Agenda item - East Kent Housing Update

Agenda item

East Kent Housing Update

This report provides members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee with an update on the performance of East Kent Housing (EKH) during the first quarter of 2019/20.

 

 

 

Minutes:

Report C/19/03 provided members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee with an update on the performance of East Kent Housing (EKH) during the first quarter of 2019/20. Deborah Upton, Chief Executive of EKH, was in attendance to address questions and points of interest raised by members.

 

Dr Susan Priest, Head of Paid Service, explained to members the reasons for the exempt items on this agenda item. 

 

The exempt items make reference to a separate entity and refers to properties outside the District which are yet to be considered by other Local Authorities.  The EKH item will be coming back to the Committee in October for further updates. 

 

The report made reference to complaints received from April 2019 and members asked for complaints prior to this.  Ms Upton, Chief Executive of East Kent Housing, explained that complaint numbers are similar in 2018/19, but she asked that members bear in mind the thousands of repairs made. 

 

Cllr Davison was concerned about the complaints policy version provided to members as this differs from the policy that is shown online.  Ms Upton will check this and would be happy to meet Cllr Davison to discuss any further concerns.

 

Ms Upton went on to explain to members the reporting problems and inconsistency of data which has led to the problems at East Kent Housing.

Spreadsheets have now been recreated and locked to prevent any erroneous deleting or additions.  Contractors have been asked to feed into these and weekly reports are provided to the four Local Authorities.   

 

Questions arose about the exempt items and when the documents can be made public. It was suggested that the reports could be made public in a co-ordinated way with the other three Local Authorities.   Report OS/19/04 which is exempt relates to this district only and members believed this should not be exempt. 

 

In making the exempt reports public members felt this may give a clearer, less concerning, picture to tenants and an opportunity to come forward with concise and informed comments.  The Local Tenants Group are aware of the issues raised in the internal audit. 

 

Turning to finances, Ms Upton confirmed that rent collection targets have been met and this is due to staff helping residents especially through their transition to Universal Credit.  

 

Proposed by Councillor Tim Prater

Seconded by Councillor Michelle Dorrell and

 

RESOLVED:

  1. To release exempt papers Appendix 3 and Appendix 3 (2) of report OS/19/03 to the public.
  2. To release exempt report OS/19/04 and East Kent Housing Compliance Report (4 Sept 2019) to the public.
  3. To invite tenants to make representations to this Committee with regard to their experiences with East Kent Housing. 

 

(Voting: For 6; Against 3; Abstentions 0)

 

Members agreed, that in making all exempt papers public that all tenants are aware of this information as soon as possible.  Ms Upton advised that tenants are actively being contacted to discuss various health and safety items on a regular basis.

 

Looking at Appendix 3, members raised concerns with regard to the gas and other safety issues which has been a problem for some time.  Members agreed that there are actions and remedies being taken and Ms Upton assured members that she is working closely with the four Local Authorities and the East Kent Housing Board. 

 

Actions taken:

  • Data gathering
  • Procedure manuals
  • Random checking by management
  • QA by Compliance managers
  • For future, it is planned that further Internal Audits are used to carry out checks. 

 

Members suggested that maybe tenants could be more involved, i.e. with checking and signing safety certificates. 

 

Other reports and audit responses are being carried out including a HQN report, also a four way Council led investigation and this report will be ready in November 2019.  There is also an options report with regard to the future management of EKH which will come to this Committee initially.  This report will include a consultation report which will be sent to every tenant. 

 

Dr Priest advised that a full time secondee from the Council has been placed at East Kent Housing along with additional funding from the HRA to help resolve issues in Folkestone & Hythe Council properties.  Stock condition surveys have been carried out but high, second and low priority issues do still need to be dealt with. 

 

Further question received from members with regard to legal action against East Kent Housing, it was confirmed that legal advice has been sought however no further details could be given. 

 

Members requested that all reports are shared with the Committee in a timely way which would give a clear indication of the progress being made with health and safety issues, management and funding issues.  Dr Priest explained that funding is available to EKH however in the past, capital investment budgets have typically underspent. Only recently funding to support an Improvement Plan had been made available for EKH, and subsequently health and safety compliance issues have come to light requiring further investment from the HRA. She explained that a review of the HRA business plan and budgets was ongoing and would be presented to members in due course. 

 

Proposed by Councillor Peter Gane

Seconded by Councillor Patricia Rolfe and

 

RESOLVED:

  1. To receive and note report OS/19/03.
  2. To ensure all points raised by members of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee are actioned. 
  3. To contact all EKH tenants to update with current information surrounding the health and safety issues.   
  4. HRA funding to be reported to this Committee.
  5. To scrutinise the contents of the reports provided by EKH, attached as Appendices 1, 2, 3 and 4.

 

(Voting: For 9; Against 0; Abstentions 0)

 

 

Supporting documents: