This report highlights key achievements of the Housing Service over the past financial year and sets out the work programme for the Council’s housing stock for the next financial year.

The Director of Economic Growth and Neighbourhood Services submitted a report which highlighted key achievements of the Housing Service over the past financial year and set out the work programme for the Council’s housing stock for the next financial year.  The following documents were appended to the report:

Appendix 1 - Works to Housing Stock 22/23 Housing Revenue Account (HRA);

Appendix 2 – Works to Housing Stock 22/23 General Fund;

Appendix 3 – Works to Housing Stock by Ward 22/23.

The report stated that over the past year, the achievements of the Service had included:

• No homeless children had to spend Christmas in shared Bed and Breakfast and no homeless families had been placed in shared Bed and Breakfast accommodation for the 4th year running;

·      A new campaign to prevent homelessness had been launched ‘Click Before You Evict’ to encourage landlords to engage with the service rather than evicting their tenants;

·      The Housing Service had won the Council’s Team Award in the Team Reading People’s Choice Awards in National Customer Services Week for the wholesale response to rough sleeping during the pandemic;

·      Delivery of 40 modular homes for people with a history of rough sleeping incorporating 24/7 intensive support on site provided by the Council’s commissioned service provider, St Mungos;

·      A new Housing Allocations Scheme had been adopted for implementation later in the year;

·      Provision of continued support and debt advice to our tenants had helped to maintain top quartile rent collection levels of over 97.7 % despite increasing financial pressures due to the pandemic;

·      Installation of the Council’s first domestic air source heat pumps: 40 had been installed in properties in Granville Road Southcote;

·      The refurbishment of 12 properties in Kentwood to reduce carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency, including the installation of new external wall insulation and render, triple glazed windows and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery systems;

·      The Local Authority New Build Programme had delivered 22 new homes and a Community Centre, all built to the Council’s standards for low carbon homes.  There were also a further 272 homes in the pipeline to complete over the next 4 years;

·      The service had won Homebuilder of the Year (16,000 or under) in the National UK Housing Awards.

The report also updated the Committee on the results of the Tenant Satisfaction Survey which had been carried out during April and May 2020, which found that although satisfaction levels were still generally high, there had been a reduction in some areas.

The report explained that Housing Property Services had a responsibility to ensure that the housing stock was well maintained in accordance with the Decent Homes Standard and that Council homes were safe and healthy places to live, including the improvement of the thermal efficiency of its stock in line with the Council’s Climate Change ambitions ensuring homes could be heated efficiently and cost effectively, thus reducing their carbon footprint and reducing fuel poverty.  The service also worked to improve the wider environment on housing estates to meet the needs and aspirations of both the Council and the tenants.  Appendices 1 and 2 set out details of the works to be carried out and the associated costs for the Council’s HRA stock and the General Fund Housing Stock respectively for 2022-23.  Appendix 3 gave a breakdown of the programmes of work by ward.

Resolved:

(1)        That the key achievements of the Housing Service in the past financial year and the planned programme of works to Council Housing stock for 2022/23 be noted;

(2)        That the Assistant Director of Housing & Communities, in consultation with the Lead Councillor for Housing, be authorised to: (a) tender; and (b) enter into all necessary contracts for individual schemes within the 2022/23 work programme as set out in Appendices 1 and 2 of the report subject to sufficient funding being available in the approved Budget to meet the cost of the schemes.