This meeting of the Housing and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Panel was scheduled to review the state of several key housing provision areas in the borough, and to make recommendations to the Executive. In particular it was scheduled to look at the Council's performance on building safety and compliance, the current situation regarding residents facing homelessness, and residents' experience in temporary accommodation. It was also scheduled to consider the work programme for the Panel's next meeting on the 12th of December.

Annual Housing Compliance Report

The Panel was scheduled to consider the Annual Housing Safety and Compliance Report 2023/2024 that was previously presented to the Cabinet on the 16th of October. This report sets out to provide assurance to the Council that it is meeting the standards set out by the Regulator of Social Housing, in particular by providing evidence about the Council's performance on what are referred to as the big six Housing Safety Compliance areas:

• Fire Safety
• Electrical Safety
• Asbestos Management
• Gas Safety
• Legionella/Water Safety
• Lift Safety

The report includes a table of performance data against key indicators for each of these six areas.

The report states that all residential buildings have a current Fire Risk Assessment (FRA). However, some of these are overdue for review because of the sudden departure of an agency employed Fire Risk Assessor. It states that the Council are addressing a backlog of fire safety actions by, for example, appointing a third contractor to carry out fire safety work on its buildings, and working with consultants to create and track programmes of work.

On Electrical Safety, the report says that the Council has been working to produce more Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICRs) for its properties and that the programme is currently delivering at a rate which exceeds the number of existing certificates falling overdue. It adds that the Council is planning to smooth the schedule for producing new certificates to mitigate the impact of having a large number of properties becoming due for a new certificate at the same time.

The report says that the Council is now meeting the requirement for an asbestos survey to be carried out on the communal areas of all of its blocks, and that all high risk asbestos actions have been carried out. It states that work to update the Council's Asbestos Register with details about asbestos that has already been removed is ongoing, and that this is a significant step forward in the work underway to help keep residents and staff safe from harm.

On Gas Safety, the report states that the Council continue to see high levels of conformity on our annual Landlord Gas Safety Records (LGSRs). It says that the Council is pursuing entry warrants in the Magistrates Court for the 53 properties for which access has not been obtained for an inspection.

The report states that the Council's stock continues to be 100% compliant with its requirements for Legionella Risk Assessments, and that the performance on lift safety has improved marginally as a result of contract management. It says that the Council's lift maintenance contract is currently being retendered.

The report also details the Council's work on complying with the new Building Safety Act 2022. It states that the Council has 67 Higher Risk Buildings (HRBs) and that it has registered all of them with the new Building Safety Regulator (BSR). It says that the Council has been preparing Building Safety Cases for each of these buildings. A Building Safety Case is a comprehensive set of documents and summary report that outlines how RBG know that Fire and Structural safety matters are properly managed and that residents are being engaged with in a way which is appropriate and specific to their needs. The report says that the Council expects that the BSR will call in the Safety Cases for at least seven of its HRBs this year and that it has been focusing on getting the Safety Cases ready for these buildings.

The report also discusses the Council's approach to damp and mould. It states that the Council has set up a Damp and Mould Team to deal with the problem and that this team will be supported by new resources to tackle damp and mould works and new proposed service level agreements and follow up processes.

The report also discusses the Council's compliance with the broader requirements of the Regulator of Social Housing. It states that the Council is now self-assessing as being fully compliant with 63% of the RSH's requirements and partially compliant with 26% of them. It says that the Council is planning to commission a mock inspection of its compliance with housing regulations in Quarter 3 of 2024/25.

Finally, the report summarises the Council's performance against the Regulator of Social Housing's 22 Tenant Satisfaction Measures and provides a link to the full report.

Homelessness and at-risk residents

The Panel was scheduled to consider a report on the current situation regarding homelessness in the borough, and to make recommendations to the Executive.

This report has been commissioned by the Housing and Neighbourhoods scrutiny panel to provide an update on:

• The current situation of homelessness and at-risk residents
• The challenges faced in curbing homelessness and preventing at-risk residents
• Our systematic approach to preventing homelessness

The report included for discussion provides information on the main causes of homelessness in the borough, comparing Greenwich's performance on homelessness prevention to other London boroughs, and setting out the Council's approach to preventing homelessness. It breaks this down into five areas:

1. Helping residents understand their realistic housing options
2. Helping residents stay with friends/family
3. Helping residents maintain or find private rented homes
4. Helping residents find social housing
5. Exploring cross-council collaborative approach for multi-disciplinary support

On the first of these areas, the report discusses the Council's work with the Digital team to create the 'Housing Support Finder'. This is an online tool that residents can use to see how long they are likely to have to wait to be housed by the Council, and what other options might be available. The report states that the tool has been used 1,759 times in eight weeks and that it has helped the Council to house more homeless residents in accommodation outside of its own social housing stock. The report also discusses the Council's work to improve the information about homelessness on its website, and to encourage residents to use the private rented sector by publishing a video from Councillor Pat Slattery, the Cabinet Member for Housing, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, about how to rent a property.

On the second area, the report highlights the work done by the Council's Housing Inclusion Officers to mediate between homeless residents and their friends and family to prevent them from becoming homeless. It states that this resulted in 144 households being prevented from becoming homeless in the last financial year.

On helping residents stay in or find properties in the private rented sector, the report details several interventions that the Council has been taking. These include:

• Investigating eviction notices
• Mediation with landlords
• Supporting residents to maximise their income
• Offering incentives to private landlords

The report highlights the research done by the Council with landlords to understand what incentives would be most effective in persuading them to make properties available for rent by homeless residents. It notes that:

Therefore, we have sought and obtained agreement to increase the incentives we are able to pay landlords to house homeless households in the PRS

The report also describes the work that the Council is doing with organisations like Prime and Beam to secure more properties in the private rented sector for homeless residents.

On helping residents access social housing, the report highlights the Council's work with Bridge Housing Solutions to find social housing for homeless residents outside of the borough, and the work it is doing to encourage homeless households living in temporary accommodation to use the Choice Based Lettings system to bid on properties. It states that:

In Financial Year 2023-2024, we successfully prevented 169 homeless applications into council tenancies without the household entering TA

The final area the report was scheduled to discuss was around taking a holistic approach to building residents’ financial resilience to maintain and afford housing by working with other parts of the Council.

The report also includes details about the results of a consultation with residents, staff, and partner organisations that was carried out from October 2023 to January 2024.

Temporary Accommodation Housing Report

The panel was scheduled to consider a report on the current situation regarding the Council's provision of temporary accommodation.

This report aims to provide an update on the provision of and residents’ experience in temporary accommodation housing. The report will inform decisions on potential improvements and ensure accountability and transparency to stakeholders.

The report details the challenges facing the Council in providing temporary accommodation, focussing in particular on the increasing demand for temporary accommodation, the suitability of the accommodation being used by the Council, and the cost of providing temporary accommodation.

The report details the increase in demand, stating that:

In Greenwich, the number of households in temporary accommodation has risen from 392 in 2017, to 1999 at the end of September 2024.

It discusses the Council's reliance on hotels and emergency overnight accommodation, and the impact this is having on its finances. It notes that:

Hotels are our most expensive form of TA (an average net cost to the council of £74.29 per night).

EOA is our second most expensive form of TA (an average net cost to the council of £29.21 per night).

The increase in the need to use these forms of TA has massively increased our TA spend. We are currently forecasting a spend of £14.39 million on hotels and EOA for Financial Year 24/25.

The report provides details about the Council's Temporary Accommodation Cost Reduction Programme that was set up in September 2023. This programme has three key objectives:

1. A budget-neutral TA stock profile
2. Increase the suitability of the temporary accommodation we place homeless households in including eliminating the use of shared facility bed and breakfast type TA
3. Reduce homeless pressures by supporting more households into settled accommodation

The report describes the programme's work to date, and details a number of proposed interventions to be considered for the next phase of the programme. It notes that:

This report does not seek agreement on any of the following proposals. They are under consideration and approval will be sought through the correct channels following further legal and cost benefit analysis.

It sets out a number of risks associated with achieving the programme's objectives, including continued increases in demand for temporary accommodation, further increases in unit costs, and the possibility that the Council's direct offers of social housing to homeless households will reduce the number of properties being let through the Choice Based Lettings system.

The report concludes with a discussion of resident experience in temporary accommodation. It notes that the Council has been the subject of:

13 Judicial Reviews

68 stage 1 complaints, and 6 stage 2 complaints

41 statutory homelessness reviews of the suitability of TA

104 Councilor enquiries

264 MP enquiries

These figures do not include the daily verbal / written complaints raised directly with the allocated Placement or TA officer

The report provides details of the challenges faced by families placed in hotels, and the resources that the Council makes available to these families. It also discusses the Council's work with Creating Ground to better understand the internet access needs of families living in temporary accommodation.

Commissioning of Future Reports

The Panel was scheduled to note the following reports that it is due to receive at its next meeting on the 12th of December:

1. Community Safety Initiatives including CCTV
2. Statutory Scrutiny of the Safer Greenwich Partnership (SGP)
3. Tenant Satisfaction Measures