hall, Stratford, for the first two themed meetings held this municipal year. The theme of these council meetings is Nehams Temporary Accommodation Crisis. I would like to welcome the members of the public and press who are physically attending or watching on YouTube. The meeting is being filmed for broadcast on YouTube. Please note that the cameras are focused on everyone within this meeting. I would like to take this opportunity to remind the public that to enable the council to conduct its businesses, if there is any interruptions at tonight's meeting, I will ask the individual or individuals to stop and give a warning. If this continues, I will give a second and final warning. Should the disruption continue, I will ask security to remove the person or group from the council chamber and will adjourn the meeting. Members of the council, please, can I ask that you indicate when you wish to speak by raising your physical hand? Members will also note the rules of engagement of on each desk. Can I draw your attention, point 18, which references the arrangements of the Gluton extension of the meetings and the duration of the meetings is two and a half hours, starting from 7pm. I would like to advise members in order to comply with the allocated time for speakers, if you go beyond your allocated time, you will be automatically muted. Please, can I ask members and officers to introduce themselves when speaking? I would like to ask that everyone turns their mobile phones to silent mode. We are not expecting a fire drill this evening, so if there are alarm sounds, please remain calm and follow the instructions of the town hall staffs. I am now moving to item one, apologies for absence. I have received apologies for absence of this evening's meeting from the deputy chair of council, Imam Hawke, Councillor Caroline Adeja, Jennifer Bailey, Noor Begum, strip brochures, Femi Falola, Mohamed Ghani, Louise Godfrey, Lester Hudson, Anamul Islam, Karleen McLean, Suzanne Muster, Marilyn Onover, Lakmanisha, Winston Bergen, Tony Olson. Are there any other apologies for absence, councillors, to be recorded? Yes, Councillor McLean. I have already recorded, mentioned that. Yes, councillors, Sophia Betten. Yes, councillors Aries. Yes, Karleen. Any other absence, yes. Thank you. Is there any other? Yes, councillors Yes, Karleen. Yes, we have recorded that. Yes. Yes, I do, I have recorded that. Thank you very much. I am now moving to item two, declaration of interest. Are there any members wishing to declare any disclosable pecuniary's interest of any other interest they may have in any other matter which is to be considered at this meeting? I'm now moving, yes. Councillor Nate Haggins. Hi, Councillor Nate Haggins, Stratford Olympic Park. I'm not sure where my colleague, Councillor Danny Keeling is, but they intend to declare interest in relation to being a member of the London Mentors Union, which I also intend to declare. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Nate Haggins, for updating that. I'm now moving to item three, minutes of the last meeting. I move to the minutes of the last meeting of the council held on the 16th of September, 2024. Do I have a seconder, please? Thank you, Councillor Simon Rush. All those in favour, please raise your hand. Thank you. All those against, please raise your hands. Any abstentions? Agree the minutes. I'm now moving to item four, deputation. I can inform the Chamber that there will be no deputations under rules 13 of part four of the constitution, so I'll move on to the next item. I'm now moving to item five, petition. Are there any petition by any members to hand over? Yes, Councillor Blossom Young. Thank you. Are there any other petition to be submitted? No, thank you. I'm now moving to item six, questions by the public. I can confirm that no questions from members of the public accepted under rules 15 of part four of the constitution. Thank you. That concludes this item and I'll now move to the next item. I'm now moving to item seven, announcement by the Chair. I would like to inform the council that I attended around seven public engagements in role as my first citizen, both inside and outside the borough. As long as we are on this month, the council has announced the launch of Islamophobia on this month with the theme, Seeds of Change, to combat prejudice and raise awareness through a series of thoughts provoking events and activities. Islamophobia on this month, first of November to 30th of November, take places annually to celebrate the positive contributions of Muslim to British society and raise awareness of Islamophobia. Please look at the Newham website and explore a month of virtual and live events. Religious holidays, we note that many members of community will be observing religious holidays at this time and in the coming weeks. Our Jewish community, and our Hindu community, we wish all those observing a blessed, peaceful and meaningful celebration of your lives with your loved one. I wish to offer my deepest condolence to the family and friends of Reis Ahmed, who was effectively stopped following an incident earlier this month in Custom House. We also extend our condolence to the family and friends of the 18-year-old young woman who lost her life in a road accident on 15th of October on Barking Road. I ask those who can stand for a minute silent in memory of Reis Ahmed. Thank you, be seated. I'm now moving to Item 8, announced by the Mayor, Rukhsana Fears. I invite Mayor Rukhsana Fears to address the Council to make an announcement. You have up to 10 minutes. Thank you very much, Chair. Colleagues, as you all know, last week the regulator of social housing passed its verdict on the Council's housing services. The Council has fallen significantly short of the standards I and we all expect for our residents who are our Council tenants. You should know that I am deeply troubled by the findings and sorry because our residents deserve better. Last week I spent time talking to some of our Council tenants about the regulator's report and about the work the Council will be doing with the regulator to put in place an improvement plan. Myself and my Cabinet colleagues will be out meeting as many residents as possible across the borough over the coming weeks and months as we will with our ward councillor colleagues, talking directly to our tenants and hearing directly from them. Like many of you in this room reading that report, I was angry and concerned that Newham residents and members will be similarly angry and concerned. Let me make clear, as the Mayor of Newham, my job is to advocate for the people of Newham and, yes, be accountable and holding those tasks with delivering improvements to accounts. That's why I will be holding the Council to account on the improvements in our housing services, which must be swift, rapid and deep. The Council will be open and transparent about its failings and its progress in making improvements, and the lessons must be learnt right across the Council, in every department, in every team, as part of our ongoing work to change how we operate and perform as a public service organisation. Changing the culture of an organisation, sweeping away outdated ways of working and ensuring our residents are treated with compassion and respect. Our purpose is to serve, to make life better for our residents. Since day one of becoming the Mayor, I have demanded that our residents are at the heart of everything that we do, and they must be part of how we transform our housing services, having a greater voice and a greater say. Of course, we will need to demonstrate to the regulator that we have made significant and lasting improvements in our housing services. More importantly, for me, we need to demonstrate this to our residents. The test of whether we have succeeded will be whether residents believe there has been a change, whether they see and feel a difference, whether they have confidence in reporting repairs or complaints, confidence that they will be done and put right, properly, first time, and to the highest standards. This is our duty to residents. Chair and colleagues, the theme at our meeting today is Onum's temporary accommodation crisis. I will say more about that when we deal with the substantive report presented before us on the agenda. Members will know that the exceptional financial cost of the temporary accommodation crisis, together with rising demand for social care, is why we have had to act now to prevent an unprecedented forecast budget gap of £175 million by the financial year 2027-28. Cabinet colleagues and I will be continuing our meetings with residents and voluntary and community and faith sector partners this week to discuss our proposals and to hear directly from them about their priorities for their future. Yes, we are facing agonising choices, but we cannot shy away from the tough decisions we need to take. We won't ever compromise on the outcomes we want to see for our residents as we continue with our purpose of improving their lives and improving the borough. Finally, Chair, I would like to update Council on appointments. Recognising the importance and priority attached to the twin challenges of improving our housing services and tackling the temporary accommodation crisis, I am pleased to announce the following Cabinet appointments this evening. Councillor Armavirdi, Cabinet Member for Housing Need, Homelessness and Private Rented Sector, and Councillor Blossom Young, Cabinet Member for Housing Landlord and Tenant Experience Improvements. And can I take a moment to thank Councillor Shabar Mohammed for his four years of service as a Cabinet Member helping to improve Council's housing services. He was impassioned as a local boy who grew up in Canningtown about making the changes we all want to see in that part of the Council for our residents. While it didn't happen as fast and as deep as he had hoped in light of last week's regulatory judgment, he was committed. In particular, I want to thank him for his grace and for the passion he has always shown in wanting to do the best for the residents he serves in Canningtown North and across Newham. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Oksana Piaz. I'm now moving to item 10, announcement by the Chief Executive. I understand that there will be no announcement from the Chief Executive. I'm now moving to item 11, overview and scrutiny program and future commission. Sorry, I think I've missed item 9. Apologies, Councillor McMillan. Any update from Cabinet members? I'm now moving to update from Cabinet members. Any members of the Cabinet who wishes to update Council will be allowed to speak. There shall be no debate or questions allowed. Does any member of Cabinet wish to speak? Will you be allowed to speak for up to three minutes? No? Thank you. I'm now moving to item 10, announcement by the Chief Executive. I've already mentioned that. I'm now moving to item 11, overview scrutiny program and future commission. Councillor McMillan, on page form 37 on published agenda, Councillor McMillan, you have up to five minutes to present your report, with another five minutes allocated in total for posing and answering questions. Thank you, Chair. As Chair of the Council who joins scrutiny committee, I rise to provide a brief update of scrutiny work since September. Our focus is to improve governance and oversight of Newham Council. This was demonstrated by our active engagement in the key government's workshop on 2nd October, and a similar session is planned for November. Chair, rather than repeat information in our published report, I would like to focus instead on matters with implications for our residents, and how we conduct scrutiny here in Newham. I would like to focus on social housing, temporary accommodation and scrutiny work program. On September 16, the regulator of social housing published its report about social housing in our borough. The breadth and scale of the issues raised in the report meant that Newham Council has been given the lowest rating the government regulator can give. The regulator of social housing report will now inform our revised housing and regeneration work program. Scrutiny will be fully engaged in examining this report and extract learning. We aim to conduct scrutiny to find solutions to the issues raised in this report, and find improvement for our residents in our social housing through collaborative and long-term thinking. In my last report to Council, I refer to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Report, which raised concerns over the absence of MA-independent or rigorous scrutiny. On a global scale, the UK has the highest rate of homelessness in the developed world. Individuals and families in temporary accommodation are part of the UK homelessness crisis. Temporary accommodation is a national problem due to increased pressures on the system and regional problems in London. This has been the case since 2010. We know that air in our borough, homelessness is also a local problem. As Councillors, we see it, and our residents tell us so. The main driver is the inability to afford housing. Temporary accommodation placements have more than doubled since 2010, with over 117,000 homelessness in the country. And here in Newham, we have about 6,700 of our residents in temporary accommodation, with just over 9,000 children who are affected. Later this evening, there will be a motion, and if passed, it should see the Council setting up a special task and finish committee to better understand and address the issues of temporary accommodation here in Newham. On September 17, following the publication of the Grenfell Tower Phrase 2 Report, the Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Commission scrutinised building safety, community-wide building, and residents' experience of Newham Council. The Education and Young People Scrutiny Commission also met in late September. This commission reviewed the Youth Justice Provision here in Newham, focusing on reducing youth crime and ensuring that our vulnerable young people receive the necessary support. Furthermore, Commission members examined the performance of children's services and emphasis on our Newham Council addresses education and social outcomes for our children. On October 4, the Review and Scrutiny Committee reviewed key areas such as the Newham Council Asset, Capital and Investment Programme, the Climate Emergency, and our organisational transformation effort. Our members raised vital questions about gas and gas emissions and how we can improve the quality of our gas and gas emissions. We also reviewed the review and review of the Newham Council Asset, Capital and Investment Programme, the Climate Emergency, and our organisational transformation effort. On October 4, the Review and Scrutiny Committee reviewed key areas such as the Newham Council Asset, Capital and Investment Programme, the Climate Emergency, and our organisational transformation effort. On October 4, the Review and Scrutiny Committee reviewed key areas such as the Newham Council Asset, Capital and Investment Programme, the Climate Emergency, and our organisational transformation effort. We also reviewed the Review and Review of the Newham Council Asset, Capital and Investment Programme, the Climate Emergency, and our organisational transformation Thank you. I'm Councillor Wilson. Chair, the item that Councillor Wilson referred to is an item on page 55 of the agenda pack, titled, new license policy. Chair, I can confirm that this item will be reviewed and an update will be given at the next council meeting on the outcome. Thank you, Councillor MacLachlan. Is there any other question to Councillor MacLachlan? No. Thank you very much. As a chair, I move on item 12, authority to exempt to report. The report is outlined from page 75 to unpublished agenda. As chair, I move this report. Do I have a seconder, please? Thank you, Councillor Hildes. We now move to debate. Does any member wish to speak? No. Can you now move to the recommendation which are outlined on page 75 on the published agenda? All those in favour, raise your hand. Thank you. All those against, please raise your hands. Any abstentions? Thank you. As a chair, I move on item 13, New Homes Temporary Accommodation Crisis. The report is outlined from page 79 on published agenda. I call on the Mayor to move the report. You have seven minutes. Thank you very much, Chair. Colleagues, and actually to all those members of the public this full council meeting today that's themed on the crisis in temporary accommodation here in Newham, which reflects a significant, terrible, devastating crisis in housing that this country has seen for many, many generations. As many will know, a home isn't just a roof over your head. It's also a foundation on which you and your family's health, wellbeing and happiness depend. A recent Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health magazine stated, a home is everything. It's where we shelter from the world, take our first steps and learn about life. Home shapes who we are and then we shape it to reflect who we have become. Home runs deep in our identity as human beings. It is refuge where we sleep and dream. Adequate housing is part of the right to an adequate standard of living in article 25 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But the deep-rooted and long-standing challenges of housing markets are worsening. For too many in Newham's borough, our residents, this basic human right is no longer within reach. In our 2023 resident survey, only one in five said their housing costs were fairly or easily affordable. Now, one in 20 households in our borough are in temporary accommodation. That's 6,662 households. And it's nearly double the proportion of any other London borough, triple the London average and over 10 times the national average. In Newham, the temporary accommodation crisis is significantly worse than anywhere else in the country. Our levels of poverty and overcrowding are higher. And there is greater dependence on the private rented sector, which has seen supply shrink radically and rents rocket sky high, leading to the highest numbers of evictions in London. This is putting an unsustainable strain on the council's finances, which I'll come back to in a minute. But first, I want to make clear that what makes me most angry and what motivates me most to ensure that we do all that we can do in the face of this challenge is the human impact of the temporary accommodation crisis on our residents of all ages and on their ability to thrive and succeed both now and in the future. I know that from personal experience because I was 16 years old when me and my family became homeless. Numbers in temporary accommodation have grown 145 per cent since 2013. And the costs of temporary accommodation have risen sharply from a mean nightly rate in April 2021 of £42.16 to a peak of £158.23 in November 2023. It's created a perfect storm. For the last two financial years, we would have delivered within budget had it not been for growing temporary accommodation pressures despite putting an additional £30 million into our temporary accommodation budgets over the last two years. We are now forecasting a £31 million overspend on TA, that's temporary accommodation alone this year. And the pressures are driving £100 million of our £175 million forecast budget gap over the next three years. The council hasn't sat back in the face of this storm. Our response has been in three main areas. Firstly, we've ramped up our work to prevent and relieve homelessness, helping people to stay in or find new long-term accommodation. It's avoided further financial pressures of over £11 million so far this year. Secondly, we've been maximising housing supply to find suitable long-term solutions for those who do become homeless, making the best use of our existing stock by bringing empty homes back into use and reducing the time homes are empty between tenancies and working with registered social landlords to maximise their supply, using more of our new build and our acquisitions programme, both in the borough and further afield. Now I know that some argue we shouldn't be housing new residents outside of the borough and let's be clear, our placement policy prioritises in borough and closer to borough options. And I do know that we're going to have live debates about the realities. Simply put, there isn't enough accommodation in Newham or nearby to meet the needs. I won't support a rigid location policy that drives down the quality and security of accommodation we can offer. Our out of borough options have enabled us to move people out of unsatisfactory hotel temporary accommodation to more suitable accommodation and it has helped us manage costs. The third part of our response has been to focus on reducing the costs of temporary accommodation through negotiating better rates and improving services and support for those who do find themselves in it. Along with the whole Cabinet, we are committed in addressing the temporary accommodation crisis and we are demanding that our plans continue to evolve to adopt best practice and innovate and that delivery is managed tightly. But this is not a problem that isn't our gift to solve alone. The housing market crisis combined with the cost of living crisis and long standing underfunding of local government mean that while we will continue to do our best within our means, we are also needing to call on the government to play its part. After 14 years of conservative led austerity that failed to address the dysfunction and failure of the housing market is encouraging that we now have a new Labour government that recognises housing is key to breaking down barriers to opportunity. Its commitments to increase house building including social and affordable homes and to overhaul regulation of the private rented sector are welcomed. So colleagues as you engage in the debate, let's recognise the complexity, let's appreciate the staggering costs that we face but let's never ever forget the human impact in the face of the decisions that we are making and let's do right for our new residents. Thank you, Mayor Fears. Do I have a seconder please? Thank you, Councillor Simon Rush. We now move to the debate. Does any member wish to speak? Mayor Fears, you have right to reply, should you wish to reply? We don't have any debate so. I think that's a first. Thank you very much colleagues for, I'm assuming, accepting the report albeit subject to hands up or not. But yeah, I look forward to working with you all as we address the challenge of the crisis that our people face. I'd like to just conclude, I mentioned in my opening remarks the experience I've had first hand of being homeless and I mentioned that I was 16 and I know that for many in this room either directly or indirectly you will know the impact that it has on lives and do not underestimate the trauma that being homeless presents and how young people and the elderly carry that for a long time. To this day with my late 70 year old mother and my 83 year old father, they worry about what might happen if they are not able to afford the bills and I know that that's an agonizing feeling for so many families. I popped over to the Stratford Hub today and I came across a woman, she for whatever reasons, unknown to me, I didn't want to probe, has had a situation with her family, she's 63, has limited command of English and she's been living on the streets for the last few days. She's been turfed out of a place of worship and she came to our Stratford Housing Hub as a place of hope and sanctuary. So I want for colleagues to remember that as we're debating motions and debating the budget because we really do need to provide stability. Thank you. Thank you. Can you now move to the recommendation which I outlined on page 80 on the published agenda? All those in favour, please raise your hand. Thank you. All those against, please raise your hand. Thank you. Any abstentions? The report has been approved. Thank you. I'm now moving to item 14, questions under rule 16 of part of the Constitution. I can inform the Chamber that there are three questions received and accepted by the Chief Executive. The questions with the published responses can be seen on the water paper published earlier today. The questions are from Councillor Simon Rush, Shantu Ferdous and Nate Haggins. Questions one, I call up on Councillor Simon Rush to ask his questions. Regarding the volume of temporary accommodation applications received, could you please provide information on the number of interventions successfully executed by the Council and the consequent financial savings accrued to the Council over the previous six months? Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Simon Rush. I call upon the Mayor to respond to questions. Thank you very much. Councillor Rush, I'm going to direct you to the written response on page number seven of the supplementary agenda and just in summary in response to your question, in light of the interventions actions that we've put in place last year, the savings calculated as having been delivered are some £12.9 million in 23-24. Just also to advise across the interventions that are being driven by the preventing homelessness service, we have a range of approaches with regards to our tenancy liaison officers who operate within the private rented sector and work within the private sector housing enforcement team and they've been able to prevent 27 instances of homelessness as a consequence or that has also been driving the harassment by landlords who are trying to illegally evict their tenants. As I mentioned in my comments relating to a similar item earlier on in the agenda, the human impact is indescribable but so is an environment that allows for landlords to victimise and harass their tenants and I'm really, really pleased that we are very diligent in that regard because we place a premium on renters' rights so I trust the response as written in for has been helpful. It has. Thank you. No supplementaries. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Samras. Thank you. Question two. I call upon Councillor Santofedos to ask her questions. Thank you, Chair. New Home Council has a big heart when it comes to helping the homeless. Offering lots of help with temporary accommodation, though it's an important job, it has put the Council under financial pressure. Might we secure funding from the central government to address this matter considering building more social housing is one of their pledges? Thank you, Councillor Ferdows. Thank you very much, Councillor Ferdows. I'm similarly going to draw you to the published response in the supplementary paper on big page number eight and appreciate the reference to the Council has a big heart. We have always been clear that notwithstanding the challenges that we as a local authority face financially, as do all local authorities, treating people with dignity, respect and compassion is important and yes, we are needing to make some very difficult challenges in response to the housing crisis. You'll note in the published response that we have set out the situation in the room is acute and our numbers of temporary accommodation present an unprecedented challenge and within this context, the funding we've received from government for homelessness does not meet the actual need and that's the reason why we're campaigning. With regards to social housing, Newham Council and our wholly owned housing delivery company has delivered presently 536 genuinely affordable homes since 2018 with many, many more in the pipeline and it's one of the highest numbers of council delivered homes in the UK. A further 667 are in progress and are expected to complete within the next two to three years and in addition, we have a pipeline of up to 4,000 more homes, at least half of which will be genuinely affordable that will be and can be delivered over the next 10 to 15 years. To unlock these new homes, we are lobbying and negotiating around increased grant rates or government intervention that reduces the cost of borrowing to build affordable homes. I trust that helps and I look forward to supplementary questions. Yes, I have. Do you have any supplementary questions? Shall I go ahead? Yes, please. In case we don't receive the required funding from the central government to support ongoing temporary accommodation and to build more affordable homes, it rises an additional point of how financial management will be addressed in our council to deal with housing issues. I call on the mayor to respond to this question. I'm going to interpret that question with regards to financial management and trying to ensure the financial stability of households. I just really wanted to advise that in the context of a broken housing market and where average household incomes are still relatively low, it's absolutely important that part of our approach to addressing the fragility of being able to afford a house is lifting people out of poverty and we will, as a council, remain absolutely diligent in the financial management around the budgets that we assign to dealing with a temporary accommodation crisis. It can't be done in a vacuum. We've got to continue campaigning for more grants and for further money from the government. We will continue pursuing the campaigns around renters' rights and we welcome the government's announcement around banning no-fault evictions and hope that they would rapidly bring that onto the statute books. I'm happy to provide a written answer in more detail but I trust that suffices for now. Thank you, Mayor and Chair. Thank you, Mayor Fears and thank you, Councillor Fedders. Question three, I call upon Councillor Nate Higgins to ask your question, please. Thank you, Chair. Newham residents who are experiencing homelessness are also significantly more likely to be depending on support services within Newham and support networks within and around Newham. Moving these residents out of Newham can wreak havoc on their lives but the council has sadly failed to ensure homeless residents within Newham are always placed within Newham with a policy to place residents within one hour of Newham by public transport. Will the administration commit to not increasing the proportion of homeless residents placed outside of the borough and to no increase to the cap for placements? Thank you, I call upon Mayor Fears. Thank you very much, Councillor Higgins, for your question and please do note the written response in the supplementary report on big page number nine. Look, I'm going to draw out a few salient points and then I'm going to conclude with a direct response to the specific of your question. In summary, if you look at the statistics, we've actually managed for a prolonged period of time since 2018 maintain a pretty much 60-40 ratio of in borough placements and out of borough placements. 60% in borough, 40% out of borough. That is really difficult when you have the scale of housing crisis that has befallen us over the last couple of years. It's catastrophic. Every single local authority in the country is facing similar cost challenges and also supply challenges and why it is welcomed that a new Labour government has committed to delivering 1.5 million homes. We cannot be an exception in needing to deal with that financial challenge and crisis. We absolutely understand the impact of having to move people from their place of familiarity and roots but I, in direct response, cannot commit to your question request and the reason is this simply put and as you all know we face a biggest financial crisis, £175 million over the next three years, £100 million attributable to temporary accommodation costs. We will absolutely continue lobbying, campaigning and we're in the process of the exceptional financial support and what we need to do is fix a broken housing market and if supply increases, we'll be in a very different scenario but I can't and it would be foolhardy to commit in this meeting without interrogating the prognosis, the trajectory and the budgetary forecast. Thank you, Mayor Piers. Councillor Leonard-Teggans, do you have any supplementary questions? I do, thank you Chair. When the Mayor implies that she would like to commit to what I've said, I believe her because it was in the manifesto to increase the proportion of homeless residents placed within the borough and I acknowledge the challenges and this is a shared challenge by all of us in Newham to fight for the kind of policies that we want to see, the values that we care about with the constraints put on us by central government so I do believe her when she says that this is a priority for her. Will you commit to reviewing this on an annual basis so that as soon as you feel you can reverse this, it is reversed so that we don't end up with a permanently inhumane policy? Thank you. Okay, I'd say this, I don't believe that the policy that's in place at the moment is inhumane. We're not an inhumane administration, we're not an inhumane leading political group, nothing that we have done since May 2018 in my mind has been inhumane and I say that sincerely, Councillor Higgins as someone that's grown up in this borough and knowing the deep love and passion that every single member of this council from my political group and others, I mean yes we may have differences have for the people of this borough, of course as with all aspects of policy we will apply pragmatism and compassion because we want the best for our residents so that's a response I can provide you here tonight. I trust you will take it in the spirit that it's intended and I thank you very much for your question. Thank you Mayor Fears. I'm now moving to item 15, speeches from members in accordance with part four, rules of procedures of the council's constitutions, paragraph 17, a speech has been accepted from Councillor Saruiz on the effect of homelessness on children. I call on Councillor Saruiz. You have up to five minutes. I remind the council there will be no debate after the speech. Thank you very much Chair. Councillor Saruiz, Cabinet lead for children education environment and sustainable transport. One of my colleagues said earlier was this my maiden speech very cheekily and I can assure members that it isn't so I don't need any applause. Okay. I could speak and actually I thought it was three minutes, I've only prepared three minutes okay. I could speak for three minutes and fill your heads full of data but I'm sure that you have all the data you want or need. I want to talk to you about the effect that living in temporary accommodation has on our children. Many of our children and their families living in temporary accommodation arrive in Newham as asylum seekers and refugees, placed by the home office in hotels. They achieve their leave to remain and are evicted within seven days. They are then housed by London Borough of Newham. Many in nightly paid accommodation which is no better, no worse than the hotels that they have come from. The Magpie project currently supports some 200 women and children and I have had the absolute privilege alongside Roxana of being a frequent visitor to that project. Not many of you will have experienced the sheer desperation. They probably won't come to your surgeries. At times they feel they have no worth and no hope. The children suffer. We have seen an upturn in reported malnutrition. There are no cooking facilities in the nightly paid accommodation. They have no recourse to public funds so providing healthy food is not an option often. Children are kept on milk feeding for longer than required as weaning is difficult. Their development is delayed and their sense of belonging having a stable home and some normality is not happening. The mothers are often so downtrodden and broken because they know they are not providing. We are storing up generations of issues so I know that although wanting to stay in Newham would be their first choice as it would be mine because of the support that they receive. If we were to offer a home in another part of the country they probably would jump at the chance. The chance to put down roots to be able to offer their children a stable home and even the basic right to be able to provide food for their family. I think it's worth saying that actually if you met the women and their children at the Magpie project you could not help but be absolutely humbled at the way in which they try to manage. And I think in temporary accommodation they don't have the children don't have the right to thrive. They often in one small room they share a bed they have no floor space but most importantly they have no access to a kitchen. And the Magpie project have launched a campaign on this subject and I would urge you to look them up on the website and to sign their campaign. We met recently with Tom Copley and who's I I know he's responsible for housing at the GLA and Stephen Timms and they are very much supporting the right for our children and our families to be in accommodation where they are able to provide proper food. So I know this isn't five minutes. You have 30 seconds left. Oh my goodness in that case I'll finish on that very positive note. Thank you. Thank you Councillor Seriz. I'll now move to the next item. I'm moving I'm now moving to item 16 motions. There are three listed for consideration of this meeting namely addressing Newham's housing crisis, Newham temporary accommodation crisis in support of house building and endorsement of the labor government's approach. I'll remind members of the council procedures rules 25.1 points of order this relate to an alleged breach of the council rules or procedures of the law. 26 person explanation this is applied if a member considered they have been misquoted or misunderstood. Motion one I call upon Councillor Nate Higgins to response your motion which is outlined from page 136 on on the published agenda. Councillor Higgins you have up to five minutes. Thank you chair. Councillor Nate Higgins Stratford Olympic Park ward and leader of the green group. It's difficult to overstate the disastrous impact of the right to buy scheme on the ability of local authorities up and down the country to provide the vital safety net of social housing to our most vulnerable residents. It is right that residents in social housing can make their property their home as they get on with living their lives and building their families without worrying about the council breathing down their neck trying to take their home back. But right to buy has completely demolished the other end of this vital social contract that when the property is no longer in use because the residents have chosen to move elsewhere or have sadly passed on the property will become available again to support another family in need. Instead what we have seen is councils like Newham being forced to sell off over two million properties at a cut price rate with almost half of these now being let on the private market. Properties that could have provided shelter to children who now grow up homeless instead being used to line the pockets of greedy landlords. Right to buy also fundamentally undermines the business case for building more social housing because any investment in social housing can be lost if the council or housing association is forced to sell it on a major discount within just a few years with much of the proceeds being stolen by national government. It could not be clearer right to buy is an assault on social housing in this country and Greens know we must scrap it. The mayor I believe also understands that as she's rightly said as much before but by July of this year that ambition had been downgraded merely to suspending right to buy for the next five years according to a labor council motion. This will do nothing to undo the harm the policy has already caused or to reduce the risk of investment in social housing being lost in the medium and long term. Newham Labour have also gone quiet on their previous support for rent controls without which Newham residents in the private rented sector will continue to face sky-high rents and in the meantime what powers do councils even have to raise the income needed to support residents after an almost 50% cut in national funding for local authorities while our costs soar. We can either continue increasing fees and charges on our poorest residents and small businesses who need council services the most and are already struggling desperately as it is or increase council tax even more. Council tax is a fiercely regressive tax and is rightly hated by residents with the poorest in our society who aren't lucky enough to benefit from the council tax reduction scheme spending a much higher proportion of their income on the tax while it barely touches the sides for those who can most afford it. At the same time the Labour administration is now proposing cutting this desperately needed council tax reduction scheme which could see the council tax bills of our poorest residents surge by three or four times pushing them that much closer to homelessness. Greens will always prioritize protecting the council tax reduction scheme. It is clear council tax is in need of fundamental reform so that those who can afford it pay the most. With Labour in power in national government in London and in Newham it's also clear who will be to blame if that reform doesn't come and if our residents are asked to fork out yet more in council tax yet again. Councils like Newham have been stripped of the tools we need to support our residents and they have been left to the mercy of the vultures in the private rented sector who are now abandoning those who have had no choice but to depend on them. This is driving the temporary accommodation crisis in Newham. The solutions to this crisis will not be found by washing our hands of these residents just like the private rented sector has. The so-called gatekeeping of services as some in Labour have shockingly called for might make the solution look better on paper but that is just pouring gasoline on fire. Labour was right to promise at the previous local elections to increase the proportion of residents housed within Newham and we will hold them to that commitment. Greens have also been fighting the calls to wash our hands of homeless residents by changing eligibility criteria. It is not the fault of homeless residents that Newham is facing bankruptcy and they won't be able to pay our way out of it. This motion acknowledges what we all know they will be up to the Labour government to put local government back on sustainable financial footing. With Labour in power in government, this is the moment where Labour can no longer shirk responsibility for the crisis our residents are facing. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Nick Hagen. Is there a seconder for this motion? Council, I was recently very fortunate and honoured to be shown around the anchor house homeless shelter in Canningtown by its inspiring CEO Amanda Dewberry as part of their activities for World Homeless Day. Their work is an exemplar for how the charity sector can step in to plug the holes left by government when it comes to supporting those with the most dire housing needs, beds, food, clothes, skills and compassion. I was left thinking however that the need for their work to exist at all is yet another stain on our society that in one of the world's richest economies, in one of the world's wealthiest cities, we are left relying on the goodwill of underfunded charities to help people with the most essential of needs, a place to call home. So what can be done to fix this crisis? In an ideal world, and one we should aspire to, everyone would have a secure long-term tenancy and a safe property with enough space for everyone in that household to thrive. We will all have seen, I'm sure, in our advice surgeries, residents desperate, desperate for help in achieving that aspiration. For this to happen, there needs to be bold action. In part, it comes down to the simple economics of supply and demand. Demand in a capital city like London is hard to address. People rightly want to live in one of the greatest cities on earth. Supply, however, can be addressed should we be bold enough to decide to do so. Council homes were never built with a view to them one day being sucked dry for profit by slum landlords. They were built to provide homes for no other aim than for them to be just that, a home, not an asset, a home. Unfortunately, the right to buy scheme brought in by Margaret Thatcher killed that idea instantaneously. In effect, it was a single transfer of wealth to a single generation, leaving future generations much worse off. It was never realistic for the pace of building council housing to keep up with the privatisation of the council housing stock. To solve the crisis, we have to scrap right to buy as set out in this motion. And while we are on the topic of council housing, the recent report by the government's regulator for social housing, which gave us the worst possible grading, should bring shame to us all. It, in effect, labels Newham council as a dangerous slum landlord. It was right for the cabinet member for housing to have resigned, but ultimately the buck stops with the mayor. She too should resign and allow for fresh leadership to help take the council forward. Now, for those who are already in the private rental sector, it cannot be sustainable to allow landlords alone to dictate the cost of living in London and for the levels of profit they can obtain to be a deciding factor. There needs to be a real say for local government and for renters in deciding what acceptable levels of rent should be. There needs to be a plan for introducing rent controls and to be able to freeze rent as called for in this motion. This is not a controversial motion. It calls for necessary action and to vote against it is to vote against the interests of Newham's residents. Thank you. Thank you, councillor, actually. We now move to debate. Members, you have up to three minutes. Thank you. Councillor Higgins, you have right to reply, councillor. Sorry. Councillor Simon-Rush, would you like to go on the mic, please? Thank you. Can we, bearing while none of us have stood up and said anything from elsewhere, can we move straight to the vote, please? You like to go to straight to the vote? Yes, please. Yeah, we'll do that, but... I will ask the monitoring officer to advise on that. Okay, so if you're asking for the question to be put, then, so I think that's what you're asking. So, yeah, so under rule 22. So now what needs to happen, 22B, is that we need a vote on that motion, that the question be put first, and then if that's passed, then we need to give the mover of the original motion the right of reply, and then we go to the vote on the motion. That makes sense. Three steps. I have a question for the monitoring officer, if that's okay? Yes. Can I allow another member to do my right of reply, please? I think so, yeah. That's fine. Could I please pass to Councillor Keeling to do my right of reply? Okay. But we need to first do what I've just said. That's okay. Yeah. Okay, so could we then move then, okay, to the vote that the question now be put, please? No. You're putting questions. All right. So can I ask who is putting questions? Okay, so are we voting on that then, please? Show of hands. Thank you. Okay, and now that's been passed, so then... You asked him for a recorded vote. No, no, we haven't. We've had votes in favour, not votes against yet. Oh, sorry. Yes, sorry. Yes. Votes against, please. All right, so... Abstentions. Any abstentions? No. So that's mean that we are not debating on that motion, so we're going straight to the vote, so... Yes, sorry. So it is a bit, because it's three-stage, so we've got the right of reply now. Thank you, colleagues. That's very kind of you. I did have a nice speech about your unifying council and one council, actually, and us working together because we have the same morals when it comes to housing, and that what this motion does is basically do the best for our local residents, which was all in your manifestos in 2022. In fact, it says in the Labour 2022 manifesto calls for, I quote, for an end to the right of council tenants to buy their own homes, as well as rent controls and security of the tenure in the private rented sector. It also calls for a change in our local plan to provide 50% social rented homes in all new housing schemes. I believe it's page 46 of your manifesto. And these are all pledges that were made to London Renters' Union, as well. These are all bold and necessary actions which we support. We need to make sure everybody has a right safe to a home, affordable rent, affordable to heat. Noon's house crisis is a catastrophe, and so-called affordable housing is not really affordable. We need to stand up today as one unified council to actually get this sorted in this housing crisis and acknowledge we have the tools to start solving it, and act to ensure the residents of Noon are getting the support they rightfully deserve. Thank you, Councilman. I think now we can go straight to the vote. So those in favour, please raise your hands. Thank you. All those against, please raise your hands. Thank you. Any abstentions? Thank you. So that not carried. Motion two, I call upon Councillor John Gray to propose his motion, which is outlined from the page 137 on the published agenda. Councillor Gray, you have up to five minutes. Thank you, Chair. Councillor John Gray, West Ham Ward, move in motion to Noon's temporary accommodation crisis. The word crisis has been used very widely at the moment to describe nearly all of our key public services, the NHS, schools, courts, police, universities, transport, utilities, and not least, local government, and in particular, temporary accommodation in local government. While Newham is not the only council to be experiencing a TA crisis, we are by far an outlier with arguably the worst TA situation in the country. Our statistics are frankly incredible and unacceptable. 6,700 vulnerable individuals and families living in temporary and insecure accommodation when they deserve permanent, decent and affordable homes. Yet this is not just an unacceptable tenure for these families. The cost of providing temporary accommodation is rising and there is a danger, a clear danger, it will make the council insolvent, or in lay persons terms, bankrupt and we're just going to run out of money. It's projected that soon, unless something changes, then we will end up spending our entire council budget on what is called statutory services, children's services, adult services and temporary accommodation. There will be nothing left over for any other council services and we may not have even enough to provide those services demanded by law. Council, we must act, simply doing nothing and hoping for bailouts from central government is not an option. So what can we do as a council, as a borough? The motion makes many specific recommendations but there are three main overlapping themes. Firstly, we must believe we can do something. Too often, TA in Newham is just seen as being in the too difficult box. Oh, we've had a crisis for decades and that's just the way it is in Newham. This is wrong. We can and we must act, not alone but with our partners and stakeholders. Secondly, before we find a way out, we must examine why we're in this mess. Why is TA in Newham so different from other similar London boroughs and other councils? What works elsewhere and why can't it work here? Such is the scale of the crisis that we're going to have to take risks and try some different things that we will be uncomfortable with. Thirdly, we must not let the government completely off the hook. Despite the appalling national financial situation, there are a number of measures such as restricting the right to buy and bringing forward a ban on no-fault evictions which will make a huge difference at relatively little cost. We must continue to make the case but if the government of the day makes the provision of a particular council service a statutory service, then there is an obligation for that government to provide the funding needed to provide what is a statutory service. While no one is expecting a blank check from the government, we must continue to press the case for money to provide what the government is telling us to provide. Finally, councillor, I note there are concerns about the capacity of scrutiny for this task force and possible overlap, so this is a call for motion. It's not an instruction motion so I hope the chief executive will bang some heads together and make sure we can have the resources necessary to carry out this task force outside the existing scrutiny budget. Council, let us set up this task force as a matter of urgency and let us have an initial report within two months and let us together, repeat it together, tackle and end this crisis. Council, I move. Thank you, councillor John Gray. Is there a seconder for this motion? Councillor Roidas. Thank you, chair. I rise on this occasion to speak in favour of my colleague, councillor John Gray's motion. Temporary housing crisis, as we are facing today, is a national issue and has led to an emergency crisis over here in Newham. In Newham, we have 6,700 residents in temporary housing and as councillor Tony McCollumant also mentioned, of these 9,000 are children. This number is significant and more than any other local authority in this country, almost ten times compared to other parts of this country. 14 years of Tory austerity has decimated our borough. The cost of living crisis alongside a housing rental market that is unsustainable has pushed some of our most vulnerable into homelessness. As a labour-run borough who puts social justice at the heart of everything that we do, we have stood up to support our most vulnerable, but as we know, this is not enough. If we were to only service our TA costs, we would have to stop every other non-statutory duty, which would mean we would have no money for our children and young people, for culture, for environment. This, colleague, is not a sustainable position to be in. We also know the right to buy has played a major factor in our decision and in making our stock so low. This is not fair, given that it takes away from our ability to help those who are most in need. The motion makes it clear that those who profit from this borough need to also put in. Thus, we rightly ask that local authorities get more power on development sites in making sure that we keep to 50% of promise of social housing from our developers. We want to implement and want to make sure that all of the work that we do in terms of regulating our private housing market is also taken into consideration. But make no mistake, we need a longer-term solution, and this motion rightly asks for a reformed local government funding to support those who are most in need and to help us in our temporary accommodation crisis. Chair, I move to put the question that we move straight to vote on this. Thank you. After the amendment. Thank you, Councillor Arudhash Gupta. Please note, we have received an amendment to this motion, which is outlined on the supplementary agenda. I call upon Councillor Jenny Keeling to please present your amendments. You have up to three minutes. Moving home is highly stressful, packing up everything you have and relocating. But imagine doing that while having the instability of being in temporary accommodation too. Teenagers going through their whole secondary school years in hotels. If we then add on top of this, moving a family out into an entirely new borough, far away from their established friends, communities and relatives, this leaves people alienated and alone. After this week's damning report, I think it's clear this council needs more scrutiny and transparency, and a task and finish commission around temporary accommodation should be established to do this rather than laying reports in our laps and resigning from posts. I have no trust that this administration will be transparent when there is a top-down approach in consultation with the executive. We should use the scrutiny, not an undefined task force, also for budgetary purposes. The landlord licensing scheme needs extending to Stratford Olympic Park and Royal Victoria to ensure proper regulation on landlords across the entire borough. We must campaign for the government to end right to buy, and we must hold onto our housing stock. This scheme has fueled landlords' greed and boosted ruthless profits. And once again, this was your manifesto commitment. Thank you, Councillor Jenny Keeling. Is there a seconder for this motion? Formally second, Chair. Thank you, Councillor Higgin. Councillor John Gray, as the mover for the original motion, do you accept this amendment? If not, we now move to the debate on the amendments. Members, you have up to three minutes of each. Yes, Councillor Mirza Petel. Thank you, Chair. Although I wish to make some magnolias contributions, could we move straight to the vote, please? Okay, so we will be following the three steps we did previously. The first one, questions? So anyone putting the questions? Councillor, may I ask Petel to put in questions? Yes, okay. The second part will be vote on the questions, so those in favour, please raise your hands. Okay. Thank you. All those in against, please raise your hands. Any abstentions? Thank you. So now we go to the right to So that's passed, and now I'll invite Councillor John Gray. You have right to reply. Sorry? What? Not on the amendment. Not on the, is that on the amendment? Yes. All right, sorry, my apologies. So on the amendment, you have right to reply to access. Thank you. Thank you. So we now moving to the original motion. Chair, we haven't actually voted on the amendment yet. I'm confused. Okay, those in favour for the amendment, please raise your hands. Thank you. Those all against on the amendment, please raise your hands. Thank you. Any abstentions? No, thank you. So the amendment falls, so therefore I ask Councillor John Gray to, you have right to reply for the original motion. Thank you. That's fine. So therefore, we'll, those in favour, go to the vote now. Those in favour, please raise your hand. Those against, please raise your hands. Any abstentions? No, thank you. So the motion's carried. Now, where am I? Okay. The last motion, we move. Thank you, everyone. I call upon Councillor John Morris to propose his motion, which is outlined from page 139 on the published agenda. Councillor Morris, you have up to five minutes. Thank you, Chair. Council, I propose this motion, which addresses a crucial issue facing not only the people of Noorham, but also the country. We are at a pivotal moment. We must act with resolve and vision to tackle the dire issue of a shortage of homes. As of 2024, Noorham has over 39,000 households on its waiting list and 6,500 families living in temporary accommodation. These numbers reflect a housing system that has failed to keep up with demand, leaving too many people without stable, affordable housing that they need to thrive. The Labour government's ambitious plan to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years is the bold action that this country desperately needs. It is a comprehensive approach that combines speed, sustainability and inclusivity to deliver the housing we need while addressing the environment and social challenges of our time. The planning and infrastructure bill will streamline processes cutting through the red type that often delays crucial projects. New development corporations will ensure that alongside new homes, the necessary roads, transport and energy systems are developed to support growing communities. In addition to new builds, the renter's rights bill will transform the renter's market, ending unjust, no-fault convictions and especially in combating poor housing conditions. These reforms will empower security and stability to build their lives in our borough. But the scale of this crisis demands that we go even further. We in Noorham are committed to continuing our work locally. This means delivering 1,000 new homes at social rent by 2026, revising our local plan to ensure 50% social rent homes in new developments, advocating sustainable, inclusive growth that reflects both our immediate and future needs of our community. I understand that the development of new housing can sometimes be met with resistance from local communities. And while we must listen to the concerns of our residents, we cannot allow local interest to block progress. Indeed, for these, for those that shout the loudest, there's always a silent majority that support new builds and new developments. As Noorham's population continues to grow, projected to reach 422,000 by 2030, we need to ensure that our decisions reflect the urgency of the moment. This is about ensuring that everyone in Noorham has access to safe, secure, affordable homes, reducing our reliance on temporary accommodation and improving our overall quality of life. For all our residents, in conclusion, by supporting this motion, we're not just endorsing the Labour government's plan for housing, we're committing to a future where everyone has an opportunity to live in dignity in a home they can afford in a community that supports them. Let's continue to build a fairer Noorham and a fairer Britain. Thank you, Councillor Jones-Morris. Is there a seconder for the motion, please? Councillor Blossom-Young. You have up to three minutes. Thank you, Chair. Colleagues, it's my pleasure to second this important motion this evening. We've heard from colleagues about the very challenges that temporary accommodation presents, both in terms of the challenges it presents to the Council's finances, but more importantly, the significant impact that this has on the residents of Noorham. We've also heard about the significant steps this Council is already taking to address the temporary accommodation crisis, including acquiring additional properties to use as Council accommodation and earlier interventions with residents to prevent homelessness. I'd like to pay tribute to Councillor Mohamed's work in this area, and I'd also like to thank the Mayor for extending an invitation for me to play my part moving forward. As we've noted in earlier reports this evening, on average, the Council's availability for letting at any one time is just 700 properties. While a range of measures will be needed to increase the supply, key amongst these is an urgent programme of house building. Trust for London recorded that Newham built the second highest number of affordable homes and the third highest number of homes overall between 2020 to

1. But it's not enough. The scale of the demand is huge, and we've seen that. We've been talking about that all evening. So we must go further, and we must go faster. The Labour Government has made house building one of its central missions, with a raft of legislation which will unlock house building across the country. This Council has an opportunity to capitalise on this, to deliver the thousands of homes required to meet the needs of our residents. I was particularly pleased to see the announcement last week that Newham will receive £1.7 million through the Government's Brownfield Land Release Fund to deliver new homes. With the Labour Government and Labour councils working together, there is an opportunity to deliver a programme of homes, affordable homes, for those that need them, which we have not seen for generations. I would urge colleagues to support this motion. Thank you, Constable. Thank you. We'll now move to the vote. Sorry, I'm on the wrong page. Hello, Chair. Yes. You seem so psychic and knew what I was going to say before I said it. Can we move to the vote, please? Sorry, I missed that. Chair, the Council procedure rules say that a motion to the question that we put can't be moved if, in your opinion, the motion has been considered insufficiently discussed. Considering we've had no speakers on this motion yet, only the proposer and the seconder, and there's a large part of this motion is dedicated to attacking my political party, I think it's pretty objective that this motion has not yet been sufficiently discussed. So in my view, the Council procedure rules say that this procedural motion is out of order, and I'd argue that you should invite members to speak. All right. I mean, it does say insufficiently, the word in there. It does say that in there. Sorry, Councilor, I'll read that. Chair, it is your ruling, but considering zero members have spoken on this, I can't imagine any other situation in which it would have been less discussed than this. All right, well, I'll do, because I think if the members wish not to debate, to, wants to go straight to the vote, I have my, as the monitoring officer explained before, that we can, there's the new rules saying that we can't go straight to the vote. We can apply go to the, straight to the vote, and I understand we're coming from Councilor Night-Higgins, so therefore, I actually will use my chair rulings, and I'll ask everyone whether they wish to go straight to the vote. So those in favor, I'll take the vote on that. Those in favor, please raise your hands. Thank you. And those against, please raise your hands. Any abstentions? Thank you. Therefore, I will go straight to the vote. All those in favor of this motion, please raise your hands. Thank you. All those against, please raise your hands. Thank you. Any abstentions? Thank you. The motion is carried. And now I declare the meeting is closed. Thank you everyone for attending and watching. I hope you, that you enjoy the rest of the evening.