The Housing, Community Safety and Community Engagement Scrutiny Commission met on Tuesday 22 April 2025 to discuss an interim report on tenant structures and to consider the work programme for the upcoming year. The Commission agreed to send its Interim Report on Tenant Structures to Cabinet for consideration.

Interim Report on Tenant Structures

The Commission agreed to send its Interim Report on Tenant Structures to Cabinet. This report consolidates recommendations made by the Commission following discussions with residents and tenant organisations regarding the Draft Resident Involvement Strategy. The strategy aims to place residents at the heart of the Council's landlord services, empowering them to shape their neighbourhoods and influence decisions affecting their lives.

The Commission's recommendations for Cabinet include ensuring the Draft Resident Involvement Strategy incorporates guidance from the Regulator of Social Housing, providing the Commission with an opportunity to scrutinise the strategy post-consultation, and noting the Commission's intention to form a Task and Finish Group to gather further insights on tenant structures. Additionally, the Commission recommended extending the consultation and development stages of the strategy, defining accountability within the document, illustrating how resident views will be incorporated into decision-making, including a wider range of protected characteristics in equality measures, and explaining how consultation work connects with future resident involvement cycles. Finally, they recommended that Cabinet share the outcomes of Annual Reviews with the Commission.

The Commission also noted a briefing note from Abi Oguntokun, Director of Landlord Services, which outlined the Council's work on the Draft Resident Involvement Strategy. This strategy has four key priorities: empowering residents to shape neighbourhoods, providing diverse involvement opportunities, making accountability easier, and embedding equality and diversity. The note detailed the next steps in the strategy's development, including wider consultation with over 55,000 tenants.

Work Programme 2024-2025

As this was the final meeting of the municipal year, the Commission discussed potential topics for the upcoming 2024-2025 year. These included reviewing the implementation of Cabinet's responses to previous recommendations concerning housing allocations, homelessness, heating and hot water outages, fire safety, and policing. Other suggested topics for investigation include a detailed examination of Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs), progress on the Repairs Improvement Plan, updates on heating and hot water outages, leaseholder charging, anti-social behaviour, rough sleeping, and the potential use of void properties to address homelessness. The Commission also planned to review the new Allocations policy later in the year.