Agenda item - Housing Management Performance Report

69.1    Hilary Edgar introduced a summary of this report.

69.2    A resident requested more information on the leaseholder costs stated on page 69.

69.3    A resident asked about the figure of 85% of calls which were answered, which was not good and was there a standard set that should be met. Hilary Edgar replied that this was not clear althought the target was 90% and that the corporate stance was that we should resource email communication, which they had focussed on since the Summer of 2018 since more people were contacting the council via email and the aim was to get things properly resourced.  The resident stated that the majority of residents depend on using the phone and that 5 min on hold was the reported average wait time.

69.4    A resident commented on the 5% of tenants who were in arrears of £500 plus and asked what kind of help they received. Hilary Edgar replied that the Income Management team offered advice and also referred tenants to the MAC Advice service and confirmed that one in five tenants were in arrears, which was a high percentage.  There was a brief discussion on the different figures for arrears and the Chair pointed out that Universal Credit was one of the reasons for arrears and it was a massive challenge to provide support to those tenants transitioning into Universal Credit. 

69.5    A resident also raised the point that it was now more difficult to obtain Discretionary Payments for under occupancy regarding the recent Bedroom tax and Hilary Edgar replied that this could be added as an item for the agenda  for the next meeting.

69.6    A resident requested that there could be an item on a future meeting agenda on how easy it was for people to downsize – transfer to a smaller Council property.

69.7    A resident remarked on the alarmingly high level of ASB cases in Coombes Park ward as stated on page 76 and he questioned some of the context of the figures.   He stated that it surely depended on how many council properties there were in different wards and that a figure stating the amount of ASB cases per number of properties would be more helpful. 

69.8    RESOLVED: That the panel agreed to note the report.