Agenda item

Following the publication in August 2018 of the Government’s Green Paper ‘A new deal for social housing’, the Housing O&S Committee set up a Task and Finish group in September 2018 to identify if there was any existing prejudice against social housing within the borough and to understand how tenants view their homes in order to develop services to both promote pride, and tackle causes of any stigma.

This report details the findings of the study, relates them to the national social housing debate and lists the recommendations made by the Group.

Recommendation

For the Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee to note the review undertaken by the Social Housing - Pride or Prejudice Task and Finish Group, consider the report and endorse the recommendations contained within it.

Councillor Liz Townsend introduced the report to the Committee and started by saying it was a really collaborative piece of work by Members and Officers and thanked everyone involved in the Task Group. It really showed the benefits of scrutiny and this Group had worked very successfully.

The Committee was reminded that it had set up a Task and Finish Group in September 2018 following the publication on the governments Green Paper “A New Deal for Social housing”. The Group was set up to identify if there was any existing prejudice against social housing within the Borough and to understand how tenants viewed their homes in order to develop services to both prompted pride and tackle causes of any stigma. The report detailed the findings of the study, related them to the national social housing debate and listed recommendations made by the group.

The Committee found the report and its findings extremely interesting and informative. It was clear that there was some confusion over the role and purpose of social housing and it would be beneficial for a common definition to be adopted across the Council to avoid any misconceptions. It was noted that the demographics of respondents did not provide an accurate representation of residents in the Borough and that it would be beneficial to have more views from those under the age of 35 to address this balance. Members also found it interesting, albeit not surprised, that there was stigma against social housing because of poor design and maintenance, including outside spaces. They were assured that this was being addressed through the Council’s recently published Housing Design Standards and Affordable Housing SPD.

Councillor Paul Follows thanked Yasmine Makin and Annalisa Howson in particular for the work they had put into the Group. It was a great effort by all involved. The work had confirmed original thoughts that there was a stigma and brought to light other issues. It was interesting that the demographics of the Borough were not what he had thought and it was interesting that most thought that the threshold for eligibility for social housing was much different to what it was. The work also highlighted that the data source used had somewhat reduced since the introduction of GDPR and that this was something to consider in any future such surveys.

Councillor Patricia Ellis asked about the comments made in the report about the eligibility of people on the housing register and how a more positive message could be portrayed. Councillor Liz Townsend responded that the number of people on the waiting list had declined and Annalisa Howson went on to advise that the study found people didn’t ask to be on the register because they thought that there others in more need. They felt that social housing was a precious resource and shouldn’t take a space even though they were eligible. Annalisa continued that they wanted to raise the profile of social housing and encourage people to apply because if they didn’t have an idea of the number of people in need, they could not put together a business case for bigger developments with more social housing.

The Committee agreed that the report went someway to answer a number of important questions about stigma but was only the start of a complex subject that needed additional work to create a more comprehensive understanding of the causes of stigma and what could be done to tackle it.

The Committee resolved to

1.    Thank the Task and Finish Group and the Officers for all their hard work in producing the report.

2.    Agreed that there should be a list of those Councillors involved on the Group added to the report; and

3.    Endorse the recommendations contained within the report to the Executive.