Future of York Council housing to be decided on Thursday

“This is likely to require the demolition of the poorest housing stock to replace with new homes”.

click to download

The report states that 60% of Council homes were built between 1930 and 1968. Older ones may be reaching the end of their lives. The report claims that the popularity and value of all properties have been assessed in a “Housing Asset Register” although no link to the document has been provided.

The report’s conclusions could have far reaching effects on many Council tenants living in York.

It is a shame, therefore, that the report – and an accompanying review of the Housing Revenue Account – have been added to the agenda for the busiest meeting of the year, with tenants and their representatives having had little time to digest the report’s content (or even see it in most cases).

No consultation with stakeholders has taken place nor is any promised.

The Council confirms that – in advance of government legislation – it will sell any high value Council houses that become vacant, although It does not indicate the threshold for such sales.

It will also consider selling other sub-standard properties when they become vacant. Non-standard built houses like “Orlits” and those liable to flooding or dampness are specifically mentioned.

Orlit houses may face demolition

One piece of good news is that the Council may in future use “right to buy” receipts to fund “a programme of purchase and repair of individual homes from the open market if no use has been identified (for the receipt) with 6 months to go”.

The Council is right to come up with plans for a regeneration of its housing estates. Too many of them have been subject to decline over several years with officials having ignored the need to provide basic improvements, like car parking spaces, for too long.

There is little pride in some communal areas and some politicians see local open spaces and the stock of 968 garages only as potential building sites.

However, by giving all homes what it calls a sale “opportunity rating” the Council seems to be oblivious to the resulting blight that could affect whole neighbourhoods.

It would be easy to dismiss a report on the future of the 7731 Council houses in York as the work of a Borneo Witch Doctor. It certainly contains a lot of mumbo jumbo.

The proposals need a lot more thought and debate.

Council tenants in York face more restrictions

Pets to be banned from blocks of flats?

The Council has published a list of changes to the tenancy rules which will apply to tenants. The major change is that success tenancies (when the tenant dies) will only be available for spouses/partners. Other long term occupants of a property might be offered a tenancy of a size appropriate for their needs.

Most controversial proposal may be a suggestion from a tenants group that there be an outright ban, on tenants living in flats, from keeping a pet. It is likely that existing pets would not be affected.

The Councils permission to keep a pet in any of its properties (click here to read proposals) would be required. Bizarrely this appears to include goldfish. No more than 2 pets per home would be allowed (so bad news for mice and rabbits possibly) .

While a ban on keeping potentially noisy – or aggressive – dogs or more exotic animals, in a particular block of flats, might gain some support, it would seem harsh in the extreme to prevent elderly single people from having the companionship provided by (say) a cat.

Some of the other proposed changes may be more welcome. New conditions proposed include:

Requirement not to excessively clutter the home so as to cause health and safety problems, access to essential services and damage to the property. Note: There has been a big increase in behaviour which can be described as hoarding. Advice that CYC will remove any items left in communal to keep environment sterile in line with current procedures and relevant legislation.
Garden section – “You must keep your garden neat and tidy this includes managing the lawn, removing weeds, pruning hedges, shrubs and trees. If the garden is overgrown and you do not have a good reason for not doing the work yourself, we may do the work and charge you a reasonable cost for doing it. Section on trees has been expanded to: You are responsible for any trees that are within the boundary of the Property but you (or someone on your behalf) cannot cut down trees and hedges within the boundaries of your home without first getting written Council permission. You must not plant very large or fast growing trees or conifer species in the gardens of the property or that may cause damage, nuisance or obstruction. If you think that a tree may be dangerous you must report Annex B this to us. Where we decide that any trees or shrubs are a nuisance or dangerous we will prune, replace or remove”.
Tenants cannot “park a variety of vehicles including a motor home or boat within the boundaries of your home, including the front and rear garden, or take them over council owned grass verges without providing a hard standing to a specified standard and a car crossing over the pavement or path. You must not keep a vehicle or vehicles within the boundary of the property that have no road tax or insurance without the express permission of City of York Council Housing Services”.
Tenant must not store rubbish, furniture, household appliances or any unsightly objects in their garden, or in any shared garden.
Occupying the property – if a tenant is away for more than one month without notifying Housing, they will deem them as no longer living there and seek possession.
Communal (shared) Areas – tenants and their visitors cannot smoke in communal areas and congregate, especially at night as this may cause a nuisance to others in the block

Flexible tenancy start dates are proposed along with 52 week rent payments (i.e. no “free” weeks).

The proposals are being discussed at a meeting taking place on 16^th December. A 6 week consultation period with tenants – starting in mid December – is promised.

Salt mines introduce overtime working as York Council claims it is among the UK’s top social landlords

Appaling neglect on York Council estates

The City of York Council has issued a media release saying that it will “shortly publish and share its annual report for 2014/15 revealing that it is among the UK’s top-performing social landlords”.

All tenants and leaseholders will receive a copy.

The report is noticeably silent on complaints about the poor maintenance on garage and communal areas, lack of parking provision and insensitive housing management practices which even Councillors are unable to break through.

Salt pile for use by York Council Housing management officials

The report, apparently produced by the “Tenant Scrutiny Panel” of six council tenants, looks at how the council has performed in the previous 12 months and shows that York is one of the best-performing local authority landlords in the country in a number of areas*.

The claims include scores “revealing that just under nine out of 10 tenants responding to the Tenant Satisfaction Survey were satisfied with the overall service we provide, and that 81% were satisfied with their repairs and maintenance service. Just over eight out of ten were satisfied with the overall appearance of their neighbourhood”.

“One highlight of the past year has been the work on Le Tour Way, off Beckfield Lane which completed in 2015, and which is the second development of new homes built as part of the council’s house building programme. It is a mixed development of nine apartments for tenants aged 55 and over, a further nine council houses and nine more houses for market sale”.

“Developing ‘Community Hub’ services to tenants have progressed with a new community facility opening at ‘Space 217’ on Lindsey Avenue. It offers sessions for tenants to meet estate managers and open-door events with money and employment advisors”.

“12 council homes had loft conversions built for growing families, 665 families were given advice that prevented them becoming homeless, 40 flats were sound-proofed and we evicted 33 tenants who did not pay their rent”.

The future holds a number of challenges for the service which will be addressed alongside considering how to improve service delivery in the coming year.

The claims contrast with our experience of Council housing management in the City over the last few months.

The department now seems to take little pride in local neighbourhoods and regularly turns a blind eye to issues.

The result is that many estates are deteriorating
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Time for York estates to get regeneration money

With over £12 million sat in the bank the York Councils housing revenue account has never been healthier.

Freed by the last government from the requirement for any “surplus” Council house rent income to be put in a national pot, the York Council is free to make its own decisions on priorities.

It is unlikely that tenants will wait much longer for a statement of intent from the new coalition rulers at the York Council. The 4 month forward programme of topics, likely to be debated by the Council’s new Executive, was published yesterday. It noticeably fails to include any reference to estate regeneration plans.

Most estates are affected by neglect.

Foxwood tenants have been asking for better parking for several years and this is a demand repeated elsewhere in the City.

Lack of storage space for flat dwellers is another issue particularly for those who have families.

In Chapelfields the need for more parking space is now critical while the state of two of the three garage areas is shocking (see below).

Poorly maintained garages on Chapelfields Road

Detritus on access footpaths

Neglected garage site on Marston Avenue 1

Neglected garage area on Marston Avenue 2

New central heating contract awarded by York Council

“Helplink” have been awarded a contract to install up to 500 central heating systems in York Council houses each year.

The change of contractor follows the decision by the existing provider to relinquish the contract

The Council decision papers suggest that the new contract is cheaper than the old one.

No reason was given for the withdrawal of the original contractor.

York housing estates – more evidence of neglect

Not surprisingly many tenants are bemused as rents continue to rise while maintenance standards on estates fall.

Fly tipping on Green Lane (Acomb) garage forecourt today

Council tenants have faced a 28% increase in rent levels over the last 5 years.

The York Council is expected to have a £15 million surplus balance on its housing account at the end of this year.

Yet little has been invested in improvements and communal areas are too often targets for graffiti and dumping.

Weeks elapse before clean ups are arranged

York Council Housing rents and balances. Click to enlarge

Strangely the York Council housing department is the only part of the local authority which has seen no cuts at all in funding during the last 4 years yet service standards are declining.

There is little evidence that the Labour Councillors who are responsible for Council housing ever routinely visit estates to ensure that service standards are acceptable.

Time for a change of approach we think!

York Council debates ending Council House sales

The present York Council had its final meeting last week. Predictably there were some desperate attempts to remedy the omissions of the last 4 years.

Labour proposed that Council house sales in the City should be halted. They lurched back to a position which cost them the control of the York Council as long ago as 1973.

Since then both Conservative (Thatcher) and Labour (Blair/Brown) governments have supported Council house sales. The present coalition government – largely at the insistence of the Tories – extended the maximum discount available to tenants to £70,000.

However, they also dealt with some long running issues which restricted a Councils ability to reinvest the money made from sales into new Council homes.

The York Council has made little use of the flexibility. It has accumulated a £15 million surplus on its housing account…and this despite the continued decline in investment in York’s Council estates.

The coalition government also now allows Councils to retain all the money that it takes in rents. The previous Labour government had creamed off any “surplus” and transferred it to subsidise tenants in other parts of the country.

Estate maintenance stadards falling in York

The York Council now has much more flexibility than it used to have, although housing rent income may still only be used for “housing purposes”. The income cannot, for example, be used to reduce Council Tax levels or raise public service standards like road repairs.

The supporters of the change to the housing sales rules say that it would address the widening gap between private sector rents and earnings in the City.

In fact until very recently, house prices – which influence rent levels – had been stable since 2008.

Given the relatively low level of sales (122 sold since 2011, out of a stock of over 8000) we doubt a sales freeze would make much difference anyway.

One the face of it, the level of discounts given to purchasers could be determined locally. After all, each local authority area has different characteristics.

But there are too many Councils, including York, which are in the hands of hard line politicians who care little about the views of ordinary people. In 2011 we ended up with an uncompromising Labour administration who had gained the support of only 40% of the electorate.

In a separate debate the present Council refused to sanction a return to a committee system for making decisions. This traditional British system allowed all viewpoints to be aired before decisions were taken.

Until change of this sort is agreed, then it would be difficult for any democrat to argue that more decisions, of the type which affect people’s everyday lives, should be delegated if they are to be determined, behind closed doors, by dogmatic party puppets.

There is little chance that any government will suspend Council House sales. The York Council’s move was window-dressing.

But its failure to build only 37 new Council houses during the last 4 years, most definitely will be a factor that influences many residents voting intentions on 7^th May

Lib Dems call for an extra £500,000 to be spent on York’s estate regeneration

Liberal Democrats are calling for an extra £500,000 to be spent improving the condition of housing estates in York.

Fly tipping little Green Lane garage area

Restoring pride in Council estate environment

The extra funding will be focused on tidying-up communal areas, repairs, improvements to car parking facilities, and a re-launched programme to replace draughty windows.

The move follows concerns from council tenants, falling satisfaction levels with many estate services, and missed performance targets by Labour run City of York Council.

The proposals are part of the Liberal Democrat budget amendment, which will be debated at today’s full Council meeting.

The Lib Dems are calling for an extra £3 million to be put into frontline services such as road repairs, community centres and green bin collections.

The Lib Dem housing move is funded from the Council’s Housing Revenue Account (HRA) – a ring-fenced housing account which currently has a surplus of £15 million and is split from the main council budget. Rents are being increased by 2% from April.

Cllr Ann Reid, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Housing, commented:

Dealing with parking issues

“Residents have contacted us concerned about issues such as overgrown weeds, damaged fencing, broken streetlights, littering and dog fouling. Basic services have suffered since 2011 and show Labour’s continued neglect and under-investment in the city’s estates.
“We want to put an extra £500,000 in from the Housing Revenue Account to tackle these issues. This budget is raised from council rent and charges and is there to be used for tenants. There is a substantial surplus and instead of storing money away in reserves the council should be spending more on estate improvements.”

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The Lib Dems would spend £250,000 ‘capital’ from the HRA on improvements to:

a) draughty windows and

b) improved car parking facilities (dropped kerbs/verge crossovers/matrix verge protection outside tenants homes and better car parking facilities in communal areas) and the resurfacing of some car parks.

plus £250,000 ‘revenue’ from the HRA on council house and estate regeneration including the following schemes:

removal of weeds,
cutting back overgrown trees and hedges,
repairs to communal areas and signs (e.g. dog fouling, no ball games),
audit and repair of fencing.

The full Lib Dem amendment will be tabled and debated at Thursday’s Budget Council.

Last July, it was revealed that tenants were less satisfied with where they live and the estate services they receive from the council while key performance targets were missed:

Tenants to size up new apartments at downsizing event

Social housing tenants in York looking for a more manageable and affordable home are being invited to size up the brand new, highly insulated apartments being built by City of York Council at Beckfield Lane.

A special downsizing event will be held at Carr Junior School, Ostman Road, on Wednesday 15October, 4:30-7pm, for people who feel their home is too big for their needs.
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York Council tenants show concerns in secret report

Only 49% now satisfied with tenants choice modernisation work

The annual report into satisfaction with York Council services has shown some growing concerns amongst York Council tenants.

The report was considered at yet another behind closed doors meeting last week

While on most activities performance has been consistent over the years there are areas of growing concern.

Tenant’s choice satisfaction with modernisation work was down from 76% to only 49%.
Only 44% of tenants who complained said that they were satisfied with the final outcome
Satisfaction with the Council “listening to tenant’s views and acting on them” fell from 67% in 2012 to 62% last year

Garage areas neglected

The biggest concern remains the condition of local estates with tenants increasingly critical of the appearance and state of repair of local neighbourhood and communal areas.

Garage areas are poorly maintained, many verges are damaged and gutters are overgrown with weeds.

The Council is apparently going to appoint a private contractor to clean the communal areas of flats leaving the estate workers to concentrate on litter removal and general maintenance. Tenant satisfaction with garden care (also contracted to the private sector) has attracted many complaints this year.

However, overall, there was some good news for the Council with 87% saying they were satisfied with the service provide down only 1% from the previous year,