The Chair of the Board of Directors will present this item.

Recommendation(s):

That the Housing Group Shareholder resolves to:

1.       Notes the report and progress being made.

Councillor Tidball and the Monitoring Officer joined the meeting at the start of this item.

The Chair of the Board of Directors presented this item and reminded the Shareholder of the four initial corporate objectives, set by the Council and underpinned by the Business Plan, which set the Housing Group’s initial business lines:

·       The purchase and management of the new affordable rental homes at Barton Park

·       To develop new affordable housing with a range of tenures

·       The purchase and management of high value void properties from the Council to help fund the Government’s levy on stock holding Local Authorities to compensate Registered Social Landlords for the costs of Right to Buy

·       To undertake estate regeneration schemes

The Shareholder then discussed each of these business lines in detail and the following points were noted:

Barton Park

·       The transfer of the first tranche of properties was expected in May 2018

·       The Housing Group could not influence the scheduled transfer dates

·       The Housing Group Project Team and the Council’s Landlord Services team were leading on the work needed to prepare for the transfer and ensure that the properties would be ready to let in May 2018

·       The Housing Group would have a Service Level Agreement with the Council’s Landlord Services to manage the Housing Group stock and this would address sub-contracting arrangements with the Direct Services Trading Companies

·       tenants of the Housing Group would have the same level of service and experience as the Council’s tenants; service delivery should be unchanged but it would be made clear to tenants, from the outset, whether the landlord was the Housing Group or the Council

·       Those policies which are reserved matters for the Shareholder: Rent, Lettings, Sales and Debt Recovery would be considered at the next shareholder meeting in March 2018

·       That the costs of the Barton Park Green Levy would be defrayed by the Housing Group as landlord; and that future Housing Group developments should not adopt that specific model but would explore the scope to use the Council’s  Parks team for landscaping and site maintenance

Affordable Housing site development

·       a consortium including Levitt Bernstein architects, Currie and Brown project managers, GL Hearn Planning consultants led by WSP had been appointed to provide the range of professional services required to deliver a successful development programme

·       Officer capacity was an issue for the Housing Group as staff were currently undertaking the new tasks for the Housing Group alongside existing work for the Council’s housing function

·       An officer had been appointed as a dedicated project management resource for the Housing Group to address, in part, this issue

·       A Project Team, chaired by Stephen Clarke, met twice monthly to provide co-ordination and oversight on project management; this team included Council officers from other service areas such as Planning and Communications and operated on the principle of “ethical barriers” to separate the needs of the Housing Group from those of the Council

·       the initial design feasibility studies for all eight development sites (to assess capacity and including pre-planning application discussions) were underway

·       The initial assessment is that the Development Programme could deliver an additional 20-25 housing units over and above the assumptions in the Business Plan

The purchase and management of high value void properties from the Council

·       Five properties had been purchased in 2016-17

·       A further five properties had been identified for purchase in 2017-18 in accordance with the Business Plan

·       the Business Plan assumed that 5 units per annum will be sold by the Council and transferred to the Housing Group over the term of the Plan (equating to 200 units).  Not transferring the quota of units in any single year would be a lost opportunity and over time it would have a detrimental impact on the Housing Group’s finances which would need to be addressed.

Having considered the arguments presented in the report the Shareholder confirmed that the Housing Group should proceed with the purchase of up to five properties in 2017-18.

Estate Regeneration

·       The redevelopment of Blackbird Leys central area was progressing and the Council was expected to appoint a development partner in the summer of 2018

·       The local community would be closely involved in the regeneration project

Right to Buy

The Shareholder noted that the Government’s policy on the high value void levy and right to buy remained uncertain and was being monitored by officers in both the Council and the Housing Group. The matter would be presented to the Shareholder for a decision once there was greater clarity on the Government’s policy position.

The Chair of the Board of Directors explained that their initial view was that the Housing Group should not introduce a Right to Buy policy, until and unless required to do so by Government policy.  The justification for this was the requirement to increase and retain the stock of social housing in the city.  In the event that a Right to Buy policy was required the Housing Group would explore options to set appropriate qualifying periods and discount levels and the scope to minimise the risk of losing properties to speculative external buyers. Any such policy would be presented to the Shareholder for approval.

The Shareholder resolved to:

1.     note the report; and

2.     agreed to meet quarterly to monitor and review the progress being made on the delivery of the Housing Group development programme against the Business Plan objectives