Decision details

12.1  Deputy Mayor Nicholson introduced the report.

RESOLVED:

That the Residents Charter, as set out in Appendix 1 of the published report, be approved.

REASONS FOR DECISION

As Hackney is facing an unprecedented housing crisis, the Council is building new genuinely affordable homes across a range of sites in the borough to help meet housing demand, engaging and consulting with the local community and putting residents at the heart of any proposals for redevelopment.

To ensure that regeneration brings real benefits to local communities and opportunities are given to existing tenants, the Council has already developed and adopted Local Lettings Policies as well as the Leaseholder and Freeholder Options Document. Moreover, the Council follows the guidance provided in the ‘Better Homes for Local People’, the Mayor of London’s Estate Regeneration Good Practice Guide. The latter sets out good practice and principles to deliver better homes for local communities, and encourages housing providers to openly engage with residents affected by a regeneration project, from its inception. Among the recommended principles of good practice is introducing a residents charter to set out specific and deliverable commitments.

The proposed Residents Charter clearly sets out the Council’s principles underpinning its not-for-profit and Council-led approach to regeneration, and its key promises to the community, such as introducing ballots of directly affected residents and making decisions in response to residents’ feedback.

The Residents Charter sets out Hackney Council's commitments to its community if a redevelopment proposal involves the demolition of existing residents’ homes. The charter presents the Council’s commitments toward specific groups of residents (Council tenants, resident leaseholders or freeholders, and non-resident leaseholders and freeholders) in a transparent and specific way, identifying each group’s rights and options, by tenure, in case of regeneration projects involving the demolition of their homes.