Agenda item

Resolved: the committee noted the report and agreed in the future to receive data on the numbers of households being housed in private accommodation.

Nina Morris (Allocations & Lettings Manager) introduced the item. The following key points were noted:

5.1       The annual lettings plan report sets out how the council intends to allocate the lettings that become available in 2019/20 between the different priority groups. It also presents the lettings outcomes for the previous two years.

5.2       There are around 9,600 households on the housing register – up 9% from March 2018.

5.3       There are around 2,100 households in temporary accommodation - up 25% since March 2018. This significant increase is largely due to long-term voids awaiting allocation, an acute decant pressure at one of the regeneration schemes and the continued volume of homeless acceptances.

5.4       It was noted that temporary accommodation, particularly nightly-paid and bed & breakfast accommodation is among the worst form of housing.

5.5       A key priority area of the annual lettings plan is to support homeless households to secure accommodation so that they can get on with rebuilding their lives.

5.6       The annual lettings plan projects that 950 properties will become available for letting in 2019/20 – down 8.5% on last year. The projected outturn for 2018/19 is now 1,039 – 4% down on the 2017/18. These figures represent a continuation of a downward trend since 2010.

5.7       The average time on the housing register for successful applicants has continued to increase. In 2017/18 it was 100 weeks. In 2018/19 it was 112 weeks.

5.8       There are around 4,500 households living in overcrowded conditions in the borough. The lettings plan for 2019/20 allocates 26 lettings for households living in severely overcrowded conditions.

5.9       The committee noted that when an overcrowded family moves it frees up a property for other people to move in to and queried how this is being prioritised against moving people off the housing waiting list.

5.10    The council is often able to release large family accommodation by supporting people who are under occupying to find a new home. These properties are then advertised as preference to overcrowded households. The property vacated by the overcrowded tenant is then usually advertised to a homeless household.

5.11    Housing Moves is a housing mobility scheme run by the GLA which allows existing transferring tenants to move to another London borough. Priority is normally given for employment reasons or under-occupation. The number of households who move out of the borough will be the same as the number of households who move into the borough.

5.12    As well as Housing Moves, the council also runs a housing mobility scheme called Trading Places to support people to move into a smaller home if they are under-occupying.

5.13    The council also promotes a number of other housing mobility schemes, including: Homefinder UK, which advertises social housing general needs properties across the UK and aims to help homeless households and social housing tenants find a home anywhere across social housing; Seaside and Country Homes, which helps older tenants of London councils and housing associations to move to seaside and countryside locations; mutual exchanges, which allow council or housing association tenants to arrange to swap their house or flat with another tenant.

5.14    Lewisham Homes, Regenter B3, and Phoenix Community Housing tenants get financial assistance with moves. Under-occupiers get priority and may also receive bedroom release payments.

5.15    The committee noted that the report only deals with social housing allocations and that a lot of homeless people are now being housed in private accommodation. The committee asked if this could be covered in a separate report, including out-of-borough placements.

5.16    The annual lettings plan works in tandem with the council’s allocations policy. The allocations policy sets out priority Bands for available housing and the criteria for each of these. The annual lettings plan looks at current pressures and sets out how the council intends to allocate the lettings that become available in that year. Properties are then advertised with specific criteria identified by the annual lettings plan and priority given to applicants meeting the relevant criteria even if they have a lower Band than applicants who do not meet the criteria. Officers are looking into both the allocations policy and annual lettings plan to see if the process can be made clearer.

Resolved: the committee noted the report and agreed in the future to receive data on the numbers of households being housed in private accommodation.