Urban Renewal

Regeneration Scrutiny Select Committee.

23rd May 2013.

Service Overview.• The Urban Renewal Service is made up of several teams

which focus on a range of customer groups and areas of work relating predominantly to private sector housing.

• The focus of the Service is to maintain and improve the condition and management of private sector housing in the city with a particular emphasis on providing for the needs of vulnerable residents.

• The Service works in a co-ordinated manner to respond to emerging issues and actively seeks out opportunities to engage with internal and external partners in order to add value and maximise positive outcomes.

Service Overview• The Service has primary responsibility for regulating conditions in private

sector homes in the city, including management standards in privately rented properties.– There are over 78,000 private homes in the City– Over 19,000 homes are privately rented– 27,800 vulnerable households live in privately owned homes.• Private sector housing in Salford is in better than average condition for

England

Tenure % Decent homes failures - Salford 2010

% Decent homes FailuresEngland 2010

Owner occupied 19.6 25.4

Private rented 24.9 37.4

Overall 20.9 27.8

Service OverviewThe following slides will provide a more detailed picture of the roles, achievements and challenges of each of the teams within the Service. However in the last 12 months the teams have delivered:

• Integrated Home Improvement Agency – assisted over 650 vulnerable households to maintain their homes and received national recognition for helping vulnerable residents move to homes that better meet their needs.

• Affordable Warmth – provided over 1,200 households with practical help to lower their fuel bills and reduce the City’s carbon footprint.

• Landlord Licensing - securing the first renewal of a Selective Landlord Licensing area in the country and regulating management standards in over 2,000 privately rented properties.

• Housing Standards – Successfully dealt with almost 500 complaints regarding private sector homes, both rented and owner-occupied. Delivered a robust Enforcement programme that has been recognised by national organisations such as Shelter.

• Empty Properties – Secured the third highest allocation of New Homes Bonus for bringing empty properties back into use in the country and over £2M of Government funding.

Home Improvement Agency• The Agency provides a quality service to homeowners and tenants of privately rented and privately

owned accommodation who are older, disabled or in other vulnerable groups; to promote independent living and enable them to remain in their homes in greater comfort, security, safety and warmth, or move into more sustainable housing better suited to their individual needs.

• 653 referrals in 2012-13• Core home improvements - £300K capital budget for 2013-14• repair, improve, maintain, adapt homes of vulnerable residents

• Major repairs - e.g. Catherine Street• Minor repairs - commission Helping Hands

• Housing options• independent information and advice on housing options and practical support to move home

• Assisted 78 very vulnerable people to move home• Released 61 “under-occupied” bedrooms into the housing market

• Navigator• one to one support with the intention of maintaining independence in residents own homes• Working with NHS colleagues to enable patients to return to their homes promptly and safely; reducing

stress for residents and costs to NHS and social care budgets.

HIA – Achievements and Challenges

• Achievements• Foundations Quality Mark – 7 Level ‘A’ service (highest score)• National Foundations Award Winner 2013 – “Excellence in delivering a

comprehensive housing options service”• Working jointly with Housing Standards colleagues to provide support to vulnerable

residents in sub-standard properties that have been the subject of complaints to avoid the need to statutory action and to provide long term housing solutions.

• Challenges and Opportunities• 98% of financial assistance provided by the HIA is now in the form of loans which

will allow the council’s capital resources to be recycled over time.• As the only service focusing on the need of vulnerable owner occupiers for support

in maintaining and managing their homes, the HIA is facing increasing demand at a time when resources are increasingly constrained.

Affordable Warmth• The Affordable Warmth Team aims are:

1. To raise awareness and provide advice on energy efficiency and affordable warmth;2. To establish partnership working and referral systems for vulnerable groups for affordable

warmth;3. To provide financial solutions for affordable warmth; and4. To improve the energy efficiency of the housing stock in Salford.

• The Affordable Warmth team led on the development of Salford’s Affordable Warmth Strategy 2010 – 2016 and leads on the delivery of its associated Action Plan which prioritises measures to combat Fuel Poverty.

• 4,685 measures were delivered in 2011-12• Over 2700 measures were delivered in 2012-13

• The Affordable Warmth team has lead responsibility for meeting the council's statutory duties under the Home Energy Conservation Act (HECA). Salford’s recently updated HECA Action Plan has been published and is available on the council’s website

• The Affordable Warmth Team also supports internal and external partners working on relevant projects. For example the team has worked with Community Health and Social Care, Helping Hands Ltd and Age UK to secure funding and deliver measures under the Government’s “Warm Homes Healthy People” scheme for the last two winters.

• Track record of working with Public Health and GPs to tackle effects of fuel poverty on chronic conditions.

Achievements and Challenges• Achievements

• Promotion of Fair Energy Auctions – Salford has achieved the 2nd highest number of participating residents, relative to the number of households in its area, of any of the GM authorities in both of the auctions to date.

• 3,002 measures installed through ‘Get Me Toasty’ scheme.• Establishment of a “Green Handyman” service to bring Energy Efficiency advice and

practical assistance to most vulnerable households in Salford; including free boiler checks to ensure that residents are safe.

• Challenges / Opportunities• Changes to government policy with the introduction of the Green Deal and ECO

schemes - new ECO partner announced – Forrest Ltd.• Increased political priority both locally and nationally.• Emerging joint working arrangements at the sub-regional level though AGMA.• It is estimated that at least 32% of Salford households are in Fuel Poverty; continuing

increases in energy prices will put significant upward pressure on this figure.

Landlord Licensing.The Housing Act 2004 introduced Landlord Licensing which gives powers to Local Authorities to control standards of tenancy management in the private rented sector in their areas. The Act created two types of scheme, Mandatory HMO Licensing and Selective Landlord Licensing.

•Mandatory HMO Licensing applies across the City to all Houses in Multiple Occupation of 3 or more storeys with 5 or more occupants made up of at least 3 households. Within the City we have issued 234 Mandatory HMO licences to date.

•Selective Licensing is an area based scheme where the Local Authority can designate a specific area of the city as a landlord licensing area. It is a requirement that we evidence that the proposed area is suffering from low demand and /or antisocial behaviour.

In order to obtain a license a landlord must be able to show that they are a “fit and proper” person and that they are complying with a range of license conditions regarding the management of their property.

Landlords letting an unlicensed property or one who breaches the conditions of a license that has been granted can be subject to statutory action including formal warnings, prosecution and the making of Management Orders.

The team is responsible for the introduction and management of Landlord Licensing Schemes in Salford.

Achievements and Challenges•Salford was the first local authority in the country to obtain approval for a Selective Licensing scheme. Each scheme lasts for 5 years.

• Salford was also the first local authority in the country to successfully renew a Selective Licensing scheme (Seedley/Langworthy/Weaste), following the expiration of this 5 year period.

•There are currently 3 Selective Licensing schemes are in place:

•Broughton - 863 Licences have been issued to date. •Kersal Charlestown – 476 Licenses have been issued to date.•Seedley/Langworthy/ Weaste - 192 licenses have been issued to date, 148 applications are currently being processed and applications are awaited for an estimated 350 further properties.

•Over 200 Mandatory HMO licenses have also been issued.

• To date 57 landlords have been successfully prosecuted and convicted for 86 offences.

Achievements and Challenges

•Fees charged under Landlord Licensing are set to cover the costs of managing each scheme for the five years they are operative. However most income is received in years 1 and 2 of the scheme creating budgetary issues.

•There is continuing pressure from local residents and other stakeholders to see Selective Licensing introduced in further areas of the City and the Team is examining the potential to do so in a number of areas.

•However, the legal criteria that must be met to bring in a scheme are rigid and the Council must be satisfied that it has a robust case to show that the introduction of licensing to an area is fully justified as such decisions can be challenged through Judicial Review.

•This workload needs to be balanced with the effective management of existing schemes.

Housing Standards•The Housing Standards team undertakes the City Council’s statutory duty to deal with unsatisfactory housing conditions across the private sector housing markets. Although the team has a particular focus on the private rented sector, as that is where the worst conditions are most prevalent, they also deal with complaints regarding owner-occupied properties which are not being properly maintained.

•The Team will always seek to work with property owners to resolve problems but where that is not possible it will make appropriate use of the full range of available enforcement powers.

•Salford’s robust approach to dealing with poor conditions in privately owned properties is shown in the latest available figures for Local Authority enforcement activity (2011-12), when successful prosecutions against landlords in Salford accounted for over 7% of all such prosecutions in England.

Achievements and challenges

•As the Private Rented Sector continues to grow the team is facing increasing demand at a time when resources are increasingly constrained.

•Salford is a recognised market leader with regard to Landlord Accreditation and has operated a voluntary accreditation scheme to support private landlords for over 10 years. Despite this less than 10% of privately rented homes in the city are owned by landlords who are members of the scheme. This demonstrates the need for a continuing robust enforcement policy. • Within Salford we received almost 500 complaints about privately rented properties last year, this compares with a national average figure of 196 complaints per local authority.

•“There were also 487 successful prosecutions against private landlords last year, an increase of 77%. However, they were mostly driven by a small handful of local councils including Newham, Leeds, Salford and Manchester.” Shelter, October 2012.

Empty PropertiesThe dedicated Empty Property Team was formed in April 2011 on an invest to save basis.

A baseline figure for the number of empty properties recorded on Council Tax of 5,736 was established in September 2010. The team was set a target of reducing this figure to no more than 3,236 in 3 years.

The team have worked with colleagues across the council to develop a detailed understanding regarding the spread of empty properties within Salford and the diverse reasons for properties becoming empty. This has allowed the development of an intelligence led programme of interventions and supported successful bids for Government funding to address the issue.

Although the team focuses on privately owned properties as these represent the large majority of empty homes in the city, it also works with social landlords supporting them to improve their performance on this issue.

The team currently has in excess of 700 active cases across the city and makes full use of the existing range of interventions to return long term private sector empty properties to use, as well as continuing to innovate and apply best practice.

Achievements and challenges

•In order to build on the success of the team to date and maintain the achieved reduction in the city’s empty homes it will be necessary to review the team’s funding when the current invest to save agreement comes to an end March 2014.

•As a result of the work of the team in excess of £4.5M has been awarded to the council in New Homes Bonus payments to date and a total of £15.750 will have been received by 2018-19 due to the team’s work so far.

•The Empty Homes Agency identified Salford as the third highest performing local authority in the country for dealing with empty homes during 2011-12.

•The delivery of the £2M of external funding secured to date to deal with empty properties in Salford within the relevant deadlines will be challenging and place pressure on the team.

•Changes to Council Tax and the ongoing welfare reform process present both challenges and opportunities for the team

CASE STUDY – Affordable Warmth

•Mr and Mrs H contacted the HIA to say they had no heating or hot water for ten days. During this time they had called a plumber out who had stated there was a fault with a part but they were unable to afford the cost of replacing the part.

•Mr and Mrs H were aged 75 and 74 respectively and they both suffered from a number of health problems including arthritis and hearing problems. Mr H also suffered from an industrial injury to his shoulder and hands.

•When the caseworker visited it became apparent that Mr and Mrs H had a low income made up only of their State Retirement Pension, Industrial Injuries Benefit and a small Occupational Pension. While their income was relatively low they did not qualify for any of the benefits which would allow them to qualify for affordable warmth assistance under the existing Government schemes.

•By utilising local Affordable Warmth networks and funding the Home Improvement Agency enabled Mr and Mrs H to fix their heating system ensuring that this vulnerable couple remained safe, warm and well in their own home.

•In addition the caseworker also identified the need for referrals to the Falls Service, Sensory Services and to Helping Hands (handypersons service) for a Home Fire Safety Check and Property Maintenance Check.

•This resulted in Mr and Mrs H receiving smoke alarms to their property through Helping Hands and an assessment for equipment and adaptations to assist Mr and Mrs H to remain living independently in their own home.

CASE STUDY – HIA

Mr and Mrs M are 81 and 79 respectively and have been married for 60 years. They were social tenants occupying a 3 bedroom home in an area of high demand, until Mrs M had to move to a nursing home following a fall.

Mr M visited his wife daily in the nursing home but as he was reliant on public transport this was problematic for a number of reasons .

Mr M contacted the Home Improvement Agency requesting help to move nearer to his wife.

The Agency worked with Mr M’s landlord to identify and secure a suitable new home for him that was within walking distance of his wife’s nursing home and worked with him to deal with a number of practical issues in order to make the move less stressful for him; these included:

• looking at what furniture he could take to the new property and helping him to properly dispose of the items he would not be taking with him.• arranged the actual move at very low cost by linking in with Helping Hands Ltd,• carrying out follow-up visits to make sure Mr M had settled in to his new home and was aware of and accessing relevant local facilities.

As well as addressing Mr and Mrs M’s needs the work of the Agency also released a three bedroom house that had been under-occupied to meet the needs of another family on the waiting list.

CASE STUDY – Housing Standards

A referral was received by the Housing Standards team from the Health Protection Agency regarding a family with a young child living in private rented accommodation.

The child is autistic and has Pica, a condition where he/she eats inanimate objects.

Blood screening had revealed elevated lead levels in the child’s blood.

Inspection of the family home by the Housing Standards team house revealed old and flaking paint to some areas of woodwork.

Samples of the paint were taken and sent for scientific analysis which revealed unacceptable levels of lead in the paint.

The Housing Standards team required the landlord to strip and remove paint to the identified areas and repaint with non toxic paint.

The child will be subject to further blood screening in the future to monitor the level of lead in his blood. A reduction in lead levels is anticipated to contribute to a reduction in the severity of the symptoms of the child’s autism.

CASE STUDY – Empty properties

The Empty Properties Team has worked with the Landlord Licensing team to identify a number of private landlords who are members of the council’s Landlord Accreditation Scheme and who have expressed an interest in acquiring empty homes in the city and returning them to use as investment opportunities.

A long term empty property within the Kersal ward that had been the subject of numerous complaints from neighbours and local elected members was identified by the Empty Property team as a potentially suitable case for dealing with through this “Investor List”.

Empty Property team acted as an “honest broker” with the empty property owners and secured their permission to share details of the property with the investor landlords, while ensuring full compliance data protection.

The sale of the property to an investor landlord was agreed and it was refurbished to the council’s “Accredited Property” standard (comparable to the Decent Homes Standard) within 3 months. The property was then let to a family fleeing domestic violence. No further complaints have been received regarding the property.

Through effective partnership working the property was returned to use at nil cost to the council and is now generating revenue through Council Tax and New Homes Bonus income.

Strategic challenges – Private Rented Sector• The private rented sector in Salford has tripled in size over the last

10 years and continues to grow rapidly. • Subjectively, the sector continues to suffer from a poor image and

its growth continues to be a cause of concern to many residents.• Objectively, if you live in a privately rented property in Salford your

home is more likely to not meet the Decent Homes standard (24.9%) and more likely to contain at least one Category 1 Hazard under the HHSRS (15.6%) than if you are an owner occupier.

• Half of all households living in the private rented sector are classified as “vulnerable” and the sector houses the highest proportion of vulnerable households living in non-decent accommodation (31.2%).

Strategic challenges – Private Rented Sector• At its best the private rented sector makes a valuable

contribution to meeting housing needs in Salford. It offers flexibility, choice and an alternative to property ownership for those unwilling or unable to buy their own home, particularly in the current economic environment.

• The challenge for Salford is to continue to respond to this diverse and dynamic sector in a way that:– promotes its appropriate growth, drives continuing

improvements of physical conditions and management standards by working in partnership to support responsible and reputable landlords;

– responds robustly to irresponsible management and poor conditions through appropriate use of the full range of statutory powers available.

Strategic challenges – Vulnerable Households• Latest available figures show that approximately one third of all

households living in the private sector (27,800) are classified as being vulnerable.

• The largest groups of vulnerable households in the city are lone parent households (4,452) and pensioner households (7,205).

• Statistics show many vulnerable households are living in properties that either no longer meet their needs due to being too large and having high running costs or they are in poor condition and need significant investment.

• Vulnerable households are most likely to be either private tenants (9,456 households) or owner-occupiers with no mortgages (7,474 households).

• Poor housing is recognised as a major contributor to social isolation amongst vulnerable residents, particularly single pensioners.

Strategic challenges – Vulnerable Households• Vulnerable households who own their properties outright are most

likely to be under-occupying their homes, be in fuel poverty and it is more likely that their properties will not meet the decent homes standards.

• The estimated cost of bringing the homes of all vulnerable households up to the decent homes standards is £17,574,072.

• Regardless of tenure Salford must meet increasing demand for services that:– Support vulnerable residents in making well informed decisions,

balancing their preferences and aspirations with what is practicable and sustainable. ;

– Respect and support their independence;– Provide relevant practical assistance in achieving appropriate

outcomes. – Contribute to an effective response to the impacts of current and

planned welfare reforms.