Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor A S Lewis, Cabinet Member for Next Generation Services.

www.swansea.gov.uk/DisclosuresofInterests

In accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by the City and County of Swansea , no interests were declared.

To approve, as a correct record, the Minutes of the previous meeting.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Communities Cabinet Advisory Committee meeting held on 12 November, 2015 be approved as a correct record.

Officers: Jane Harris & Tal Davies.

Jane Harris, Landlord Services Manager assisted by Sandra White, Rents Team Manager, presented a report which detailed the Rent Arrears Recovery process.

Members noted the background, role of the rents team, process,  partnership working and performance monitoring.

Officers detailed the Government’s Welfare Reform changes which presented the greatest challenges to Council tenants.  These included the removal of the single room subsidy (bedroom tax), the benefit cap and universal credit. 

It was noted that close monitoring of the arrears of tenants were taking place and the support tenants receive was intensive. 

In response to Member questions, Officers confirmed that:

·       The figure for tenants in arrears was usually 4500, with the average arrears £220 (two weeks’ rent);

·       The spike between 2013-2014 could be attributed to the single room subsidy (bedroom tax);

·       Tenants in arrears received regular letters and constant contact from Officers; and

·       Officers work closely with partner agencies both internally and externally (including the Court) in order to offer appropriate support and advice;

Tal Davies, Corporate Fraud Manager, provided an update on Housing Benefit Fraud.

He referred to the significant change in the manner in which the service operated as a result of the introduction of the Single Fraud Investigation Service (SFIS) by the end of March 2016.   It was noted that the SFIS were now responsible for investigating all welfare benefit fraud in the Swansea area, including Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

Members’ noted that 51 people had been taken to Court and 59 verbal warnings had been issued.  There had been £450,000 overpayments with a recovery rate of 80%.  This had resulted in an £89,000 profit for the Authority.

He referred to the DWP joint working pilot the Authority had been involved with since June 2015 and it was noted that Swansea was the only Welsh Authority to be involved in the pilot scheme.  The joint working pilot scheme was intended to streamline the process with a view to becoming self-funding by May 2016. 

He stated that an internal and external corporate website was being developed to highlight the work of the team.

In response to Member questions, the Officer stated that the Council has always enjoyed a good working relationship DWP, however, their processes and blue print are not easily changed which does result in change taking longer to implement. 

The Chair thanked the Officers for their informative presentations.

RESOLVED that the reports be noted.

Officers: David Evans & Paul Mellor.

David Evans, Policy Service Manager, provided an update in respect of Council House building.

He referred to two key reforms to the way in which Council housing is financed. The exit from the Housing Revenue Account Subsidy (HRAS) system coupled with the new policy for setting rents provided more financial resources to the ring fenced Housing Revenue Account (HRA) over and above that needed for identified commitments.

As a result of the reforms, a pilot scheme has been developed to increase the supply of affordable housing in Swansea to meet current and future needs, and for the first time in a generation, the opportunity for the Council to directly provide more homes to help close this deficit.

However, there were limits to what could be supported within the HRA Business Plan and the amounts available would change from year to year. There were also options for the Council to consider in due course in terms of how these resources could be used to best effect.

He referred to a project which has been initiated to assess current and projected needs, locations for development, the projections of available financial resources and the options for maximising their use.

Members noted that two locations had been chosen by Cabinet to pilot the scheme,  Land at Milford Way – Penderry and Land at Parc Y Helig – Birchgrove. 

He stated that post 2020 more money would become available as a result of the Welsh Quality Housing Standard as the resultant improvement of housing stock. 

The long term strategy was under development and would set out needs, locations and appraises all options for facilitating and developing into one.  The opportunities were enormous and the aim was to develop a realistic and deliverable programme.

Members discussed the housing crisis and the shortfall in respect of housing targets.  The role of developers and the Council’s building services section were also discussed.

Paul Mellor, Planning Policy Officer, referred to the 30% target in respect of delivering affordable housing on all new developments.  He stated that the Local Development Plan had fallen short of targets, with 21,000 dwellings.  New ways of working had been developed to attempt to deliver the target numbers.   Opportunities existed for the Council to control what was required and there was a need to get the plan and housing sites agreed.

He stated that no specific target existed and detailed the timescales for the draft revision of the Local Development Plan (LDP) which was January/early February 2016.

Members’ discussed the need for political decisions to be made; the changing demographic; management, negotiation with developers to create mutually viable schemes; the need to ensure mixed housing provision (private and social) and affordability. 

A discussion ensued regarding incorporating energy efficiency schemes into the new pilot schemes and reference was made to an initiative undertaken by Cambridge Council which linked to their Poverty Strategy.

The Chair thanked the Officers for their informative presentation.

RESOLVED that the reports be noted.

Officers: Martin Webborn & Mark Wade.

Martin Webborn, Principal Council Tax & Business Rates Officer, provided and update on the changes to Council Tax.

He referred to the Housing Act Wales 2014 which had allowed Local Authorities to operate changes to Council Tax on certain types of properties.  The two specified types of properties were holiday homes and any property lived in but not furnished. 

He provided a comprehensive overview of the changes and detailed the exceptions.

He advised that it was his aim to produce a Cabinet report by March 2016 with a determination of notice by April 2016. 

Members’ congratulated the Principal Council Tax & Business Rates Officer for his informative presentation and requested that a written briefing be circulated.

Mark Wade, Housing Options and Homeless Manager, provided an update on empty properties. 

He detailed the work of his Officers in encouraging landlords to bring empty properties back into use. 

The Chair thanked the Officers for their informative presentations.

RESOLVED that:

1)    the report be noted; and

2)    Martin Webborn provide a briefing note and circulate to Members of the Communities CAC.

Officer: Mark Wade.

Mark Wade, Housing Options and Homeless Manager, referred to the Wales Housing Act 2014 and the obligations contained therein regarding homelessness and the duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent the growing shortage of affordable housing.

He referred to partnership working with the local housing charities such as Wallich who offered support to individuals at risk of becoming homeless.  Members noted that Wallich staff would be moving into Housing Options to assist with homelessness.

He detailed the progress over last 12 months and the establishment of new relationships both internally and externally. 

Support had also been provided to landlords and regular meetings and forums had been convened.

Councillor T J Hennegan (Vice Chair) presided.

Members discussed difficulties they had experienced with Housing Associations.

The Housing Options and Homeless Manager confirmed that the Council did have a close working relationship with Housing Associations.  However, there were some issues which required improvement (e.g., Housing Associations relationship with Councillors).   It was noted that as a result of the new Housing Act, Housing Associations have a duty of care to co-operate with Council in relation to homelessness provision.

The Vice Chair thanked the Housing Options and Homelessness Manager for the informative presentation.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Vice Chair stated that the Chair would discuss future items with the Cabinet Members for Anti-poverty and Next Generation Services.