Report of the Strategic Director (Growth & Development)

This report provides an overview on how the Council works with partners in the Manchester Housing Provider Partnership (MHPP) and within the Private Rented Sector to achieve our strategic objectives. It also provides an introduction to the Council’s role as a good landlord following the move to bring the homes previously managed by Northwards Housing back in-house.

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) which provided an overview on how the Council worked with partners in the MHPP and within the Private Rented Sector to achieve the Council’s strategic objectives. It also provided an introduction to the Council’s role as a good landlord following the move to bring the homes previously managed by Northwards Housing back in-house.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• The review of the MHPP;
• How the Council worked with MHPP to deliver affordable homes, improve outcomes for existing residents across Manchester and meet the city’s strategic objectives;
• The Private Rented Sector, including selective licensing and short-term lets; and
• The Council’s role as a good landlord.

Key points and queries that arose from the Committee’s discussions included:

• The importance of supporting vulnerable residents to understand their rights, noting that some groups, including refugees, might not be aware of sources of advice, such as Citizens Advice, and might also face other barriers such as language barriers and lack of trust in institutions;
• Selective licensing, including the future for areas where schemes were coming to an end and areas for the next phase;
• Short-term lets and their impact on the local housing market;
• Concern about increasing rents and the freezing of the Local Housing Allowance; and
• Whether MHPP was being used to secure improvements from social housing providers, for example, in the time taken for repairs to be carried out, noting that this seemed to have got worse.

In response to a Member’s concerns about a particular street in his ward, the Executive Member for Housing and Development asked to be provided with further information so that this could be addressed, in consultation with the Member. 

The Executive Member for Housing and Development reported that Citizens Advice had previously had a strong presence in local communities, including libraries, but that this had reduced, following a funding cut from the Government; however, he reported that Citizens Advice were still providing advice services, including running pop-up advice sessions, and he stated that it was important that people were signposted to this support, using different languages and methods.  He highlighted that housing associations provided advice to their tenants on a range of issues and that information on available support, including for people renting in the Private Rented Sector, was on the Council’s website. 

The Executive Member for Housing and Development stated that selective licensing targeted the lower segments of the private rented sector, as referred to in the table at 4.2 in the report.  He reported that there was good evidence of the impact of selective licensing but that schemes ended after 5 years and that the Council was monitoring the situation after these schemes had ended and looking at what other interventions could be used to keep housing standards in these areas higher. 

The Executive Member for Housing and Development highlighted the information in the report on short-term lets and the Council’s response to the Government consultation on this, in which the Council had asked for greater regulation of this area.  In response to a question about whether planning covenants could be used to restrict the use of properties for short-term lets, the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) stated that this could be used where the Council had a land-interest in the development.  In response to a further question about whether covenants could also be put in place through the Planning Committee, she stated that she would consult with colleagues in the Planning Department and provide a response.

In response to a Member’s question, the Executive Member for Housing and Development informed the Committee about work taking place at a neighbourhood level to get housing providers working together to address local issues, while acknowledging that this was not yet working well in all areas.  He acknowledged a Member’s comment about the importance of ensuring the provision of purpose-built student accommodation which was affordable and would, therefore, free up family homes for families, stating that this would be addressed through the Local Plan and was monitored by looking at data on Council Tax exemptions.  In response to a question about the Private Rented Sector, he advised that he hoped that the Good Landlord Charter would play an important role in improving this sector.

The Director of Housing Services reported that there had been a big spike in calls about damp and mould following the tragic death of Awaab Ishak in Rochdale and that the Council was undertaking a programme of works to address these.  He informed the Committee that all of the properties had been visited, provided they had been able to access them, and that the triaging of damp and mould issues had been greatly improved.  He offered to provide Members with further data on this.  He highlighted the £25m of capital investment which had been approved for key priorities, including Decent Homes.

The Compliance and Enforcement Specialist reported that the Housing Compliance Team had recruited Engagement Officers to work with vulnerable residents and that key leaflets, including on damp and mould, were translated into the most common community languages.

The Executive Member for Housing and Development reported that MHPP was a positive partnership and a useful forum but he acknowledged that a lot of providers had a backlog of repairs for a range of reasons, although officers and Members were putting pressure on providers to address this and to provide a good service to their tenants.  He stated that he would feed back a Member’s comment about some housing providers not attending meetings.  He stated that the list of areas for potential future selective licensing schemes was being reviewed and that Members would be consulted with.  In response to a Member’s comments about some landlords not accepting tenants in receipt of benefits, he expressed concern about this, stating that it was illegal although hard to enforce and that this needed to be part of the Good Landlord Charter.  In response to a question from the Chair, he stated that the Council’s housing staff received training to identify other issues, such as welfare concerns or other repair issues, when they went into a tenant’s home to carry out a repair.  The Director of Housing Services reported that, if a property was requiring multiple repairs, the service would look into the underlying reasons for this and whether there was a need to invest in improvements.

In response to a Member’s question, the Chair stated that he would clarify with officers the timing of a report on selective licensing.  The Member asked that this include information on the movement of homes upwards from the bottom segments of the private rented sector, in relation to table X at 4.2 in the report.

Decisions:

1.            To request a more detailed report on the Council’s role as a Good Landlord.

2.            To receive a report on short-term lets, focusing both on regulating their use and on what additional supply of accommodation can be put in place as an alternative, including information on who is using short-term lets and what they are looking for in their accommodation.

3.            To note that the Chair will discuss with officers the timing of a report on selective licensing.

4.            To note that the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) will consult with colleagues in the Planning Department and respond “on whether covenants could also be put in place through the Planning Committee", with reference to restricting the use of short-term lets and helping Manchester people to purchase property where they are being outcompeted by external investors.