Agenda item

RESOLVED:

·         that the report be noted.

·         that the Committee thanked Ainsley Forbes, Margaret Dodwell and Sarah Willcox-Jones for their hard work at and dedication towards Lewisham Homes over the years.

Ainsley Forbes (Chair of the Board, Lewisham Homes), Margaret Dodwell (Chief Executive, Lewisham Homes) and Sarah Willcox-Jones (Director of Repairs, Lewisham Homes) presented this item. The following key points were noted:

6.1. Lewisham Homes had been shortlisted for two awards at the 2023 Affordable Housing Awards, in the 'Contractor of the year' and the 'Recruitment or retention campaign of the year' categories.

6.2. 83% of Lewisham Homes properties met the decent homes standard. Emphasis was placed on the upcoming government consultation for a higher decent homes standard.

6.3. On a previous occasion when RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) was in the news, Lewisham Homes officers had conducted an investigation, concluding that there was no RAAC within their housing stock in Lewisham. However, they did have some unremedied LPS (large panel system) blocks that they had been discussing extensively with the Council (5 high rise blocks and 44 medium to low rise).

6.4. Officers reported that budget constraints for repairs and maintenance in 2023-24, were resulting in longer repair waiting times. Lewisham Homes remained committed to working with residents to encourage them to seek resolution through the organisation rather than pursuing legal disrepair routes.

6.5. Ainsley Forbes, Chair of the Board, expressed gratitude to the members of the Council for their integral roles in Lewisham Homes’ operation over the years. Specifically, he thanked Councillors Susan Wise, Paul Bell and Sophie Davis for bridging the connection between Lewisham Homes and the Council. He also thanked Jennifer Daothong and Fenella Beckman for their challenging but co-operative working relationship with the Lewisham Homes Board and Executive.

6.6. Ainsley Forbes addressed the group, reflecting on the challenging past 2 years, marked by rising service demand and reducing resources. However, he indicated a positive shift in the current direction. He outlined his key requests to the Committee, and asked the Committee to-

6.6.1.   take the time to develop a comprehensive understanding of the service;

6.6.2.   understand what residents wanted, acknowledging that the previous discussion by the Committee on co-opting tenants/ leaseholders seemed very proactive;

6.6.3.   review and maintain good practices while identifying areas for improvement;

6.6.4.   ensure the implementation of an appropriate IT system to meet the new regulatory requirements.

6.7. Finally, Ainsley Forbes extended his appreciation to Margaret Dodwell (Chief Executive, Lewisham Homes), the Senior Leadership Team and all Lewisham Homes staff for their dedication and hard work.

The Committee members were invited to ask questions. The following key points were noted:

6.8. The Committee thanked Sarah Willcox-Jones, Margaret Dodwell and Ainsley Forbes for their hard work and dedication during challenging times like the Covid-19 pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, and the supply-chain issues. They recognised that Lewisham Homes had made improvements and applauded the officers’ efforts.

6.9. The Lewisham Homes contact centre was now fully staffed, showing a significant improvement compared to a 75% turnover in that service area last year. Over the past couple weeks, the phone wait times had been slightly longer than expected due to summer holidays and staff annual leave, with an average wait time of around 7 minutes, falling short of summer expectations. However, email and portal communication remained responsive, often responding to residents on the same day. Implementation of the Localz app had also reduced the burden on the contact centre.

6.10. In-house repairs averaged 6000 per month, but only around 50-60 residents were using Localz app to provide feedback. While app uptake was low, it was capturing feedback from highly satisfied and dissatisfied residents, providing a valuable range of information. Officers were promoting app usage through resident magazines and social media channels.

6.11. Lewisham Homes had planned to replace their outdated housing IT system before the pandemic, but Covid-19 caused a 2-year delay. Following the delay, the new housing system was due to go live in April 2023, but now it was expected to launch on the 4^th of December 2023, or early in the new year if necessary. Choosing the right housing IT system was a collaborative effort between Lewisham Homes and the Council. Officers believed that they had chosen a modern, configurable IT system that had proven successful with Peabody and other social landlords. However, delays in acquiring the system had raised concerns. Currently, Lewisham Homes could not produce all of their Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) as they only had a one-way interface with their contractors but reporting TSM around repairs was now a mandatory requirement. The current IT system also had inadequate record-keeping capabilities and it was essential to replace the system to provide a better service to the residents.

6.12. In 2019-2020, Lewisham Homes conducted a property condition survey. However, a system was needed to integrate data from that survey with new data generated from the annual 20% resurveys. This would enable automatic updates of property conditions in the stock survey data whenever repairs were performed on a property.

6.13. In Lewisham Homes’ 2022/23 Annual Report to Residents, on page 11 it stated that there were 120 new disrepair cases being opened each month along with 334 new damp and mould cases. However, in Appendix 1, the data suggested that 48 new disrepair cases were opened in March 2023. Officers stated that they would check this discrepancy and update the report with the correct information. Currently, Lewisham Homes had 450 live disrepair cases.

6.14. The in-house paralegal in Lewisham Homes would be working closely with the Council’s legal team after the transition of services in October 2023. The in-house paralegal managed a small caseload of less complicated legal disrepair cases, and the HALA (Housing Associations’ Legal Alliance) was used for the other cases.

6.15. In order to effectively encourage residents to opt for alternative dispute resolution, it was emphasised that building trust with them was essential. This required officers to increase their community presence and organise additional estate days.

6.16. There were concerns about agents for solicitors deceiving residents by posing as a social work repair team, offering free repairs for council-neglected issues and misleading them into pursuing disrepair cases. There were also safeguarding concerns about residents letting these agents into their homes without realising the potential consequences. It was suggested that a comprehensive communication campaign be launched to clarify that these agents were not Council employees and were misleading residents. Officers agreed to look into this and explore an effective communication campaign.

6.17. The Committee Chair enquired if retrofitting opportunities were being utilised when dealing with void properties. Officers reported that due to the restrictions of the financial envelope they were working in, undertaking retrofitting work on void properties without any further funding was difficult. However, they had been working closely with the Council to apply for grants and secure match-funding opportunities.

6.18. The report included information on Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaints but not on Stage 3. Lewisham Homes officers informed the Committee that Stage 3 complaints were handled by the independent adjudicator which was in the Council’s remit and hence data for Stage 3 complaints was not in the report. It was discussed that the Housing Ombudsman was actively encouraging the Council to move away from the 3-stage process.

6.19. Residents could now directly go to the Housing Ombudsman with complaints and were no longer required to exhaust the internal complaint processes beforehand. In 2022-23, the Housing Ombudsman received 6 cases from Lewisham, but it didn’t specify who manged the properties. Lewisham Homes reported that 4 out of those 6 cases were theirs.

6.20. The report indicated that 101 new homes were scheduled for completion in 2023-24. The Committee Chair enquired about the progress of these homes and sought updates on the challenges faced with Algernon Road, Edward Street and Home Park. Lewisham Homes’ development services transferred over to the Council in February 2023, as a result Lewisham Homes officers were unable to provide a current status update on this matter.

6.21. Tenant Satisfaction Measures regarding anti-social behaviour (ASB) had shown a low level of satisfaction, with no ASB evictions in the past year. A Committee member questioned if there was any correlation between these two factors. Officers explained that they primarily relied on injunctions instead of evictions but were encountering difficulties recruiting and retaining ASB staff despite a rise in ASB cases.

RESOLVED:

·         that the report be noted.

·         that the Committee thanked Ainsley Forbes, Margaret Dodwell and Sarah Willcox-Jones for their hard work at and dedication towards Lewisham Homes over the years.