Agenda item

Agenda item

Housing Service New Operating Model - Implementing the Homeless Reduction Act 2017

Report of Head of Housing which sets out the planned changes to the housing services operating model for dealing with the requirements of the Homeless Reduction Act 2017.

Minutes:

Cabinet received a report of the Head of Housing setting out the planned changes to the housing services operating model for dealing with the requirements of the Homeless Reduction Act 2017.

 

Councillor Johnson introduced the report and explained that the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 (HRA) had been positive but would not produce any new housing.  The HRA increased the ability of the council to help and support single homeless people.  There were two main points in the report: asking for more staff to cope with the expected increase in workload.  This would mean going from 17 full time officers up to 21 full time officers.  Secondly the IT system and support for a new IT system to ensure it was fit for purpose as more applications were being carried out online.  The previous IT system would be retained until the end of the year as a fall back in case of any snagging issues.  The changes would help to move the council forward to getting the right information from applicants the first time.

           

The Head of Housing explained that the housing service remodelling followed the Watford 2020 principles and would use technology to fill in online forms.  It was recognised that there was a percentage of people who had difficulties with IT for various reasons and this would also be accommodated.   Currently, people came to the CSC and officers had to deal with their issues without any prior knowledge of their situation.  There would be a move to an appointment system which would enable officers to be better prepared.  It would also tighten relations with partner organisations such as the Citizens Advice Bureau and New Hope.  At the appointments, there would be the appropriate specialist from these organisations, if required.  With regards to

Staffing, officers had spent time looking at time and motion studies and areas which had been through similar processes.  In Wales they had experienced increases in volume of 50%, in London Boroughs there had been increases of 25%. 

 

In response to questions from Councillor Bell, the Head of Housing explained that the £165,000 would be for increased staffing.  The initial recruitment process would be internal but as there were more posts than current staff members there would be a need for some external recruitment.

Following a question from Councillor Bell concerning a risk identified regarding the new IT system, the Head of Housing explained that there was a fallback position in place but that all the timescales for the new system were on track.

 

The Mayor considered that the London Boroughs’ experiences would be more like Watford’s than the example of Wales.  However, it was an unknown situation and preparations were being made so that the council was not overwhelmed.  An emphasis on prevention was welcome; however, the lack of social and affordable properties was clearly an ongoing concern.  The Mayor commented that the government had awarded the council £35,000 for the additional burden from the new legislation.

 

The Head of Service Transformation explained that the IT system had been procured and implementation was on track.  It was a cloud based system and there was mitigation in place if anything went wrong.  This was the first of the Watford 2020 implementation projects and would join with other council processes in due course.

 

 

RESOLVED –

 

1.         It is recommended that the new customer journey based on the Watford 2020 Vision and principles be adopted.

 

2.         It is recommended that the services organisational redesign and its associated costings be approved.

Supporting documents:

 

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