To receive a report from the Executive Member for Housing and advice alongside information from Housing Associations Operating within Trafford.

The Executive Member for Housing and Advice gave an introduction to why the issue of damp and mould had been brought to the Committee, and how recent cases had highlighted to the public and the government some of the poor housing standards that remained a part of people’s everyday lives. This included a recent coroner report which attributed mould as a reason for death to an individual outside of the borough. He continued by saying that even though the Council does not manage any housing stock within the borough directly, this does not impede the Council’s ability to take action against hazards within housing associations stock and reiterated the Council’s commitment to do this. The Committee were provided with some of the statistics behind complaints the Council has received in the past 12 months in relation to housing standard. Most notable was of the 234 complaints made to the Council, 77 had been down to the issue of mould.

 

The Executive Member concluded by stating that he was committed to working with housing providers to tackle the issue despite the low levels of resource available to the Council.

 

The Director of Growth and Regulatory Services then spoke to the report that had been circulated with the agenda and informed the Committee of the level of social housing in the area. While the level of social housing in Trafford was lower than other areas it still represented a significant amount of the housing stock in the area. The Director of Growth and Regulatory Services provided details of the work the Council had done in collaboration with housing providers and asked the Committee to note the responses by providers to the Governments legislation and the motion that had been passed by the Council to deal with mould. The Director of Growth and Regulatory Services then moved on to discuss the Council’s role as a housing regulator and the powers the Council had in this regard. The Committee were informed of the complaints received by the Council and how they often signified poor management of a property. The report outlined the process of how the powers were utilised and, like the Executive Member for Housing and Advice, highlighted that the Council had a number of tools that can be employed if it is deemed necessary to take formal action.

 

Councillor Western noted that section 3.7 mentioned an online form that residents had to fill in and asked if there was a paper version available. The Director of Growth and Regulatory Services responded that the majority of forms received were submitted online although those who may have difficulty can go to a contact centre or a Council reception to report their issues.

 

Councillor Axford noted that the issue with damp and mould was linked to the cost-of-living crisis and the cost of energy and asked if the number of complaints of damp and mould has increased over the past year. The Team Leader for Housing Standards responded that only since last year was there a code in place for damp and mould, which means that the numbers could only now be recorded in the system. However, they did say that there had been a definite increase in complaints around damp and mould, and that this had been exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis.

 

Councillor Walsh asked what had been done within the Council since the coroner’s report that would reassure the Committee that this was not likely to be repeated in Trafford. The Executive Member for Housing and Advice assured the Committee that the Executive was focused on tackling this issue and ensuring that high quality housing levels were maintained in the area so that all residents had a good quality, safe, and secure home. The officers who were employed in the area produced good work, but the Executive Member admitted that the Council would benefit from having a greater number of staff and resource to tackle the problem and that the Executive were going to lobby the Government requesting greater resources for this.

 

Councillor Carter noted that a large element of the problem was within the private sector and asked if there were any indication of their response to this issue and how they were treating it. The Team Leader of Housing Standards responded that generally in the first instance the Council would write to the landlord directly, giving them 28 days to conduct an inspection of the property.  She ensured that the Council generally got a good response to these letters with the landlord enacting the changes themselves. If they do not engage with the housing standards, then organise a formal inspection of the property under the Housing Act.

 

Councillor Frass stated that he found it hard to believe that there were no category 1 or 2 issues and asked whether the Council planned to ask for a share of information on a more granular level from the housing associations. The Executive Member for Housing and Advice responded that a request had not been made but it was something that the Council could look at doing, but a discussion would need to be had first between the Executive Member and the Director for Growth and Regulatory Services’ team, to see the sort of resource that would be required to take on such a big project. He also raised concern around time and availability of officers. The Director of Growth and Regulatory Services added that elements of this would be picked up as part of the letter to housing associations from the Secretary of State.

 

Councillor Winstanley asked about the long-promised changes to the housing regulations and whether this will see an end to some in the privately rented sector being reluctant to come forward and complain about conditions. He asked whether they had any cases of people coming to the Council out of fear of being evicted by their landlords. The Team Leader for Housing Standards responded that there were cases of people coming to the Council, saying they had an issue and do not want to contact their landlord, yet without their permission the Council cannot contact the landlord. However, she did say that the Council does get many people contact them, when they were moving out or had been evicted, to report an issue in the hope of stopping the issue of damp and mould for the next tenants.

 

The Chair thanked the Executive Member for Housing and Advice and the Director of Growth and Regulatory Services for their information and engagement with the questions asked by the Councillors. The Chair moved forward to questions from Councillors for the representatives in attendance from the housing associations.

 

Councillor Walsh asked the housing associations what, since the coroners report, response had the housing associations given, what issues had been found, and what improvements had been made. He wanted to see an urgency from the housing associations of an understanding of the seriousness of the issue.

 

The Head of Special Projects and Sustainability at L&Q responded first, stating that a lot had been done. This included a separate damp and mould policy, which involved the completion of an assurance review which looked at what the policy said it will do compared to what was being done. This found that normally the work was being done, however, it did find some gaps, which were being rectified through work with residents living in those homes where gaps had occurred. Furthermore, more extensive training on damp and mould and how to prevent it had taken place in February and March 2023. There was also a review ongoing looking at the Standard Operating Procedure, ensuring that there was adequate follow through at 6- and 12-months, to ensure that an issue had been dealt with and that it was not reoccurring. Finally, she informed the Committee that the issue of damp and mould was now presented monthly to L&Q’s Executive Board.

 

The Chair asked how many cases had been reported and dealt with in the past 12 months. The Head of Special Projects and Sustainability at L&Q responded that there were currently 150 open cases in Trafford, that stayed open until the work had been completed. She will supply the information for the number of completed cases after the meeting.

 

Councillor Walsh asked how many resident engagement groups there were in Trafford. The Head of Special Projects and Sustainability at L&Q did not have that information but would be able to share the information after the meeting. She informed the Committee that she had attended one, where 20 residents had been invited with only six attending.

 

Councillor Walsh asked about Board involvement and whether they felt they were taking it more seriously. The Head of Special Projects and Sustainability at L&Q responded that the Board was taking it much more seriously, actively seeking out solving the issues, with it being a regular item at Board meetings.

 

The Director of Asset Management at Your Housing Group (YHG) responded regarding their associations work that had been done through communication and engagement with residents, as well as the formation of a damp and mould task force, to specifically look at the issue, which was dedicated solely to the issue and was made up of staff with the required skill sets to deal with the problems. He also spoke about the Housing Associations IT system which had helped to manage problems that had been reported.

 

The Chair asked how many families the group had worked with. The Director of Asset Management at YHG responded that they had worked with 199 families in the last 12 months.

 

The Group Director of Asset Management at Jigsaw Homes provided a similar response to the representative from YHG, informing the Committee that it had improved follow up on contacting residents after a case had been dealt with to ensure that no recurrence happened, and that there were no underlying issues with their building. They spoke about additional engagement between engineers and residents, which involved doing a walk around properties and assessing their quality regarding damp and mould. Furthermore, the Committee were made aware that they had had their records on damp and mould externally scrutinised. They finished by saying that they felt the group was in a much better position and on the front foot compared to 12 months ago.

 

The Executive Director for Homes at Irwell Valley told the Committee that the Irwell Valley Chief Executive did a call to action 12 months ago and had a spotlight review which had scrutinised the approach of the housing group. He also spoke about the desire to do more on the issue of damp and mould. He spoke to the complaints procedure which was in place and the lessons learned from it. He mentioned that Irwell Valley had recognised the need for stock condition checking, whilst also looking at utilising the other checks that they had to do, which involved gas and electricity. The Committee were informed of some additional funding that had been place in the housing quality fund which they had applied for and had helped to deal with a number of properties with damp and mould.

 

The Chair asked if they could provide information on the number of properties dealt with in the last year in comparison to previous years. This will be provided after the meeting.

 

Councillor Winstanley asked about the extra funding that could be applied for and what housing associations had to do to receive it. The Head of Asset Management at Irwell Valley explained that there was a £50M pot of funding at Greater Manchester (GM) level that could be applied for, Irwell Valley had applied for funding for around 991 properties with roughly half of those being in Trafford.

 

The Disrepair and Complex Repairs Manager at Mosscare St. Vincent’s (MSV) informed the Committee of their associations approach and the action taken within the last year. This had included taking a more data driven approach to dealing with damp and mould within the housing stock. The group had looked at expanding surveyors but also hiring a tenant liaison officer, which would work with tenants in order to identify any problems they may have had, such as in fuel poverty, which may impact the property.

 

Councillor Walsh thanked all of the representatives for their answers. He stated that he would like to hear more use of external auditors, as this was only mentioned by the representative from Jigsaw Homes. MSV responded that they had been through an external audit recently as well.

 

Councillor Jones enquired about the figure of ongoing cases in MSV properties. The Disrepair and Complex Repairs Manager at MSV responded that there were ten new active cases, with 84 in the planned programme of works across the associations stock.

 

The Chair and Councillor Jones both asked if the data of active cases could be provided by all housing associations after the meeting, with Councillor Jones also hoping that the data will come back to Scrutiny in the future.

 

Councillor Frass noted that L&Q planned to deal with 20% of cases each year and whether this was going to be done nationwide or would it be on an area-by-area basis. Councillor Frass asked more widely to the housing associations, whether when looking at their plans to inspect homes, some of which the housing associations were setting themselves a target of 2029, if this was urgent enough.

 

The Disrepair and Complex Repairs Manager at MSV responded that they had a large amount of housing stock work to do but that there were a limited number of people who could do the work to a good standard. He felt that there had been a flooding of the market with lots of surveyors of questionable quality.

 

The Head of Special Projects and Sustainability at L&Q could not respond on where the 20% would cover each year at the meeting but can get back to the Committee. They stated that the commitment meant that every property had conditions survey every five years, with other members of staff going into properties much more often than just the 5 year reviews would suggest. The Partnerships Director NW at L&Q added further that any inspection was only a snapshot in time and so highlighted that it was important that there were open lines of communications for the customers, and looking at different triggers which can cause damp and mould to form.

 

Councillor Coggins asked how long it would take to train up the workforce to address the issue and asked what could be done to help the providers to meet the challenges.

 

The Executive Director for Homes at Irwell Valley responded that it was about having people come in who provided the quality as well as quantity. He raised the funding limitations and how would it help if not all associations were having to compete for the same pot of money, instead favouring adopting a long-term over a short-term review.

 

The Disrepair and Complex Repairs Manager at MSV said that it was about increasing training, which would lead to improved triage, which in turn would lead to an improved programme of works. He spoke about the changes at MSV, which had involved moving away from the call centre dealing with the majority of the triage. This was being replaced by a second point of triage, involving a higher trained team which looked at the information taken by the call.

 

Councillor Western asked how many homes were inspected for mould on an annual basis, and raised concerns similar to Councillor Frass around the time it will take to get round to every property in their housing stock.

 

The Director of Asset Management at YHG responded that their association had surveyed 90% of properties but also do annual visits asking occupants about whether they had damp and mould. The YHG also had an external audit on damp and mould which performed very well.

 

The Head of Special Projects and Sustainability at L&Q stated that they had also had an annual review and did gas and electrical inspections on a yearly basis. The Ombudsman report did recommend for L&Q to get out to the properties and had given additional training and guidance to frontline staff.

 

The Executive Director for Homes at Irwell Valley informed the Board that they planned to get to 100% by 2025.

 

MSV had a common approach to the other associations. They did operate a process of looking back through their data to find the silence, taking a proactive plan to those who they do not hear from and adding them to the list to be contacted.

 

Councillor Ennis stated that he felt there was a stigma around reporting mould and asked whether any steps were being taken to deal with the issues.

 

The Executive Director for Homes at Irwell Valley had worked with residents around the language used within policy as well as that language used by staff to not increase stigma. They wanted to make tenants feel supported rather than judged when they raised a complaint.

The Disrepair and Complex Repairs Manager at MSV referred to the establishment of the Tenancy Liaison Officer and that the approach aligned with not blaming residents for the issues. They also spoke about the need for education for residents to help them to know what they were to do to avoid issues such as black mould.

 

Councillor Carter asked whether there were cases of damp and mould repeating and how that was captured and dealt with.

 

The Head of Special Projects and Sustainability at L&Q stated that L&Q had just brought this issue into their procedures, where if complaints had been received within 3 to 6 months of initial resolution, this will be escalated accordingly.

 

The Executive Director for Homes at Irwell Valley added that it linked into government guidance for Housing Associations to follow regarding follow up and timescales.

 

Councillor Jarman asked how many referrals from residents had been received and what action was taken.

 

The Director of Asset Management at YHG responded that there had been 199 and the cases vary from leeks and pipes to extraction fans or condensation. Guidance was then provided to residents to deal with this.

 

The Executive Director for Homes at Irwell Valley said they would provide the data on this after the meeting.

 

Councillor Jarman asked whether housing associations did systematic inspections of their properties, and if so, was there any interventions that could be taken from this to deal with issues in a more efficient manner.

 

The Disrepair and Complex Repairs Manager at MSV responded that this was the ultimate goal of any housing association, but this would cost a lot of money to get to a point where you can have a pro-active rather than re-active response to the issues.

 

The Chair asked what resources each association had to put in to tackling this problem, and how many staff did they have to help deal with these issues.

 

The Director of Asset Management at YHG said that they were in the process of recruiting 16 operatives for the full organisation but that this was not straightforward as many housing associations were trying to hire the same people, particularly plasterers and roofers. He also said that they had a disrepair team made up of four people, three of which were para legals, as well as two surveyors. He did highlight that most of these resources were already within the team, and not necessarily new resources.

 

The Chair asked the final question on damp and asked whether the housing associations worked together on these issues of damp and mould or competed.

 

The Partnerships Director NW at L&Q responded that the GM call to action which had taken place and was responded to by all providers and how they worked well across the region especially around the issue of the supply chain and dealing with stigma.

 

The Executive Director for Homes at Irwell Valley informed the Committee of a project group meeting that was taking place the next day, as well as the Good Landlord Charter for Greater Manchester being established.

 

The Chair concluded by asking all housing associations to provide the data from the last year, in comparison to previous years, when this is available.

 

RESOLVED:

1)    That the information be noted.

2)    That all the Housing Associations present provide data around how many completed cases of damp and mould were done in the past twelve months and how this is compared with previous years, when this is available.

3)    That the Head of Special Projects and Sustainability at L&Q provide the information on the number of residents engagement groups they had in Trafford.

4)    That all the housing association present provide the data of active cases of damp and mould when this data is available.

5)    That the Head of Special Projects and Sustainability at L&Q provide information on how the distribution of the 20% of cases a year will be managed.