Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Housing presented a report on proposals for a new tenant involvement framework which would enable the Council to meet the Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard required under the Tenant Services Authority regulatory framework for local authority social housing providers.

He explained that the Council’s ‘Housing Resident Involvement and Empowerment’ framework had been designed to promote new and improved opportunities for Borough residents to participate in activities which generated pride and ownership of the area where they lived and to contribute to the development of community capacity and empowerment.  The two key aspects of the proposal were:

• Localised activity led by the community but supported by Council officers (meeting TSA requirement 2.1a).  These activities would follow natural neighbourhoods focussing on the needs of the area.  This approach was being refined and tested via the Housing and Neighbourhood Locality pilots, the outcomes of which would be reported to Cabinet in summer 2011; and

• Two Housing Forums, one to focus on the Barking area and the other on the Dagenham area would be established.  These forums would focus on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Business Plan and Housing Asset Management strategy.  They would also offer the opportunity for residents to discuss the housing related issues that matter most to them in their part of the borough, such as anti-social behaviour, and would include a surgery with relevant officer attendance for dealing with casework issues.  The Forums would provide a link to the work of other local initiatives such as Streetbase, Family First and Safer Neighbourhood Panels.  Nominated members of the two Forums would come together periodically to discuss borough-wide policies. They would also initiate specific ‘working parties’ on identified service themes that had been highlighted as in need of improvement.

The Cabinet Member confirmed that the proposals had been the subject of extensive consultation with the local community and were developed with considerable input from those already involved in the Council’s current housing engagement mechanisms, such as the Community Housing Partnerships and the Tenants’ Federation.

Cabinet agreed:

(i)  To the implementation of the new Housing Resident Involvement and Empowerment model as detailed in the report; and

(ii)  To note that the Assembly would be asked to agree appropriate changes to the Council’s Constitution to reflect the move to the new model and the dissolution of the Community Housing Partnership structure.