Agenda item

RECOMMENDATION:

That Business and Housing Policy Committee are asked to comment upon the Tenant Engagement Plan content.

Councillor Ferguson, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Community and Housing and Janette Palmer, Housing Policy and Projects Manager introduced the report, ref BHP40 which set out proposals for the Draft Housing Tenant Engagement and Communication Plan, (available here).

The report set out the draft engagement plan (Appendix 3) that had been developed with tenants and officers following consultation and research. The committee was recommended to comment upon the content of the Tenant Engagement Plan. 

The committee proceeded to ask questions and debate the report. In summary, the following matters were raised:

1. That the responsibility for tenant engagement lay across all council departments and this should be reflected within this plan. 
2. That engagement needed to reach out beyond tenants to encompass other residents of rented accommodation in the district.
3. There was a challenge in getting younger people and families to engage with the council and relevant communication channels should be tailored to maximise engagement opportunities with these groups.
4. The key difficulties in feeding back from individuals, for example, issues around the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and obtaining the express written consent of identified individuals.
5. Had all of the engagement options listed in paragraph 2.6 filtered through into the plan?
6. That it was vital all elements of service delivery to tenants were provided at a very high standard and the provision of the out-of-hours service was discussed further.
7. How as a council do we monitor subcontractor performance and improve the services to residents? 

Gillian Knight, Corporate Head of Housing provided the committee with a presentation (available here) regarding the Social Housing White Paper - The Charter for Social Housing Residents, which covered the following topics.

1. To be safe in your home. 
2. To know how your landlord was performing.
3. To have your complaints dealt with promptly & fairly.
4. To be treated with respect, backed by a strong consumer regulator for tenants. 
5. To have your voice heard by your landlord.
6. To have a good quality home & neighbourhood to live in. 
7. To be supported to take your first step to ownership.

The committee proceeded to ask questions and the following matters were raised.

1. Would the council need to do more (in partnership with the police) to fulfil our duties within the white paper?
2. Did the requirements of the white paper introduce new burdens for the council and were there associated issues for designing a solution and resourcing it? 

These points were responded to by Councillor Ferguson, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Community and Housing, Simon Hendey, Strategic Director, Gillian Knight, Corporate Head of Housing and Janette Palmer, Housing Policy and Projects Manager, accordingly and were noted by Councillor Ferguson, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Community and Housing.

RESOLVED:

1.    That a cross reference be provided between the items listed in paragraph 2.6 and the finalised plan and shared with members.

2.    That Councillor Ferguson would consider whether this paper would be required to go to Cabinet Committee: Housing for further discussion and sign-off or whether this would be absorbed into the overall Housing Strategy paper. 

3.    That the committee wished to extend its appreciation to the Winchester City Council tenant who participates on the National Residents’ Panel set up to improve tenant engagement and the regulation of the social housing sector.

4.    That the cabinet member and officers note the comments of the committee.