To receive a presentation from Lorna Collisson.

Lorna Collisson, Community Engagement Officer – Housing Solutions, explained that Housing Solutions was a local housing association which primarily focused on the Maidenhead area. There were around 160 members of staff and most services were run in house. Housing Solutions provided a mix of tenures, including market rent and affordable housing. There were homeowners, leaseholders and extra care properties all part of the portfolio of housing. Housing Solutions had other properties in East Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, but all within an hour of Maidenhead. The corporate strategy had recently been confirmed, which outlined the position of the company over the next 5 years. The strategy was centred around three key themes; safe, satisfied and sustainable. It was important to ensure that all residents felt safe, both mentally and physically. Housing Solutions wanted residents to feel satisfied that they were receiving excellent value for money. There was a lot of work ongoing around the green agenda and trying to hit government targets on things like carbon neutral homes.

A new Director of Resident Services had recently been appointed and it was anticipated that they would bolster the good work that had already taken place. A ‘getting to know you’ event had recently taken place with residents, which allowed staff and residents to get to know each other better. 850 residents had been engaged with and a number of actions had been received as a result. In November 2020, a new hosing team was recruited which consisted of an income team and a resident team. Residents were at the heart of Housing Solutions and engagement was key, there were a number of different Panels that residents could be part of, for example the scrutiny panel, where residents had the opportunity to scrutinise policy and challenge decisions. Two panels related to residents groups and there was an e-engagement panel which had around 100 residents.

Councillor Baldwin joined the meeting.

Lorna Collisson explained that Councillor Taylor had visited Housing Solutions and seen how they operated. The housing association worked with a number of different partners, including RBWM. There were plans to launch a job club in the next few months, while work had been done with the transformation team at RBWM and in particular working in collaboration with the embedding community response project.

The Chairman thanked Lorna Collisson for the presentation and said that he had worked with Housing Solutions in his previous Cabinet Member role.

Councillor Baldwin apologised for joining the meeting late, he had been on the phone to a resident. He said it would be great to catch up with Lorna Collisson after the meeting.

Councillor G Jones said that the government was planning to change the law on Energy Performance Certificates (EPC), from 2025 a rental property would need to have an EPC C grade rating. This would cause some issues for landlords and Councillor G Jones asked if this was something that would be an issue for Housing Solutions.

Lorna Collisson said that the majority of the stock was up to standard but there were some properties that were not. The surveying team would be investigating and Housing Solutions would look to work with residents who were in lower rated homes to see if they could be moved while work took place. Lorna Collisson said that she would be happy to ask the surveying team to see if they could provide a further response.

ACTION – Lorna Collisson to ask the surveying team if there is a more detailed response to the question from Councillor G Jones.

Councillor G Jones asked how long the waiting list was at the moment.

Lorna Collisson confirmed that there was a huge waiting list for social housing, as all of Housing Solutions’ properties were full. For Band C/D, the wait was around 10 years.

The Chairman said that this was why the Borough Local Plan was needed, so that the amount of social housing in the borough could be increased.

Councillor Singh commented on a news article which mentioned the ‘shambles’ at Trinity Place, which was a property owned by Housing Solutions. A resident had been trapped in a lift and the emergency number given by Housing Solutions did not work, the resident had to call the fire brigade to get help. There had also been complaints about the cleanliness of Trinity Place, Councillor Singh asked if the issues at this property had been rectified.

Lorna Collisson said that Housing Solutions was aware of the incident and was sorry for the distress that had been caused. Trinity Place was owned by a managing agent and some of the issues had occurred during the handover to Housing Solutions. The lift problems were being dealt with and rectified.

ACTION – Lorna Collisson to provide Councillor Singh with further information on Trinity Place after the meeting.

Councillor Singh said the community action days were a good idea. He asked if there were any further socialising days planned by Housing Solutions.

Lorna Collisson confirmed that this was something the team were working on, if there were any dates for any specific blocks, Lorna Collisson said that she was happy to confirm these with Councillor Singh outside the meeting.

Councillor Baskerville said that there was a shortage of social housing and asked if there was a figure available.

He was informed that a specific figure was not available, the waiting list was managed by RBWM. The RBWM Housing team would be best placed to answer this question as they had an overview of the situation across Maidenhead as a whole, which would include other housing associations and not just Housing Solutions.

Councillor Davey said that the 10 year waiting list figure sounded daunting but asked how long residents usually stayed in a property for.

Lorna Collisson said that it did depend on the circumstances and how they changed over time. Mutual exchanges were also possible if two residents were happy to swap.

Councillor Davey asked if Housing Solutions was working with other housing associations.

Lorna Collisson confirmed that they were, all housing associations worked off the same waiting list.

Councillor Baldwin commented on nomination rights and said that they were written in at the development stage. He asked how nominations rights changed as occupancy changed.

Lorna Collisson said that RBWM had 80% of Housing Solutions stock. The nomination rights did not reduce on the third or fourth time of the property coming up, the nomination would remain with RBWM. Lorna Collisson said that she would check with the Head of Housing at Housing Solutions to confirm.

ACTION – Lorna Collisson to check with the Head of Housing at Housing Solutions and report back to Members of the Forum.

Councillor Taylor said that Housing Solutions had a spreadsheet with the contact details of officers across the organisation, she asked if an updated version of this contact list could be circulated.

ACTION – Lorna Collisson to provide updated contact details for officers at Housing Solutions.

A member of the public, Judith, asked what proportion of families with primary school aged children lived in houses and how many lived in flats. She asked how this was impacting on families that lived in flats.

Lorna Collisson explained that she did not have the precise information to hand but families who did not have enough room would be moved up the waiting list.

Judith asked if Housing Solutions was putting families into flats rather than houses. She asked how long the waiting list currently was.

Lorna Collisson said that families would be offered what was available, they had a right to refuse a flat if they did not want it. Information on the waiting list could be provided by RBWM.

The Chairman reiterated that more affordable housing was needed in Maidenhead, the only option was to build on the green belt.

Councillor Singh said that a lot of the accommodation provided by Housing Solutions was separate to private accommodation, these were regarded as ‘poor doors’. He asked for Lorna Collison’s view on this.

Lorna Collisson said that this was not something that was promoted by Housing Solutions, they wanted all residents to feel valued. It did sometimes depend on the developers and how they built the accommodation but the development team was looking to promote inclusion.

Councillor Davey commented on the Chairman’s claims about needing to build on the green belt. He said that there was plenty of space available on brownfield sites.