Agenda item 5 (a)
VECTIS HOUSING ASSOCIATION
Housing Management and Maintenance
Report of the Deputy Chief Executive
December 2015
1. Introduction
This report covers operational activities throughout Vectis for the period June – December 2015. The customary detailed analysis of performance relating to repairs and maintenance is contained in an accompanying report elsewhere on this agenda.
2. Neighbourhood Walkabouts
2.1 Our initial annual neighbourhood walkabout programme has now been completed and reported on at the May Board meeting. The 2016 programme is attached in Appendix 1.
2.2 We will shortly be conducting a consultation exercise with tenants to get their views on how best to operate future walkabouts.
3. Tenant Profiling
3.1 Tenant profile returns now account for 61% of our tenants. We have also made a focused effort to ensure that we have up to date phone numbers and email addresses as these are increasingly the means, other than face-to-face contact through which we contact tenants.
3.2 Tenancy Health Checks – we have currently completed 126 THCs, now in an expanded format. We now include the property inspection with the THC, which saves staff time and seems popular with tenants. As a result, we have extended our target for THC to all tenants to August.
4. Starter and Fixed-Term Tenancies
Since May we have signed up 6 tenants on starter tenancies with 2 tenants having their starter tenancies extended. We have also signed up 10 tenants on fixed-term tenancies. New tenants are required a week’s rent in advance on signing a new agreement and new entrants into intermediate rent HALs are required to pay a month in advance. This latter approach mitigates the risk of not requiring deposits or using credit checks.
5. Partnership Activities
5.1 As predicted, the widespread changes in funding and Government policy is resulting in a change in the delivery landscape on the Island. This is leading to a range of new partnership dialogues being opened and the potential for new projects and opportunities.
5.2 In the last few months discussions have been held with:
5.2.1 Salvation Army re partnering on delivering units for single homelessness
5.2.2 Health and Wellbeing Board, re housing role in health prevention
5.2.3 Vanguard Steering Group – re Prevention Strategy
5.2.4 IoW Council – re increased HAL
5.2.5 IoW Council - re older people staying put
5.2.6 Spectrum HG – re employment support
5.3 Not all of these will produce tangible outcomes or be appropriate projects for VHA to become involved in. However, they give some indication of the possibilities that lay ahead in the future.
6. Payment Methods
6.1 Since May, we have received 872 electronic transactions, 349 (40%) of which have been through our website. This compares with 345 transactions involving cash or cheques.
6.2 However, since 1/4/15 debit card transactions across the sector have been charged on a % transaction cost, similar to credit cards, rather than a flat rate charge as previously. This has resulted in higher costs for collection of up to £800 for the period May - November, which we have had to bear. However, removing the option to pay by debit card would not be appropriate in the light of its popularity and convenience.
6.2 63 (7%) of rent payment transactions have been by credit card.
6.3 We have been working to phase out our acceptance of Giro payments, which are significantly more expensive than other payment methods. Currently only 2 tenants use this facility and we will look to phase it out completely by April 2016.
7. Health and Safety
7.1 The VHA Health and Safety Panel was due to meet in November. However, due to the change in Board members and the need to recruit new members, this has been deferred until the New Year.
7.2 However, the Health and Safety Action Plan remains fully up to date, with all measures completed within projected timescales. The current Health and Safety Action Plan is attached in Appendix 2.
8. Policy Review
8.1 The Policy Review programme for 2015 is contained in Appendix 3. All of these reviews have now been completed within the agreed dates.
9. Tenancy Management and HAL
9.1 During the course of 2015, we have had 10 HAL properties due for renewal. Of these 8 will have their lease renewed and we have handed back 2 HAL properties. We have currently set up leases for 5 new properties, giving a net increase of 3. However, we are on track to meet the deadline of ten new leases, which will provide a net increase of 7. We have also renewed 4 properties ahead of their formal renewal date of 2016 and are in the process of early renewals for a number more.
9.2 We take a focused view of properties we wish to retain and those to be handed back. Those not retained will be determined on the basis of poor standards or being expensive in terms of net costs. In cases where cost is the primary concern, we have sought to reduce on-going lease costs as the requirement for renewing. To date, we have renegotiated a reduction on £3,000 p.a. on 6 renewed properties.
9.3 The marketing exercise we conducted at the turn of the year has proved a worthwhile investment, with a noticeable increase in the number of leasing opportunities offered to us. Since January, we have considered 47 leasing opportunities and have finalised 5, with a further 15 possibles currently in the pipeline.
9.5 There remains the promise of a further extension to our leasing arrangement with the Council. This has been confirmed by both senior Officers and Members. To date, we have no clear indication of how many units this might involve, but we have been informed of the Council’s intention to sign a new, formal programme agreement with us for the new financial year.
10. Resident Engagement and the Tenant Forum
10.1 The Tenant Forum has met on 3 occasions during the period May – November 2015. There are currently seven active members of the Forum.
10.2 TF members have continued to be fully represented on all of policy review groups referred to in 8 above.
10.3 Following the board vacancies resulting from the death of a previous tenant member and the expiry of the term of another, two new TF members have been recruited to the Board.
10.8 The Consultation Log from May to November indicates 12 consultation exercises. Collectively these involved 770 approaches to tenants and covered issues such as cleaning, gas servicing and grounds maintenance. From these consultations, we had a 26% rate of response.
11. Performance Data (see Appendix 3)
11.1 The updated Key Performance Data report is attached in Appendix 3. This is used to regularly review our activities at a bi-weekly operations meeting and is presented to the Tenant Forum for information and comment.
11.2 Key points to highlight:
· Voids and void periods have reduced in October
· High level of void loss in October – relates to a small number of HAL and intermediate rent properties with high weekly charges which have become empty at the same time. Includes one HAL property void awaiting handback.
· Total arrears have dropped to their lowest level for over a year
· Tenants on HB continues to fluctuate but remains around 50%
12. Potential Impact of Policy Changes
12.1 The Board has already received a report covering a number of the future challenges posed by policy changes introduced by the Government. To date, these have not resulted in any direct impact on our activities or performance.
12.2 The reduction in rental income from April 2016 will inevitably involve reviewing what and how we do certain things. While we will aim to absorb the major impact of reduced income, we may have to stop or reduce some non-essential activities. Tenants have been generally forewarned of this by a short article in the latest newsletter, but we will need to be more specific if and when the need arises.
12.3 Other changes, such as RTB and Pay-to-Stay remain undefined; although the current indication is that RTB will be phased in, rather than introduced in one go. Therefore, we await the nature of the priority eligibility criteria.
13 Operations
13.1 Income Collection
13.1.1 Income collection Current net rent arrears for the most recent cycle including HB payments stands at 4.29% of the rent roll as at week 32. This compares to 3.06% at a similar point in time in 2014. Although this appears high in comparison to last year, this is the lowest level of CRA in the week following Housing Benefit payment for the whole of 2015. The overall arrears level is skewed by two very high level cases for which we have applied for court orders to regain possession. In both cases, the Court has ordered a stay of execution. This experience will result in cases being submitted to court at a much earlier point in arrears developing.
13.1.2 The net current arrears includes credits and pre-payments, which are likely to be paid to Vectis, but in should something occur to end the tenancy prematurely might not. Current arrears, excluding these ‘payments’, is 3.23% compared to 5.46% in 2014. As a result of the requirement that all new tenants and the request that existing tenants pay a week’s rent in advance, there are higher levels of prepayments.
13.1.3 Benchmarking data is normally based on rent figures taken at 1st April, so the existing benchmarking data is rather out of date. We will be looking to produce the 2014/5 data within the next few weeks.
13.1.4 We currently have 21 (24) tenants with personal arrears over £1,000, who remain our key focus of attention. This is a reduction over the numbers reported in May. Most have payment plans in place that are currently being kept to (12) or are subject to HB assessments (3). In addition, 25 (26) tenants have personal arrears of £500-£999. The bracketed figures are the equivalent for the last report in December. All but 9 of these cases are actively maintaining agreed repayment plans.
13.1.5 Since May we have taken two cases to Court and sought a Bailiff’s Warrant for a third. In each case, the request for a final resolution has been deferred subject to the tenants keeping to a repayment plan. In each case, the level of arrears is significant, over £2,000 and the clear lesson from these experiences is that we need to start the Court process much earlier as debt builds.
13.1.6 Arrears continue to fluctuate at around 3.50%. This reflects the current environment in which more of our tenants are finding it hard to manage within their circumstances. Although there are indications that JSA claimants are reducing on the Island, i.e. fewer people unemployed, there is little indication of significant increases in household incomes.
13.1.7 We are increasingly identifying situations where we are finding it harder to carry out gas safety checks because tenants can’t afford to put any money on their meters. However, they still build up a debt due to the standing charge. We therefore have to clear the debt so that we can conduct the check and then recharge the tenant. However, we may be prepared to waive the recharge if the tenant engages positively in discussions about how they can address their financial difficulties.
13.1.8 Law centre referrals – Since the report in May, we have referred 9 tenants to the Law Centre as part of the SLA we have with them. For a £2000 annual outlay for the SLA, we have recouped £3890 in rent arrears over the last six months.
13.1.9 Universal Credit will be formally rolled out on the IoW in December but is unlikely have any major impact until much later, probably 2017. However 2016 will prove highly challenging in respect of income management, which is why we have put much greater emphasis on developing our resource for financial inclusion activities and prevention work.
13.1.10 Medina Credit – We have now entered into a contract with Medina Credit in respect of our former tenant arears. This arrangement is based on a no-collection/no-fee approach, although we do get charged for each tenant that the company have to trace. Our initial experience is positive and we are comfortable with the ethos and methods employed by the company. We have currently retrieved only about £320 but the exercise has `cleansed’ many long outstanding cases and will hopefully be very productive moving forward.
13.2 Inclusion
13.2.1 We continue to improve our understanding of our tenants’ financial capacity through profiling. We have also continued to issue financial information either through dedicated inclusion newsletters or the main tenant newsletter. In addition, we provide help and advice through the website and our Twitter account. The partnership with the Law Centre is detailed above.
13.2.2. We remain clear that the most effective means of controlling and preventing arrears is by regular face-to-face contact with tenants, particularly those who are vulnerable to debt as a result of their circumstances. We continue to promote direct contact through neighbourhood walkabouts, Tenancy Health Checks and more latterly Community Events. These all enable the identification issues with tenants or property.
13.2.3 Examples of exceptional individual hardship are becoming more common as detailed above in relation to fuel poverty. We have a small hardship fund and although this has not been called on to date, the indications are that in may be needed in the future. This can provide small short-term loans to help tenants overcome specific difficulties. In exceptional circumstances a small grant might be considered where no viable alternative exists. We believe that this approach will be beneficial to both tenants and VHA.