Agenda item

Peter Hatch, Executive Director of Property and Communities (CBH) and Caroline Walker, Head of Community Services (CBH)

Peter Hatch, the Executive Director of Property and Communities and Caroline Walker, Head of Community Services, from Cheltenham Borough Homes introduced themselves to the committee.  They talked through a PowerPoint presentation (Appendix 3) and key points included:

·         The organisation had recently adopted three new aims: Great Homes; Stronger Communities and; Inspired People and under each of these aims were delivery targets. 

·         CBH managed 4,460 and 600 leasehold homes and had handed over 3 new council owned homes this year alone, with another 6 planned before March 2018.

·         With an annual rent and service charge income of nearly £20m and current arrears of only 1.34% (£259k), CBH were performing well in spite of the challenges being posed by welfare reforms. 

·         Satisfaction levels across a number of areas were high.

·         On average there were only 35 properties at any one time that were empty and awaiting new tenants.  Most homes were re-let within 17 days.

·         CBH worked with the Police, CBC and were looking forward to working with Project Solace in the near future, to work to stop ASB, whilst supporting people to stay in their homes.  As of the end of September there were 458 live ASB cases, though this included a broad range of issues and so far this year 98% of closed cases have been resolved by the safer estates team, with 100% of customers being satisfied with the outcome. 

·         To date in 2017, legal action had been taken in 30 cases, including possession, injunctions and tenancy demotion.

·         CBH owned 16 Shared Ownership properties and oversaw 27 CBC Shared Ownership and sheltered properties, as well as 500 leaseholders. 

·         There had been 28 RTB sales in 2016/17.

·         Shared ownership was a relatively new undertaking for CBH and their processes were evolving, which included the development of a Shared Ownership Handbook.  61% of those in leasehold and shared ownership properties were satisfied with the services provided by CBH.  The sector average was 64%

·         Universal Credit would pose a significant challenge to CBH when roll –out was completed.  Their experience with the small number of customers for whom it had already been rolled out was that they required a high level of support and CBH would not have the resources to offer this same level of support to everyone that would ultimately be affected.

·         CBH had historically and continued to find it difficult to recruit staff to their technical and compliance teams.

·         Tight restrictions on the use of RTB receipts (including not being able to buy ex-authority properties) and a shortage of suitable land in Cheltenham posed a significant challenge to CBH and meant that they had to buy on the open market, which did not necessarily represent good value for money when compared to building new homes. 

·         The emerging issue of drugs, vulnerability and Dangerous Drug Networks paired with the resource issues being faced by the Police, did make aligning priorities and addressing issues quite challenging at times.

The following responses were given to member questions:

·         Dangerous Drug Networks were an emerging issue and CBH and the Police worked together when a property was identified; whether by neighbours or CBH staff.  Closure Orders allowed the tenant to be treated as a vulnerable person and moved to an alternative address for a period of 3 months and Tenant Liaison Officers would work with the individual on a 1-2-1 basis to help prevent it happening again.  However, predicting where this might happen next was  a challenge and CBH were working hard to identify vulnerable people through a risk assessment process.  

·         Shared ownership had placed different demands on CBH which admittedly they were not entirely prepared for, but having acknowledged this someone was now in place to manage issues.  There is a market for shared ownership in Cheltenham and there would be an emphasis on the customer service needs of those in shared ownership properties over the next 12 months.

·         In terms of the damage caused to the HUB in St. Paul’s there could have been no way to have pre-empted what happened that morning as all intelligence was focussed on another property in the area.  CBH had worked closely with the Police and one culprit has been successfully identified.  CBH were proud of their response to the vandalism, in as much as planned events were able to be held at alternative venues.  The HUB had been used a lot during the recent half term and would soon have shutters which would prevent similar vandalism in the future.

·         CBH promoted autonomy in their staff which it was felt inspired them to do the best job they could do for the organisation and its customers.  All staff were subject to an annual appraisal, which resulted in a development plan, which had recently given a new emphasis to self-development.

·         All staff received basic safeguarding training, with relevant staff, some of whom made thousands of visits to people’s homes a year, subject to enhanced training.  Staff would record any concerns and dedicated safeguarding resource would review concerns and refer all cases to Gloucestershire County Council.  If the Council threshold was not met then the issue(s) would be managed locally and discussed as part of the safeguarding forum, which provided an opportunity for shared learning.

·         CBH undertake a range of customer satisfaction surveys. Transactional surveys, taken on completion of every repair, were supplemented by bi-annual survey results.  A third party company undertook the bi-annual survey.

·         CBH were currently supporting approximately 50 people that were affected by Universal Credit, though they were predicting that once fully rolled-out, this would be approximately 1800 customers.  Whilst some resource had been built up over the last 2 years, the level of support currently being provided to 50 would be difficult to replicate for 1800.

·         No RTB receipts had been returned but this was not to say that adhering to strict government restrictions had not proved very challenging.

·         In order to develop the new corporate aims, CBH had established a working group consisting of a cross section of staff; this working group had devised a number of values as well as innovative ways of conveying these values, including singing, poems, etc.  There was then a company-wide vote on the values, which resulted in four new values being adopted that will underpin the aims.

·         The number of properties which met the decent homes standard currently stood at over 99% and a programme was being put together to address the standard of prefabs in the town, though it was unlikely it would be possible to get these properties up to 100%.  If a customer makes numerous refusals, the property would be removed from the Decent Homes list until the property became void.

·         Again in terms of satisfaction figures on ASB, transactional surveys were undertaken with those that had reported ASB ad 100% were happy with the outcome, the figure of 63% had been generated from the bi-annual survey of all customers.

·         CBH were asked to explore taking on private tenancies, managing tenancies on behalf of others and establishing a building arm to the company. The number of ASB cases was slowly rising but it was stressed that this figure covered a whole range of ASB reports

·         Restorative justice represented a new approach to CBH and as such the organisation was currently developing its knowledge and skills in this area. 

The Chairman thanked Peter and Caroline for having attended the meeting and asked that they pass on thanks for CBH staff for the job that they do.