Agenda and minutes

1.1 The Chair updated those in attendance on the meeting etiquette and that the meeting was being recorded and livestreamed.

1.2 Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Oszen, Cllr Maxwell and Cllr Sadek.

2.1 There were no urgent items, and the order of business was as set out in the agenda.

3.1 There were no declarations of interest.

4.1 The Chair opened the item by explaining that the Commission was keen to hear about the progress the Council had made against the key commitments outlined in the Housing Services Resident Engagement Strategy (RES), and any plans for it to be refreshed to reflect what had been achieved and new things which may need to be done.

4.2 The Commission saw this discussion as a timely means of monitoring progress in delivering the action plan against the five strategic priorities of the strategy.

4.3 Representing London Borough of Hackney

·  Councillor Clayeon McKenzie, Cabinet Member for Housing Services & Resident Participation

·  Steve Waddington, Strategic Director Housing Services

·  Helena Stephenson, Assistant Director Tenancy Services

·  Sarah Kulay, Head of Resident Participation, TMOs and Communities

4.4 External Guests

·  Steve Webster, Resident Liaison Group Co-Chair

4.5 The Chair then invited the Cabinet Member for Housing Services & Resident Participation and Council officers to give a verbal presentation. The main points are highlighted below.

4.6 The RES was co-produced with residents, with its development had been overseen by a Project Champions Group, made up of the Resident Liaison Group (RLG) Co-Chairs and the Cabinet Member for Housing Services and Resident Participation, alongside a wider Strategy Scrutiny Group bringing together officers and involved and uninvolved residents.

4.7 Final proposals were informed by wider feedback from housing residents and staff, including focus groups, major surveys, and outreach to residents via local community and faith groups. This provided confidence that the direction outlined in the final document was a fair representation of the issues and challenges residents faced, and their priorities for improvement.

4.8 The strongest message from the consultation was a need to get the basics right, with a stronger focus on timely, transparent and honest communication. It was also clear that some tenants and residents associations (TRAs) wanted more support, and some residents who were not involved felt that some TRAs needed to be more inclusive.

4.9 Strategic Priority 1 (Embed a ‘Resident First’ culture across the service) focused on actions to ensure that the service culture, and behaviour of staff, puts the residents’ voice at the centre of its work, with policies, service delivery and priorities shaped by active listening and engagement.

4.10 To support this priority the service had worked with involved residents to agree on a set of new service standards. This had resulted in a suite of 21 indicators which reflected a focus on getting the basics right.

4.11 There had also been a focus on embedding improvements in service performance in those areas which were a high priority for residents. This included repairs, customer contact and responding to damp and mould.

4.12 The service had also sought to enable strong engagement between the involved resident structure and senior housing leaders, with the development of all new housing policies and procedures to include resident engagement.

4.13 It had also looked to ensure regular and effective communication of key housing messages and service developments to the wider resident base, using a variety of channels  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.1 The Chair opened the item by explaining that the Commission was keen to follow up on progress against the improvement actions identified at the previous meeting in December 2022, where the measures to improve the Council’s repairs performance and customer care following the pandemic and cyber-attack were discussed.

5.2 As part of the scrutiny process, Commission Members undertook a focus group with residents living in council-managed homes to understand their experiences of the repairs service over the past year and what they may like to see happen differently in the future.

5.3 Representing London Borough of Hackney

·  Councillor Clayeon McKenzie, Cabinet Member for Housing Services & Resident Participation

·  Steve Waddington, Strategic Director Housing Services

·  Kain Roach, Assistant Director Building Maintenance

·  Rob Miller, Strategic Director Customer & Workplace

·  Ron Springer, Assistant Director Customer Operations

5.4 The Chair began by giving an overview of the key issues, patterns and trends which were highlighted during the focus group with residents.

5.5 It was noted that the findings represented a small sample of the experiences of residents living in council properties, and that there had been improvements in some areas over the past year. However, many of the issues raised were familiar to Commission Members who dealt with housing repairs issues routinely through their casework.

5.6 Reporting repairs online

·  Online reporting not providing a written record of the repair being reported, which could lead to inaccurate information being logged and wrong or unprepared operatives being sent to a job

·  No online reporting function for communal repairs

5.7 Call centre performance

·  Recognition that wait times had improved recently, although residents were still waiting a long time to obtain a job ticket once through

·  Call centre staff generally polite and helpful, although reporting more complicated issues could be difficult

5.8 Communication

·  Lack of prompt communication and appointment rearrangement where agreed appointment cannot be kept

·  Not keeping residents up-to-date at the various stages of a case, and on the timelines for resolutions

·  Not communicating the resolution/outcome of an issue with the resident who reported the issue (with communal visits it was difficult to know whether someone has attended at all)

·  Lack of communication between Council officers and contractors, leading to delays in repairs being undertaken and repeat visits

·  Lack of communication with leaseholders around which repairs issues may be the leaseholder or landlord’s responsibility, and how to report issues which are thought to be the landlord’s responsibility

·  Walkarounds and surgeries with housing officers were helpful, allowing residents to raise issues and concerns with officers directly

5.9 Waits for repairs

·  Long wait times between reporting an issue and initial assessment, as well as between initial assessment and resolution of issue

·  Repairs not being finished to the required standard, and residents having to chase the Council multiple times to find a resolution

·  No emergency service at weekend for boiler and heating repairs, meaning in some cases elderly and families have had to wait over a week for a visit which can be particularly challenging in the winter months

·  New communal  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.1 The draft minutes of the previous meeting on 22nd November 2023 would follow in the next meeting agenda.

7.1 The Chair referred to the Commission’s work programme and highlighted the discussion items planned for the remainder of the municipal year.

7.2 It was explained that the draft Housing Strategy, draft Private Rented Sector Strategy and Intermediate Housing Panel interim findings were now due to be taken at the March meeting, as the timelines for their completion had been extended. The Community Halls discussion would therefore be moved to the February meeting.

7.3 It was also noted that a follow up discussion on supported accommodation for homeless people with complex needs including Housing Regeneration & Delivery colleagues, health partners and Health in Hackney Scrutiny Members would be held at the meeting in February. This would be in place of the discussion on the Parks & Green Spaces Strategy which had been postponed.

8.1 None.