Agenda item

(a)       That the current levels of housing need across the County and the growing pressures regarding social housing which was not aligned with the supply of available homes locally be noted; and

(b)       That the applicant feedback following the annual Customer Satisfaction Survey results for the Common Housing Register and Housing Advice function be noted.

The Chief Officer (Housing and Communities) introduced a report to outline the current levels of housing need across the County and the disparity with the availability of social housing which was not increasing at the same rate as the levels of housing needs that are prevalent within our communities.

The Housing & Prevention Service Manager reported that the Single Access Route to Housing (SARTH) was a partnership between all the major providers of social housing in North Wales, covering the local authority areas of Conwy, Denbighshire and Flintshire.  The service to applicants included the housing triage assessment, housing

solutions triage, for those who present as homeless or at risk of homelessness, and a wide range of housing options advice.  The service also managed all the applicants accepted onto the Common Housing Register once a clearly evidenced housing need had been identified.  Only those applicants with a housing need were accepted onto the Housing Register, but all applicants benefited from housing options advice.

            The Housing & Prevention Service Manager outlined future Policy direction for Social Housing allocations, as detailed within the report, and advised that Consultation on a White Paper on Ending Homelessness in Wales had recently closed.  When specifically looking at allocations and social housing application the White Paper had considered a piece of research ‘Allocations: Understanding more, in the context of homelessness in Wales’ which sought to understand the performance of social housing allocations in relation to the prevention and relief of homelessness.

            The Housing & Prevention Service Manager referred to Housing Needs, as detailed in the report, and reported that the social housing register was increasing and as such waiting times for properties were becoming longer.  There were 1,816 households on the Common Housing Register at the end of Q1 in the 2020/2021 period.  And as evidenced in the chart within the report, below demand had grown in

the following years and the current number of eligible households on the Common Housing Register at the end of Q3 2023/2024 was 1,983 as at December 2023.  The breakdown of data was found at Appendix 1 of the report.

An annual satisfaction survey was now completed for the Common Housing

Register Service and attached at Appendix 2 of the report were the headline findings of the survey.  All applicants were invited to engage in the survey and a total of

210 responses were received.  Headline satisfaction data confirmed that when first approaching the Housing Register & Advice Team 51% of applicants felt the service offered was excellent (17%) or good (34%).

In response to a question from Councillor Rosetta Dolphin on what housing stock there was across the Council, including Housing Association partners, the Housing and Prevention Senior Manager agreed to circulate this information following the meeting.

Councillor Dale Selvester asked, in regard to cleansing the register, how often this was carried out throughout the year.  He referred to the specialist housing needs, as detailed in the report, and asked if there was a specialist Occupational Therapist (OT) who worked with the Housing Portfolio to help find appropriate accommodation and also whether realistic feedback was provided to applicants wanting larger properties, given the lack of 5-bed properties across the County.  He asked if people living in adapted properties, who no longer required the adaptations were contacted to see if they wanted to move, to help with the specialist housing need register and also whether the duplicate applications found was a training need when putting people on the register.   

The Housing and Prevention Senior Manager responded that the register was not reviewed annually as a review as carried out throughout the year, with Band 1 applicants being reviewed as frequently as possible.  There was a specialist OT who worked with the housing register team and any housing partners to consider major adaptations to avoid people needing to be added to the specialist housing need register and also to match people to the appropriate vacant properties.  With regards to larger properties, the team try to manage expectations as best as they could and there was a mapping tool available to applicants on the website to show families where the limited number of social homes for larger families were across the County.  He advised that the team do prioritise applicants wishing to downsize if the property was beneficial to the Council and do also carry out targeted work.  He also advised that the duplications of applicants on the register was a training issue that was being addressed.

Councillor Selvester referred to the applications by property type in the report, which stated that 30 people were waiting for a 5-bed property but questioned why this figure was shown as 17 at section 1.08 of the report.  The Housing and Prevention Senior Manager agreed to clarify this with the Committee following the meeting.

Cllr Dave Evans asked in what scenario would the Council allow someone onto the register in Band 4 if they were intentionally homelessness or had no local connection.  Following a response from the Housing and Prevention Senior Manager, the Chair suggested that a case study for each of the Bandings 1-4 to better explain the criteria for each banding be circulated to the Committee following the meeting. 

The recommendations, as outlined within the report, were moved by Councillor Geoff Collett and seconded by Councillor Dave Selvester.

RESOLVED:        

(a)       That the current levels of housing need across the County and the growing pressures regarding social housing which was not aligned with the supply of available homes locally be noted; and

(b)       That the applicant feedback following the annual Customer Satisfaction Survey results for the Common Housing Register.