Agenda item

To present the report of the Head of Housing Services.

The report of the Head of Housing incorporating the Tenant Participation Strategic Plan for 2024-29 was presented for the Committee’s consideration and scrutiny. The Plan was developed to ensure that Housing Services works in partnership with tenants to develop and deliver first rate housing services for the people of Anglesey and is the successor to the 2018-2023 Local Tenants Participation Strategy. The Housing Wales Act (2014) requires all Social Landlords in Wales to have a tenant participation strategy with the long-term goal of achieving continuous improvement in landlords’ performance in supporting and enabling tenants to participate so they can influence decisions and contribute towards improving service delivery.

The report was presented by Councillor Gary Pritchard, Portfolio Member for Children, Youth and Housing Services who emphasised the importance of involving tenants in the way decisions about their homes are made and of obtaining their views and ideas about how the Council’s housing services, homes and estates can be further improved and the challenges of WHQS Phase II met. The Tenant Participation Strategic Plan sets out how the Council will continue to develop tenant participation and increase participation levels during the life of the Plan.

The Community Housing Services Manager outlined the legislative background and principles behind the Plan and she provided an overview of the Plan including the priority areas as agreed with current participating tenants. Those related to ensuring effective engagement and information sharing, empowering tenants to influence and shape services, continually improving services to meet customer needs, and ensuring tenants have the skills and confidence to become involved in tenant participation opportunities. In delivering the Plan, Housing Services will develop a range of participation and engagement methods that will allow people to participate flexibly and as little or as often as they wish; continue to develop appropriate and innovative means of communicating with tenants and keeping them informed of progress; support tenants to build their skills and knowledge so they have the capacity and confidence to participate, and take a proactive approach to developing services utilising good practice from others. The Housing Service’s approach will be regularly reviewed over the course of the five-year plan and a twelve-month Action Plan will be co-developed and monitored quarterly by the Tenant Participation monitoring group.

The Head of Housing Services said that the Strategic Plan builds on the achievements already made in tenant participation. The views of Housing Services users are important as levels of tenant satisfaction are reflected in the STAR survey conducted annually and benchmarked against other authorities in Wales.

In scrutinising the Tenant Participation Strategic Plan the Committee discussed a range of issues including the robustness of the process for putting the Plan in place and the challenges involved in ensuring that there are no barriers to participation arising from age or location and that everyone has the opportunity to contribute recognising also that some people may be more reticent than others in putting their views across. The approach to complaints was raised including how those and the Service’s interventions in response fit in with the Plan. The appropriateness of Elected members advocating on behalf of tenants was also discussed as was the availability of resources to be able to realise the Plan and the risks to that endeavour.

In responding to those matters the Portfolio Member and Housing Services Officers confirmed the following –

·      That the process of developing the Plan has been conducted over many months with the input of the existing Tenant Participation group and was comprehensive and varied in terms of the methods of engagement used. Tenant involvement has been encouraged throughout the process. The Service has also been closely involved with TPAS Cymru which is an organisation that helps promote good practice in tenant participation to ensure that the Plan meets with statutory requirements.

·      That the main risks and challenges are in ensuring that everybody whatever their background or experience, have the opportunity to participate and that there is fair representation especially as regards hard to reach groups including those who might be digitally excluded. The Service is committed to recruiting new members through a variety of means and to upskilling and improving the confidence levels of tenants to ensure they can participate effectively. Tenant engagement is taking place all the time and is a continuous process whereby views are exchanged, information shared and issues raised and resolved. It is accepted that good tenant participation is a two-way conversation and many tenants know who their Housing Services staff are and are comfortable in having that conversation with them.

The Chief Executive advised that evidencing how the Service has listened to tenants’ views and how those views have influenced decisions is equally important. Whilst the Tenant Participation Strategic Plan is a reflection of how the Housing Service is leading on this matter, consideration needs to be given to how to obtain input into the Council’s wider decision-making processes and whether the mechanisms used by the Housing Service can be applied by other services within the Council.

·      That Elected Members may advocate on behalf of tenants by letter if authorised to do so by the tenant otherwise any verbal representations by a Member have to be made in the presence of the tenant.

·      That Housing Services activity is financed through the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) which is funded from rental income. The HRA is ring-fenced and cannot be used for any other purpose and being well-resourced is able to support the delivery of the Tenant Participation Plan.

·      That a central record of issues/complaints is kept and analysed, and the Service is aware of the challenges and is able to identify any pattern of issues within groups or communities. The last annual STAR survey as well as reflecting areas of achievements also highlighted areas where improvements needed to be made which the Service has addressed e.g. simplifying communication about rent arrears so that tenants understand and are clear about the situation. The Service recognises that it is important to listen to what tenants have to say and to that end has introduced a survey/questionnaire to which tenants can contribute on an ongoing basis either online or by other means.

·      That the Tenant Participation Strategic Plan will be monitored via the Tenant Participation monitoring group, the Housing Service Senior Management Team and by Scrutiny via the quarterly Corporate Scorecard report.

Having scrutinised the documentation presented and having considered the points raised during the discussion along with the Portfolio Member and Officers’ responses, it was resolved to recommend the Tenant Participation Strategic Plan 2024-29 to the Executive for its approval.