Audit Commission report on Homes for Islington

More documents

Recommendations

Info

p 36 London Borough of Islington - Homes for Islington (ALMO) 229 HFI consults with service users through the leasehold forum to review and improve services. From this a number of key improvements have been made for example the re-design of service charge bills and allocation of charges to ground floor residents for intercoms and lifts for leaseholders. There are opportunities for leaseholders to have greater involvement through the board and there are now three leaseholders on the board, the former chair of the leasehold forum is also an associate director. 230 The board are visible to residents, a board member attends all area panels and other key resident meetings, this is building on and improving the relationship between them and ensuring clear lines of communication. They are also visible to staff as they go to staff meetings and conferences and carry out workforce visits. The board are developing clear protocols for these visits to offices, to ensure they are used effectively. Staff felt these were valuable and that they gave them greater focus on the business of service delivery. 231 HFI have also developed a service level agreement with FITA to ensure that the £100,000 grant to this organisation is used to provide outcomes that improve satisfaction. Their responsibilities include advising and helping residents set up associations, identifying and referring skills gaps and training needs, which are delivered by HFI, developing equal opportunities among associations and servicing meetings. This was agreed shortly before we came on site so it was not possible to judge how effective it is. 232 The RIPG are reviewing all aspects of resident involvement as the current strategy has not yet been adapted to reflect HFI’s objectives. This has had an impact on a number of areas of resident involvement for example, funding and resource allocation is not linked to the outcomes HFI want. There are concerns from TRA representatives that there are no facilities available to them such as computers. There is also some duplication and a blurring of roles between the RIT, PPOs and FITA, with FITA staff and PPOs servicing meetings and both supporting TRAs. The lack of a clear strategy to addressing HFI’s objective to be more inclusive also means that there is no evidence of the integration of work done by FITA, PPOs and the RIT and until very recently no specific, measureable, achievable, realistic, timely (SMART) targets for doing this. The new service level agreement with FITA should provide a more strategic and targeted approach and will allow HFI to measure the success and impact of aspects of their current resident involvement strategy. 233 Residents are confused about the role of focus groups or reference groups that are being used to consult groups of tenants and it is unclear how they integrate with the current structure. Tenants considered the consultation on the future capital programme was limited and leaseholders were still dissatisfied with major work consultation, which they wanted to start earlier and have more information about costs. HFI have developed plans to do this. Tenancy management 234 In our previous inspection, we found the delivery of ASB services to be an area of strength for the council with a supportive advisory and specialist team working jointly with the police. The team had been in the forefront of developing ABCs and working with other agencies, such as the fire brigade, on action to deal with ASB, building and sharing intelligence on perpetrators and developing diversion activities for young people. The council provided a 24 hour hotline service; support was provided to vulnerable tenants and illegal occupation was successfully being tackled. However, file checks showed that record keeping in area offices needed improvement; there was a need for further training to support generic housing officers and the mediation service had proved unsuccessful.
London Borough of Islington - Homes for Islington (ALMO) p 37 235 In this inspection we found HFI continue to provide a customer focus and effective tenancy management service. There is however a need to assess outcomes of some activity to identify what works and to get feedback from the victims of ASB and harassment. This is an area of considerable strength. 236 The secure tenancy agreement requires photographs of tenants and provides the legal agreement to enforce action to deal with nuisance and antisocial behaviour. 237 There are specialist staff who deal with nuisance and support tenants and access to these staff has improved. Services are well publicised, there is a 24 hour hotline for antisocial behaviour <strong>report</strong>ing, a flexible appointments system for support officers, and a fraud hotline that provides anonymity. There are also key fact sheets on tenancy matters that are available to residents in addition to the comprehensive tenancy sign up pack they received at the beginning of their tenancy that explains services available. 238 There is a clear strategic approach to ASB, the ASB strategy developed with the crime and disorder reduction partnership, of which HFI is a partner, sets out clear priorities and actions. The specialist staff at area offices can link in to Islington’s antisocial behaviour team (IASBT) that is a partnership of the council, HFI and Police. This team take forward high profile cases, provide neighbourhood mediation, parental support and support for area based staff. In addition there are local multi-agency geographical panels (MAGPIs) where all agencies involved and the police have a forum to work out ways of dealing with local low level criminal activity. There is an information sharing protocol with the police which is effective and has helped deal with a recent crack house closure order. 239 HFI use the full range of remedies to address ASB which include antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs); antisocial behaviour contracts (ABC); parental control agreements (PCA); mediation, possession orders, injunctions and tenancy demotion. They have recently applied to the court for a demoted tenancy 7 on antisocial behaviour grounds and are awaiting a court date. HFI also has a number of diversionary schemes to keep youths out of trouble. 240 The table below indicates the range and level of activity HFI are using to effectively managing nuisance and antisocial behaviour. Action taken Activity 2003/04 Activity 2004/05 Mediation 15 36 Parental Support referral N/A 20 ABC 44 14 ASBO 3 1 NSP/NTQ 70 50 Possession Order 7 10 7 Demoted’ tenancies were introduced in the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003. Social landlords can apply to court for a demotion order ending a tenant’s existing tenancy and replacing it with a less secure demoted tenancy. This removes the tenant’s Right to Buy and security of tenure for at least a year (similar to an Introductory tenancy), when conduct will be reviewed.'
Page 1 and 2: Inspection report
Page 3 and 4: Summary London Borough of Islington
Page 5 and 6: London Borough of Islington - Homes
Page 7 and 8: Recommendations London Borough of I
Page 9 and 10: © Audit C
Page 11 and 12: The service London Borough of Islin
Page 13 and 14: How good is the service? London Bor
Page 35: London Borough of Islington - Homes
Page 45 and 46: Service charges London Borough of I
Page 59 and 60: Summary London Borough of Islington
Page 61 and 62: Documents reviewed London Borough o
Page 63 and 64: Gary Doolan GMB London Borough of I
Page 65 and 66: Positive practice London Borough of

Audit Commission report on Homes for Islington

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?