Agenda item

Agenda item

The Council's HRA and Housing Investment Reserve and Governance of the potential work to bring Housing ALMO back in house and other Housing PFI schemes

Report of the Director of Housing and Residential Growth attached

 

This report outlines the financial position of the Council’s HRA and Housing Investment Reserve and the proposed governance arrangements that would be put in place should the Council decide to bring the Housing ALMO stock back under the control of the Council including any proposals for future tenant involvement and also governance arrangements of the other housing PFI schemes.  The report also describes the framework in which the Council manages its two Tenant Management Organisations.

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Housing and Residential Growth, which outlined the proposed governance arrangements that would be put in place should the Council decide to bring the Housing ALMO stock back under the control of the Council including any proposals for future tenant involvement and also governance arrangements of the other housing PFI schemes.  The report also described the framework in which the Council manages its two Tenant Management Organisations.

 

Key points and themes of the report included:-

 

·                An overview of the proposed Governance arrangement for Northwards Housing included establishing a committee to advise the Executive on relevant matters relating to the former ALMO, with membership of this committee including members from the relevant geographical areas, the relevant Executive Member and Tenants appointed as voting members;

·                An overview of the governance arrangements of the Housing Private Finance Initiative schemes, which included:-

·                Each project had a regular liaison meeting where officers from Strategic Housing met the contractors to discuss performance matters;

·                Each project had a resident and councillor monitoring committee to review contractor performance and provide a genuine “sense check” on the performance data;

·                Each project had a board of senior representatives from the Council and the contractor, which met at least twice a year, to deal with strategic issues and any matters referred to it from the liaison meetings.

·                An overview of the performance management and monitoring of the Council’s Tenant Management Organisations; and

·                In order to strengthen the Council’s scrutiny of its housing management contractors, (including Northwards Housing, the two TMOs and the three PFI-funded contractors) a new post had been created to respond to this increasing area of work. 

 

Some of the key points that arose from the Committees discussions were:-

 

·                What options were available to ensure the principles of the Our Manchester Strategy were more effectively embodied in the governance arrangements of the PFI projects;

·                What lessons have the Council learnt from previous PFI contracts, how far has the Council applied these lessons and how much has the Council evaluated what was now done differently;

·                It was felt that a more detailed report on the final governance arrangements proposed for the ALMO should be considered by this Committee at an appropriate future meeting;

·                There was concern in relation to the repairs and maintenance contract and the proposed increase spend due to inflation but no reference to an increase due to significant service delivery improvement and what impact this would have on the HRA budgeting;

·                Reference to the potential model for oversight included in its membership the Executive Member with the relevant portfolio but the   services currently being provided by the ALMO cut across multiple portfolios, so was there a way to ensure that parts of the current services provided were not absorbed into different parts of Council services;

·                The work with Shelter in resident engagement and involvement had been welcomed and it was asked what could be done to ensure this engagement was sustained and meaningful;

·                What work had been done to date to deal with the complex tripartite contract arrangements between the TMO’s the ALMO and the Council in relation to the proposal to bring the ALMO back in house;

·                It was hoped that lessons from past PFI projects had been learnt in terms of social purpose to current housing partnerships; and

·                It was felt that a unified service would be more responsive to tenants and drive efficiencies.

 

In respect of how options were available to ensure the principles of the Our Manchester Strategy were more effectively embodied in the governance arrangements of the PFI projects, the Head of Housing Services advised if it was considered helpful, the Council could provide a continuity of Officers at meetings and would welcome any further ideas from residents and councillors as to how they could become more involved.

 

The Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration added that it was within the Council’s power to establish something at a local level that brought together partners, residents and local ward members which would reflect the Our Manchester approach of inclusivity..  A commitment was also given to review the matrix of meetings to ensure each meeting informed the other to deliver on the resident ownership concept enshrined in the Our Manchester strategy.

 

The Leader commented that the Council had only entered into previous PFI contracts due to the Councils housing stock requiring significant levels of investment to bring them up to decent standard and at the time these were entered into PFI was the only route available, but would not have been the choice the Council would have undertaken if other options had been available.

 

The Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration commented that the governance structure of bringing the ALMO back into control of the Council was still very much subject to discussions with officers, members and tenants and did not want to pre-empt any conversations that were taking place with Members in the Northwards areas. In terms of tenant involvement, it was felt that the Council was in a good position following the Test of Opinion and the work undertaken over Summer 2020 around tenants’ priorities for the service.  She also added that in terms of the Exec Member that would sit in the governance structure was part of the ongoing discussions but would be the Member who had the most involvement and influence over the services.

 

The Director of Housing and Residential Growth advised that the projected increased costs of the Repairs and Maintenance contract was not solely due to inflationary pressures.  In developing the contract there had been significant additional quality and social value requirements built into the contract, which were contributory factors to the higher estimates received from tendering contractor.  He added that the contract had been written to give the Council strength in the event that some of the service problems that occurred previously were to reoccur and there was greater accountability and intervention now.

 

The Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration reassured Members that Northwards’ staff would be central to the discussions going forward in how tenant involvement and engagement could be maintained and empowered. 

 

The Director of Housing and Regeneration advised that the TMO’s were consulted as part of the Campbell Tickle review and conversations that had taken place since.  He advised that they were not particularly affected by the proposal to return the ALMO back in to control of the Council as their right to manage had been exercised and would continue to be protected as it was the Council’s obligation to support their right to manage.

 

The Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration referenced the long term commitment the Council’s partner had made in its development of the Northern Gateway, highlighting that this was not purely on a financial basis but in the success of neighbourhoods in which they were working and the wider ambitions of the project and housing delivery.

 

Decisions

 

The Committee:-

 

(1)       Notes the report.

(2)       Agrees that subject to the Executive agreeing that the ALMO is to be brough back into the control of the Council, this Committee receives a further report on the proposed final governance arrangements in due course.

 

Supporting documents: