Agenda item

Councillor Sue Nicholls said that Overview and Scrutiny Committee had expressed a wish to review and scrutinise the effectiveness of communications between housing associations (sometimes also called registered housing providers), their tenants, elected Members and Council Officers.

Councillor Nicholls said that the committee recognised that there were different practices across different housing associations which sometimes made it difficult for Members and Council Officers to work with housing associations to resolve issues for residents.

Councillor Nicholls said that some housing associations already had excellent communication with residents, elected Members and the council, and it was an ambition that this was the case for all residents. She said that the report outlined a proposed programme of work for the Overview and Scrutiny to help identify and make recommendations in this area, to highlight potential improvements and to share best practice.

Councillor Nicholls explained that the scrutiny exercise sought to examine how registered housing providers operated within East Herts, communicated with their customer and with the council. The aims were to identify areas for improvement by housing associations and/or the council, examples of best practice that could be shared among housing associations, potential issues for lobbying national bodies such as regulators or government to improve housing association communications.

Councillor Nicholls said that a project plan had been developed to deliver these aims, and this document could be seen at Appendix A. She set out in detail the proposed timeline for this area of work and said that a draft of the proposed questionnaire was shared at Appendix B.

Members were advised that a task and finish group would be established of Overview and Scrutiny Members to consider feedback from questionnaires. The Task and Finish Group could request further information from housing associations and would meet between September and December 2025.

Councillor Nicholls said that she hoped that Members would be satisfied, as she was, with the proposed plan of work to make recommendations for improvements in this area. She therefore requested that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee support the review as outlined in the report and project plan and agree to the establishment of a Task and Finish Group to progress this work.

Councillor Swainston welcomed the ideas set out in the paper and said that most councillors had heard from residents who were not happy that they could not get hold of their housing association or had received responses that were not satisfactory. She said that if Members could improve that situation then that would very valuable.

Councillor Carter said that she agreed that communication was probably the key thing that upset tenants in terms of not getting issues fixed or not being able to speak to the right person.

Councillor Marlow said that communication with housing associations was a very mixed affair. He wondered how this way forward was going to be delivered to the housing associations and what kind of weight it would be given when there was a housing ombudsman service and the regulator for social housing. He commented on how officers were going to persuade the housing associations to pay attention to what Members were saying on this topic.

The Housing Lead for Housing Services said that some initial conversations had been had with registered providers (housing associations). She said that officers had some great relationships with providers and there were some housing associations that had really good practices, who were keen to share their experience and use this as best practice.

Members were reminded that this might be different with other registered providers and that the Council had no powers to get housing associations to engage with this piece of work. The Housing Lead for Housing Services said that registered providers relied upon the Council for their nominations, and so there was an incentive for registered providers and housing associations to work with the Council.

Members were advised that officers would be advising the housing associations that they should work with the council to improve the situation as it would be positive for registered providers and for residents.

Councillor Marlow agreed and said that this was about relationship building with the registered providers. He commented on whether some work could be done to assist officers in creating those relationships with the housing associations.

Councillor Nicholls said that this matter would form a key part of the work programme, and that she thought that there would be an element of peer pressure on behalf of the providers to push for better practice. She said that she hoped that there could be engagement with the ombudsman as well and both sides, which could push for better outcomes for residents.

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods thanked Councillor Nicholls for proposing this topic and for her efforts so far. She also thanked the Housing Lead for Housing Services for her description of the task ahead as set out in the report. She agreed that there was a need for the study.

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods said that as a Council, a small start had been achieved with better communications and there were now regular quarterly meetings with Clarion Housing Association, which she hoped would enable problems and general procedures to be discussed.

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods said that she hoped that such meetings with SNG housing association would also soon be held as they had a new community officer. She hoped that as many Members as possible would attend the consultation discussion groups with the housing associations as she felt that they were useful.

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods said that she had been petitioning very hard for the housing associations to give the Council contact details and some of them had provided that information. She said that would endeavour to continue these efforts to secure the contact details for the other 40 housing associations in the district.

Councillor Buckmaster said that he was pleased that there were meetings being arranged. He said that there used to be regular meetings with the housing associations on a quarterly basis and there also used to be a quarterly forum with a number of the housing associations invited into the council chamber where mutual items of interest would be discussed.

Councillor Jacobs proposed, and Councillor Horner seconded a motion that Councillor Nicholls be approved as chair of the task and finish group and work with officers to seek nominees from the committee.

After being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

Councillor Swainston proposed, and Councillor Carter seconded a motion for the substantive recommendation (as amended) for the approval the project plan at Appendix 1, and for the establishment of a task and finish group as outlined in the project plan.

After being put to the meeting, and a vote taken, the substantive motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – that (A) the project plan at Appendix 1 be approved;

(B)   the establishment of a task and finish group as outlined in the project plan, be approved; and

(C)   Councillor Nicholls be approved as chair of the task and finish group and that she works with officers to seek nominees from the committee.