Agenda item

RESOLVED: That the Committee:

 

a)    Would like to thank all the attendees for attending.

b)    Note the responses to the questions provided.

 

3.1      The representatives for each organisation were as follows:

 

§  David Montague (Chief Executive, L&Q)

§  David Westworth (Director of Customer Services, Phoenix)

§  Carol Carter (Group Director of Housing, Hyde)

§  Shaun Holdcroft, (Director of Resident Services for London, Hyde)

§  Tom McCormack (Chief Executive, Hexagon)

§  Brendan Sarsfield (Chief Executive, Family Mosaic)

 

 

All the witnesses gave a brief introduction about their organisation, as a housing provider operating in Lewisham, and responded to the following questions, as outlined in the agenda paper.

 

3.2       Their work to support eligible households to downsize

            In response to this question, and follow-up questions from the Committee, the following was noted:

 

§  None of the registered housing providers have evicted any residents due to the Bedroom Tax.

 

a)    David Montague (Chief Executive, L&Q):

 

§  L&Q have been working closely with their local authority partners to promote mutual exchange opportunities with residents. This includes three mutual exchange events undertaken in Lewisham. They also provide financial assistance to support residents with the associated costs of moving home, where a resident is downsizing through a transfer or mutual exchange to another L&Q home. Residents affected by the size criteria may be able to downsize with arrears on their account.

§  Presently 59 residents have been agreed for downsizing, and 14 more in the pipeline.

§  They spend approximately £2m a year across the organisation for support for welfare reform.

 

b)    David Westworth (Director of Customer Services, Phoenix):

 

§  Phoenix has a Trading Places project that they fund to help residents who want to downsize property, through mutual exchange.

§  They also run events to promote mutual exchange to their residents.

§  They are building an Extra Care Scheme at Hazelhurst Court which may free up more properties through downsizing.

§  They are currently reviewing their Incentive Scheme for downsizing properties to see how it can be more attractive to residents.

§  Officers attempt to identify residents that could be interested in downsizing through visits and events, amongst other things.

 

c)    Carol Carter (Group Director of Housing, Hyde) and Shaun Holdcroft, (Director of Resident Services for London, Hyde):

 

§  Hyde has been investing an additional approximately £500,000 a year across the organisation to support residents to manage the impact of welfare reform, this includes a specialist team of Housing Options advisors focused on helping residents to downsize.

§  Only a handful of families have moved so far; many families are reluctant to leave at the present time. 

§  The Specialist Housing Options Team have access to a flexible fund to provide practical and financial support to residents and spend a lot of time with older residents, to reassure them that if they would like to downsize, they would be supported to manage any health concerns and help in accessing services.

 

d)    Tom McCormack (Chief Executive, Hexagon):

 

§  Hexagon have provided direct one-to-one advice on how to downsize to affected residents using their own staff; and in the early days of the Bedroom Tax, they bought in an external support service from Open Doors to facilitate moves.

§  They also allow residents with arrears to downsize, if they so wish.

§  Since the introduction of the Bedroom Tax, Hexagon has transferred 9 Lewisham residents to smaller homes.

§  Hexagon has had a total of 10 mutual exchanges (across the five boroughs in which they operate) that they can say for sure are specifically because of the Government’s welfare reforms.

§  Their financial incentive to encourage tenants to downsize has been as successful as they would like, as many people do not want to move from what they perceive to be their family home. Support might be better provided in aiding the logistics of a move, if the tenant decides to do so.

 

e)    Brendan Sarsfield (Chief Executive, Family Mosaic):

 

§  27 residents have been affected by the Bedroom Tax; four have downsized since 2014 and a further seven would like to move.

§  Family Mosaic offer financial incentives of £500 per bedroom released, plus money towards removal costs.

§  They have an operational target to increase moves due to downsizing.

§  They have conducted casework with Bedroom Tax downsizers to find rehousing solutions.

§  On selected new homes Family Mosaic would like to discuss with the Council the possibility of using 1-2 bedrooms for their downsizers and offering off-site substitutions of released larger properties to the Council.

§  They also advertise the offer of downsizing in their newsletter and on their rent documents.

 

3.3       Their thoughts on the recent decline in re-lets; and plans for new supply

 

            In response to these questions, and follow-up questions from the Committee, the following was noted:

 

a)    David Montague (Chief Executive, L&Q):

 

§  Since April 2012, L&Q has re-let 655 studio, 1 and 2 bedroom homes in Lewisham. 46% of these have been let at Affordable Rent levels. In the 2010-12 period, there were 1,131 relets.

§  L&Q are experiencing a reduction in available homes for re-lets, as demand for moves continues to outweigh supply. In their experience, this decline is exacerbated as some residents cannot afford to move or find a suitable home via mutual exchange.

§  Mutual exchanges provide the best moving option for the majority of their residents - especially in Lewisham. Compared to other moving options, there is a smaller waiting time as homes are not subject to location or transfer criteria. 

§  To help meet the demand for housing in London, L&Q has a development pipeline of 13,000 home. In Lewisham, L&Q’s development pipeline will provide over 800 homes. 130 of these homes should be at affordable rent levels.

§  L&Q would welcome an increased partnership with Lewisham and would be keen to explore potential new ways of working together.

§  In terms of leaseholders, they understand that they have specific concerns that need specialist care. They have an in-house team that deals with the construction companies and maintenance issues on behalf of the residents. These issues are now seen as a customer care concern and L&Q is committed to improving the service they provide to leaseholders.

§  100% of properties are provided for lettings and L&Q adheres to the protocol on lettings with the Council.

.

b)    David Westworth (Director of Customer Services, Phoenix):

 

§  Phoenix have about 250-270 relets a year, and this hasn’t varied much in recent years.

§  They are providing £26-30m for new supply now that they have achieved a lot of progress with Decent Homes improvements. Potentially, there will be 400 new properties in Lewisham, including the 60 units in Hazelhurst Court.

§  They are looking to work with other providers to look at increasing supply.

§  Phoenix has about 800 leaseholders; they have conducted focus groups with leaseholders to learn about their concerns and match their expectations. There have been improved relations between Phoenix and their leaseholders as a result of these focus groups.

§  They are working with the Council to ensure that they free up and release properties quickly to the Housing Register, when the properties become available.

 

c)    Carol Carter (Group Director of Housing, Hyde) and Shaun Holdcroft, (Director of Resident Services for London, Hyde):

 

§  There has been a significant fall recently in relets in Lewisham, with half the number in14/15 compared to 13/14. 

§  They have looked to unlock more properties through a crackdown on fraud and other non-compliant activities. This has released a further six properties this year.

§  Hyde have 250 new builds in the pipeline Lewisham and hope to create more supply through leveraging their GLA grant-funding programme and working in partnership with the Council.

§  They have a Specialist Home Ownership Team which ensures leaseholders are provided with the right services. Having more transparent, user-friendly services in this area has led to a significant fall in enquiries from leaseholders.

§  Hyde has had success with their joint ventures with local authorities in other areas to provide new supply.

§  Hyde looks to provide all properties to the common housing register with the Council. If there is any delay in adding properties to the register, they will liaise with the Council about the reasons for this.

 

d)    Tom McCormack (Chief Executive, Hexagon):

 

§  Hexagon has not observed a decline in re-lets. The yearly re-let figures for the last three years have been between 35-42 properties.

§  In Hexagon’s 2011-15 programme, approximately 45% of their GLA funded programme was delivered in LB Lewisham. That totalled 113 new homes on three sites (75 homes at Baring Road, 32 homes at Springbank Road, and 6 homes at Lewis House).

§  Over their next few years, Hexagon has an allocation for 200 new homes across the five boroughs in which they operate. It is too early to say what might be delivered in Lewisham as their allocations are not made specific to any particular local authority area and they will be delivered where opportunities arise and where local authorities provide support for their plans.

§  To subsidise rents and increase income streams, they would like to have more houses for outright sale, which is planned at circa 40 units.

§  Hexagon has been more pro-active in dealing with issues raised by leaseholders than in the past, and in some instances some complaints have been bought to Board-level and this has been a catalyst to ensure the problems are resolved.

§  They reported that Hexagon is a signatory to the protocol on lettings with SELHP and the Council, which he believed allocated 25% of all first lettings to HAs, and in that context, he said it might be helpful if Council officers clarified the nominations agreements for the benefit of the Committee.

 

e)    Brendan Sarsfield (Chief Executive, Family Mosaic):

 

§  The re-let activity for Family Mosaic across London has been similar to last year, with approximately 470 properties re-let. There have been 40 relets in Lewisham.

§  Family Mosaic is expecting new builds of approximately 1300-1400 units in Lewisham. A third of these are expected to be available for rent.

§  Family Mosaic acknowledges that open engagement with their leaseholders will, in the long-term, be beneficial to all tenants as problems will be resolved sooner.

§  Family Mosaic is a signatory to the protocol on lettings and will look into whether the protocol is being adhered to, and if not what the reasons for delay might be.

 

Madeleine Jeffery (Private Sector Housing Agency Manager), said that the policy for letting states that 100% of properties should be available for common lettings. They understand that some properties have been left off the register for lettings in the past, but their concerns have been alleviated more recently, working with the registered housing providers.

 

3.4       An update on the use of fixed term tenancies

 

In response to this question, and follow-up questions from the Committee, the following was noted:

 

a)    David Montague (Chief Executive, L&Q):

 

§  L&Q offers fixed term tenancies to some of its homes because housing is a scarce resource and housing need can change over time, as residents‘ circumstances change and they can outgrow the suitability of the homes.

§  To date (since the Localism Act came into force) they have let 1,078 homes in Lewisham of which 62% have been issued a fixed term tenancy.

§  The policy is generally 1-year probation and a maximum of 5 years.

§  L&Q recognise some residents’ needs do not require frequent review; such as those residents in supported, sheltered or agency-managed homes, or for those aged 60 or over. In these cases they do not offer fixed term tenancies to residents.

 

b)    David Westworth (Director of Customer Services, Phoenix):

 

§  Phoenix has decided not to have any properties on fixed-term tenancies.

 

c)    Carol Carter (Group Director of Housing, Hyde) and Shaun Holdcroft, (Director of Resident Services for London, Hyde):

 

§  Hyde does have properties that are fixed-term tenancies – these are confined to Affordable Rent tenancies at present.

§  There is a ‘presumption of renewal’ for tenants.

§  As residents get closer to the end of the tenancy agreement, residents will be subject to an affordability assessment, plus other measures, to assess whether there have been a significant change in their ability to pay. They expect only a very small percentage of residents to have a significant increase in their income that would warrant a non-renewal of the tenancy agreement so the property can be let to someone else, in more need.

 

d)    Tom McCormack (Chief Executive, Hexagon):

 

§  Hexagon does not use fixed tenancies for their general needs lettings and we have no plans to do so in the immediate future. 

 

e)    Brendan Sarsfield (Chief Executive, Family Mosaic):

 

§  Family Mosaic understands that fixed-term tenancies are difficult but they have to look at measures that address the housing crisis. 60% of lettings were on fixed-term tenancies in Lewisham since they were introduced. Exemptions are usually reserved to existing social housing tenants, who get tenure protection.

 

3.5      Update the Select Committee about affordable rents in your properties

 

            In response to this question, and follow-up questions from the Committee, the following was noted:

 

a)    David Montague (Chief Executive, L&Q):

 

§  L&Q have set their affordable rents with reference to household incomes and market rents and they currently average around 65% of the market rate in the borough, which is below what they are permitted to charge (i.e. up to 80% of the market rate).

§  Properties with 3-4 bedrooms and above are not included in the affordable rent scheme.

 

b)    David Westworth (Director of Customer Services, Phoenix):

 

§  As Phoenix grows in size, it will have to look again at its affordable rents policy – to decide how many of its properties would be eligible for an ‘affordable rent’ charge. 

 

c)    Carol Carter (Group Director of Housing, Hyde) and Shaun Holdcroft, (Director of Resident Services for London, Hyde):

 

§  Hyde currently has a cap of £180 per week on Affordable Rent Conversions though this cap was fixed 2 years and is due to be reviewed. On new build schemes these are discussed with the council in the context of financial viability.

§  Currently charge ‘affordable rents’ of an average of 65% of the market rate.

 

d)    Tom McCormack (Chief Executive, Hexagon):

 

§  Since April 2013, Hexagon has let 148 general needs homes in Lewisham. 86 homes were at affordable rent levels and a further 62 homes were let at traditional social rent levels.

§  63 of these 86 “affordable rent” lettings were for new homes which had been funded under the 2011-15 programme.

§  Hexagon are running at about 71% of the market rent so far this year (2014/15) across their entire stock on homes let at “affordable rent”.

§  Of its 2015-2018 programme, Hexagon expect at least 25% of its properties to be at affordable rent levels. They hope to create a cross-subsidy of income to ensure rents at genuine affordable levels.

 

e)    Brendan Sarsfield (Chief Executive, Family Mosaic):

 

§  Family Mosaic have made the decision that it will charge social rents rather than affordable rents. This is done from cross-subsidy, which allows them to charge lower rents.

 

3.6       Their plans for tackling homelessness in the borough: more specifically how can they help Lewisham address increased homelessness in the borough

 

            In response to this question, and follow-up questions from the Committee, the following was noted:

 

§  In respect of foreign ‘buy-to-leave’ investors, the registered housing providers have signed up to the Mayor of London’s protocol on housing, which means that properties are advertised locally at the same time they are advertised aboard.

 

a)    David Montague (Chief Executive, L&Q):

 

§  In 2014, L&Q made an investment of £10 million to help Broadway St Mungo’s launch Real Lettings - a £45 million property fund, to provide housing for the homeless. L&Q’s Board also agreed to set aside a further £10 million to support Broadway St Mungo’s create a centre of excellence that will support homeless people develop the necessary life skills to re-engage in society as independent individuals.

§  In terms of providing temporary accommodation, L&Q has not done this for many years.

§  In terms of the housing crisis and lack of available homes, the problem of first-time buyers getting on the housing ownership ladder will continue; this will lead to a rise in those in the private rented sector.

 

b)     David Westworth (Director of Customer Services, Phoenix):

 

§  Phoenix would be willing to enter into discussions with the Council about short-term temporary accommodation properties, like those being provided on the Ladywell site.

§  Post-election, the issue of how local authorities can access finance to build more social housing will have to be considered by the incoming government.

 

c)    Carol Carter (Group Director of Housing, Hyde) and Shaun Holdcroft, (Director of Resident Services for London, Hyde):

 

§  They feel they are not best placed to provide temporary accommodation, but happy to have a discussion with the Council to see if they could help with locating sites for moveable temporary units.

§  They support the National Housing Federation’s ‘Homes for Britain’ campaign; if the political will was there to support a long term strategy to increase supply, it could alleviate many of the homelessness and housing problems.

 

d)    Tom McCormack (Chief Executive, Hexagon):

 

§  In this current year, 38% of Hexagon’s lettings in Lewisham were made to homeless households (17 of 45 lettings) and they expect that pattern to continue so long as the Borough allocations continue to provide priority to homeless households.

§  They would be reluctant to enter the temporary accommodation area, as they have previous experience of this in the past and have not been as successful as they would have liked.

§  Political parties are now recognising that to tackle the housing crisis, you have treat housing as part of the country’s infrastructure, and hopefully that will mean they will help to invest in house-building in the future.

 

e)    Brendan Sarsfield (Chief Executive, Family Mosaic):

 

§  Family Mosiac are hoping that its new build programme and closing their transfer list, which will limit moves to management moves, serious health issues and under occupiers will help.

§  They have done temporary accommodation in the past, but had difficulties whilst doing so. They would be willing to talk to the Council about any proposals to provide temporary accommodation in the borough.

§  The housing crisis in London needs to be tackled as people are attracted to the South-East of the country due to its economic opportunities and therefore it’s a problem that will not go away. If other local authorities in London operated like the way Lewisham operated, then there would be a better chance of making some progress in tackling the housing crisis.

§  Councils need to explore building more social housing, as well as housing associations.

 

 

3.7       RESOLVED: That the Committee:

 

a)    Would like to thank all the attendees for attending.

b)    Note the responses to the questions provided.