The Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel met to receive updates on a range of housing related issues, including the ongoing consultation on changes to the Housing Allocations Scheme, a progress report on the Council Housing Service Plan, and a report on the impact of the National Placement Policy.

Homelessness, Temporary Accommodation and Placement Policy

A report was included on the impact of the National Placement Policy, which was adopted in June 2023 to address the chronic shortage of affordable housing in Enfield. The report described how the policy had enabled the council to offer private rented accommodation on a national basis for the first time. It also highlighted the difficulties experienced by the council in finding suitable accommodation for homeless households, and noted that the council had been forced to place an increasing number of households in hotels. The report went on to describe how the policy had been amended in November 2023, and how it had impacted on the council’s use of temporary accommodation since then. It described how the council chooses locations to procure properties in, and gave a breakdown by local authority area of the 117 households that had accepted offers of accommodation. The report also gave an update on other initiatives that had been implemented to address the housing crisis, including the ‘Find Your Own Home Scheme’ and the ‘Cessation of Duty’ process.

The response taken by the Council has been out of necessity due to the absolute lack of affordable accommodation that residents can settle in.

The report concluded by putting the council’s policies into a national context, and argued that the council was performing better than other London boroughs, despite experiencing similar challenges.

Consultation on changes to the Allocations Scheme

The committee were asked to consider a report on the ongoing consultation on changes to Enfield’s Housing Allocation Scheme. The report described how the council was proposing to change the scheme in a number of ways, including:

• Extending the residency qualification period from three out of five years to five years.
• Giving additional priority to homeless households who have been living in temporary accommodation in Enfield for a long period of time, cannot move out of the borough or who need to live within 60 to 90 minutes of Enfield
• Ending the award of additional priority to applicants who had accepted a private sector tenancy after being owed a homelessness prevention or relief duty
• Removing from the housing register homeless households who have been housed in settled accommodation outside the borough
• Giving additional priority to council tenants who are severely overcrowded
• Including ‘later living accommodation’ in Choice Based Lettings

The report explained the reasons for each of the proposed changes, and set out the council’s timetable for implementing the changes. It also provided data on the 7,187 applicants on the Housing Register.

Council Housing Service Plan - 6 Month Update

The committee received a progress report on the Council Housing Service Plan for 2024/25. The plan was split into eight key areas:

• Tenant Involvement & Empowerment
• Supporting vulnerable tenants
• Homes
• Neighbourhood and Community
• Tenancy Standard
• Building Safety
• Staff Development
• General Assurance

The report provided an update on the progress that had been made in each of these areas. It highlighted the launch of ‘Enfield 500’, a new engagement and scrutiny platform, and the introduction of a new Estate Service team to support residents in high rise blocks. It also noted that work had begun on a new Tenant Engagement Strategy and that the council was aiming to reach its 90% decency target by March 2025.

Work Programme 2024/25

The committee noted the Housing & Regeneration Scrutiny Panel Work Programme for the remainder of 2024/25.