Agenda item

That the update be noted.

The Service Manager (Housing Assets) presented the key figures and key activities against the void action plan, as outlined in the briefing note.

He outlined the number of new voids and those which had been completed and reported that 33 properties had been completed ready for allocation. He also outlined the following, as presented in the briefing note:-

·         The number of major voids

·         Total overall number of void properties which had decreased to 227

·         The performance of the current contractors

·         Top reasons for terminations

In response to comments made by Councillor Dave Hughes on difficult to let properties, the Service Manager suggested amending the total number of voids information in future briefing notes to show how many of those were difficult to let.

In response to comments made by the Chair on the difficult to let properties being considered as part of the Sheltered Housing Review, the Service Manager agreed that difficult to let properties would go through the agreed matrix to consider if they could be improved/refurbished to be compliant with the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS).  The Chief Officer (Housing & Assets) advised that low demand properties were being prioritised as part of the Sheltered Housing Review and that a progress report on the review would be presented to the Committee at a future meeting.

Councillor David Evans said that if properties were in low demand and required minor improvement works, shouldn’t the Council be getting on with carrying out the works as soon as possible so that the properties could be allocated.  The Chief Officer said that the majority of low demand properties were sheltered accommodation.  One of the options to be considered was the re-designation of the properties but in order to do this it required an approval process to be undertaken.

Councillor Evans said that he had reviewed the last 12 months of data, and taking into consideration the hard to let properties, the number of void properties had only reduced by 32 over the last 12 months.  He raised concerns that at the current rate, it would take around 7 years to reduce the void property backlog and asked what was being done to reduce this number quicker and what additional resources were required to drastically reduce this number.  The Service Manager commented on the need to have terminated arrangements with one of the contractors and the possibility of bringing on board another contractor, but outlined the need to ensure that there was adequate staff in place as there were only a number of people who could manage and inspect works being carried out.  He agreed that the number of void properties was high but anticipated that the number of properties would reduce to under 200 by the summer and reported that spend was currently between £12,000 and £15,000 per property to make them complaint before being let.  

In response to further concerns raised by Councillor Evans, the Chief Officer (Housing and Communities) advised that contractors were robustly monitored and that it was possible to add additional contractors from the framework when feasible to do so.  There was a commitment to bring back into use 40/50 void properties per month and there were currently 120 properties being worked on.  It was hoped that there would be a significant de-crease by the month of June.

In response to a question from Councillor Ted Palmer around the number of properties being worked on, the Service Manager explained that 90 properties had been allocated to contractors with 30 allocated to the Council’s Direct Labour Organisation (DLO).  He commented that the figures presented to the Committee did not reflect the amount of time spent at a property and the need to prioritise properties to be available to the Homeless Team. 

The Cabinet Member commented on the number of properties being worked on, which he said was unprecedented in scale and said that he was confident that Members would see the backlog reduce.

In response to comments made by Councillor Geoff Collett on the management of contractors, the Service Manager advised that the contractors had been brought on through the framework and were getting used to the Council’s specifications and standard of work.  He said that the standard of work had been very high but if the Council felt that targets were not being met, there were options to explore the use of other contractors from the framework.

RESOLVED:

That the update be noted.