York Council Housing department labeled “lethargic”

Worn forecourt surface

Worn forecourt surface

After no fewer than 4 requests for improvements to the Marston Avenue garage area in Chapelfields, the York Councils housing department has still failed to acknowledge the issues.

Residents had complained that the forecourt had still not been resurfaced, that boundary fences are damaged, the area is choked with weeds and dumping has not been cleared while hedges also need cutting back. 

Weeds

Weeds

Sadly it seems that the election of a new Council has not produced the hoped for improvement on Council estate management. It is perhaps time for Ward Councillors to use their “Councillor call for action” (CCfA) system to get an improvement not only on Marston Avenue but in other similar areas across west York.

Overgrown hedges

Overgrown hedges

NB. If Ward Councillors do try to follow the CCfA procedure they will, sadly, find that links to the process are also broken on the Council’s web site!

Meanwhile elsewhere

Westfield Ward Councillors have taken action to deal with dumping problems in various parts of the area

Dumped bikes Foxwood reported by Sheena Jackson

Dumped bikes Foxwood reported by Sheena Jackson

Dumped sofa in Chapelfields reported by Andrew Waller

Dumped sofa in Chapelfields reported by Andrew Waller

Missing bollards in Bramham Avenue reported by Andrew waller

Missing bollards in Bramham Avenue reported by Andrew Waller

Overflowing "poop scoop" bin in Cornlands reported y Andrew Waller

Overflowing “poop scoop” bin in Cornlands reported by Andrew Waller

ping

 

House price monitor in West York

House sales have been brisk in west York over the last quarter. Sales have included:

Properties currently available for purchase include

Main Image Newbury Avenue, York, YO24

Newbury Avenue

Chain free properties available for immediate occupation include:

Main Image Westfield Place, York, YO24

Westfield Place

 

Properties recently discounted include

West Thorpe, Dringhouses, York

West Thorpe

Properties for rent include

Ruby Street, York

Ruby Street

 

New ONS figures highlight housing issues in York

Figures published today by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) confirm that house price inflation in York is outstripping increases in wage levels.

House price trends to 2014

The ratio of median house prices to salary levels now stands at 9.4, the highest ever recorded.

To some extent this reflects a drop in median earnings in the City over the last few years. Media earnings are now £20,648 compared to the peak of £21,130 which was seen in 2010.

House prices started to rise again about 18 months ago and now stand at a median of £194,000 which compares to the 2007 peak of £179,995.

York is the 140th most expensive place to rent a house out of a total of 326 local authorities in England and Wales. 

The average monthly rent is £675, which is  less than Harrogate where the figure is £695 a month.

Scarborough is the sixth lowest place to rent in England (£433 pm) while Hull is the cheapest at £365 pm

A resident, on a median monthly income of £1721, in York could spend 40% of it on renting private accommodation.

Those in social housing fare better with weekly rent levels being £89.87.

85% of housing stock in York is privately owned.

In terms of house building, York has performed poorly over the last 5 years coming 268th out of 326 local authorities.

As a percentage of the existing stock growth rates have been:

  • 2010 0.70%
  • 2011 0.50%
  • 2012 0.34%
  • 2013 0.28%
  • 2014 0.26%

On social housing York has a relatively low shortfall in provision at 13.9% of existing stock compared to most other areas. The worst area is Medway at 239.1%

The statistics suggest that the York Council and its partners have work to do to increase housing supply in the City while also trying to increase relative salary levels.

Homeless young people enable older pair to make their first move in 40 years.

To help a mother and daughter move home for the first time in 40 years, City of York Council and SASH, a charity for homeless young people, will be decorating the pair’s new council flat.

City of York Council’s 60+ Housing Advice Service and SASH are delighted to announce their fifth Enable Project. Enable brings together young people who have experienced homelessness and are now part of the SASH supported lodgings scheme, and older people who are working with the 60+ housing service. The older people may be experiencing difficulties with decorating or gardening, and the young people may need to learn these skills for when they have their own home – as well as getting a taste of volunteering. The older people get to pass on their skills and knowledge while getting a much-needed job done, and both young and old enjoy gallons of tea and tonnes of biscuits!

The project is also supported by Homebase, with staff from the York store helping out on the makeover days and sharing their DIY expertise with the young people, along with donating much-appreciated decorating materials.

The council’s 60+ Housing Specialist has been working with Thelma Wright, aged 86, and her daughter Sally for over a year, as they made the difficult decision to move from the house where they have lived in for over 40 years, into a flat in council’s sheltered accommodation at Barstow House.

Thelma Wright said: “We’ve decided the flat will be much easier to manage and it is an exciting new start for us. The Enable team will be going to help with the decorating, giving the whole place a lick of paint ready for our move.”

Housing and benefits advice service collapses in Acomb

Change to rent payments imminent

When Labour closed the Council’s local branch office in Acomb in February 2013, residents were promised that replacement advice services would continue to be provided.Whatever happened to land behind Acomb library

To avoid a long trip to the new Council HQ in the City centre, the intention had been to provide a small extension at the Acomb Library where housing and neighbourhood workers would be permanently located. The Council had by 2010 purchased land to allow the extension to take place.

The land (left), which is located between the library and the bowling club, still lies derelict and unused 5 years later.

The Housing Departments promise of improved advice services have proved to be derelict. The West Office reception area is often very busy and the time taken to answer telephone calls can sometimes be excessive.

Services at local community centres have also faded away.

  • There have been no housing advice sessions at Gateway since January
  • Chapelfields has also been cancelled.
  • Space 217 in Holgate has not been used for advice sessions on a regular basis.
  • None are taking place in Dringhouses.

This leaves only Foxwood operating but with little publicity.

Kingsway abandoned noticeboard

Kingsway abandoned noticeboard

The Council web site does show Foxwood and Acomb Explore Library as functioning (but offering only a telephone contact) There is little local publicity  with the phantom public notice boards in the Kingsway area remaining unused and continuing to display  information which is two years out of date.

While many enquiries will be dealt with by phone, a substantial increase in calls is likely to be generated by the move to the Universal Credit (UC) system in a few weeks time.

UC is paid monthly to the tenant and can be on any day of the month.

No account will be taken of the 48 week rent year in UC. Some may find it difficult to budget on this basis and there is a great risk that rent arrears will rise.

The UC pilots around the country have seen a big increase in rent arrears and tenants have struggled to cope with monthly payments made direct to themselves.

Housing Department consults on move to 52 week rent payment system

In a note to Tenants Associations the Council says,

“City of York Council tenants (Secure and Introductory) currently get charged rent over 48 weeks rather than over the full financial year of 52 weeks. There are 4 rent free weeks, 2 over Christmas and 2 at the end of March.

5894 of 7749 tenants are of working age. 63.49% of tenants claim full or partial Housing Benefit (HB), many while earning a wage, paid direct to the rent account. This is automatically adjusted by the HB department to account for the 48 week rent year.

Working age tenants will be paid housing costs (formerly HB) via Universal Credit (UC) in the near future.

This is a risk for Council and it’s tenants as this money pays for services

It is also a risk for individual tenants who could be at risk of losing their home if they fall in to rent arrears. We can help tenants budget by removing the rent free weeks and giving them good advice.

Direct Debit payers currently pay in 12 instalments over the year, and their account goes in to arrears because of the rent free weeks.

Weekly rent would be reduced as the rent is spread over more weeks:

If your current rent is £81.25 per week and is collected over 48 weeks you will pay £3900 per year.

When you move over to 52 weeks your rent will be £75.00 per week which is £3900 per year.

For tenants that want to retain the rent free weeks we could look at ways of taking payments say through standing order or direct debit that mean they get a rent free period…or simply work out the weekly amount for you.

Most housing organisations have already changed to a 52 week rent year”.

Coupled with failure to provide estate improvements in some areas – where officials have decided that the absence of a formal residents association means no budget can be allocated – the latest revelations are likely to increase pressure on Councillors to undertake a root and branch review of the effectiveness of social housing management in the City

Political posturing or considered debate? York Councillors opt for extra meetings

Three decisions taken by the new Council have been called in for further consideration.

The topics chosen are an eclectic mix of the important (new house building), the improbable (listing an derelict  “malt house”) and the bizarre (objections to letting a new security contract)

Council house building and Newbury Avenue

Newbury Avenue garages

Predictably the Labour group hope to divert attention away from their failure, over four years, to provide significant numbers of additional affordable homes in the City. They are “calling in” an Executive decision which sets out how more Council houses will be provided in the future. Despite the minority Labour (and Green) Groups now having a voice on the new style Executive, they are still opting to delay work starting on the new building programmes by calling for further reviews.

The “call in” specifically refers to the decision taken to review the demolition of a garage block in Newbury Avenue and replace it with 9 flats. This was the highly unpopular decision forced through by Labour when it had a Council majority. They failed to address concerns about lack of alternative car parking in the estate or the cumulative impact that additional building was having on the limited highways capacity in the area.

An alternative, much better located, site for new homes on Front Street – left derelict for 4 years by the last Council – had been suggested.

In calling in the item, Labour are also delaying a start on other – less controversial – Council housing developments in areas like Ordnance Lane.

There must be a suspicion that what Labour are really trying to do, is deflect attention away from an inquiry into their stewardship of the housing estate. 

It has emerged recently that their flagship “Get York Building” programme collapsed 6 months ago when meetings were abandoned. They are likely to face some testing questions about the cost of “Get York Building” and its complete failure to achieve what its slogan title implied.

While the scale and location of new housing is clearly a matter of City wide significance, the same cannot be said of the other two issues.

Council security services

CCTV-control_room

Three Green Councillors have called in the decisions made by the Executive on 25 June 2015 to “commence a procurement exercise for a comprehensive set of council wide security services, to include on site security services in all council properties, fire alarm response and investigations and the provision of the Council’s CCTV control room operation and ongoing maintenance”.

The Executive decision was simply to commence the procurement process.

It appears that the Greens are opposed to the outsourcing of CCTV monitoring although this is common place elsewhere. 

They raise a series of question about the scope of the contract most of which could have been raised and answered before the Executive decision was taken.

Community Right to Bid under the Localism Act 2011 – Clementhorpe Malt House

Malt house Clementhorpe

The Council Leader – rightly – decided that this building, which has been empty since its use for storage ceased several years ago,  could not reasonably be regarded as a “community asset”.

The building had been unused – and arguably an eyesore – for many years before a deal was brokered to convert it for residential use. The conversion seeks to tastefully incorporate some of the historic features of the building. The demand for malt houses is somewhat limited these days.

The fact of the matter is that, those who now feel that they want the building to be retained and in particular the local ward Councillors, have missed the boat.

They had many years to pursue an alternative use for the building but failed to do so.

The property has been sold and planning permission has been granted.

The Council should encourage the developers to get on with the building work and provide more homes on what is a brownfield site.

Hopefully the new more inclusive decision making process – due to be introduced in the autumn – will allow issues like these to be fully explored before decisions are taken.

Spurious “calling in” tactics simply waste time and tie up the Councils limited administrative resources.

Newbury Avenue- Council are right to pause any further development

Newbury Avenue garages

The new Council has suspended the letting of a contract to build on the garage site on Newbury Avenue.

The scheme, hatched by the last Labour administration, had been pushed through against strong opposition from residents who lived in the area. Most objectors had pointed to the lack of alternative car parking space on the estate and to problems with the road network (which is limited to a single entry route from Kingsway West).

The problems had been exacerbated by the Council’s decision to almost double the number of homes being built on the nearby Our Lady’s school site.

One idea, thrown out by Labour, had been a proposals that anyone affected by the new buildings, and who did not have an off-street parking space, would be offered a free dropped kerb/verge crossover.

The Council were asked to look at other sites including the derelict land to the rear of the Library on Front Street. A site which is very well located for the kind of amenities that the elderly occupants of the flats are likely to need.

 Local Councillor Dafydd Williams was blamed by many for the decision. He was forced to quit his Westfield seat in May and seek election in a ward located on the other side of the City.  The Councillor who claimed responsibility for the proposed development (Simpson-Laing from Acomb) lost her seat at the elections.

The project suspension will provide another opportunity for the issues surrounding this development to be reviewed.

NB Cllr Sue Hunter (Email cllr.shunter@ork.gov.uk) is making efforts to revive the local Residents Association. The last Association collapsed 2 years ago when most of is members resigned in protest against Labour’s controversial local development decisions.

York Council hoarding 110,000 square metres of vacant and derelict land

New figures obtained under Freedom of Information legislation suggest that the York Council has been slow to exploit the full potential of the  “brownfield” derelict land that it owns.

Vacant land register April 2015

The list includes the former park and ride car park on Tadcaster Road which current houses a little used pay and display car park.

Residents had already highlighted the vacant plot to the rear of the Acomb Library which has originally been intend to house a replacement Acomb Council office together with some much needed affordable homes. The project was dropped by the new Labour Council in 2011 and the site has remained derelict ever since.

Now officials have suggested that the project may be revived although there has been absolutely no consultation on any proposals.

Most  of the vacant land is at the former Lowfields and Manor school sites. The Council has also courted unpopularity at Lowfields by refusing to keep local residents up to date on its development plans.

Also on the list is Oliver House which has been empty for over 2 years and for which offers of over £3 million have been received.

The Labour Council leadership decided to delay its sale until after the elections.

In total the Council owns 110,877 square metres of unused land.

Release of some of the land would go some way towards reducing housing pressures in the City while helping those who are campaigning to preserve the City’s Green Belt.

 

Complaints about poor housing conditions in York increase to 318

…..but inspectors find only 14 hazards

Housing inspections - click to enlarge

Housing inspections – click to enlarge

Despite complaints about conditions in some privately rented homes in York increasing from 248 in 2012/13 to 318 in 2013/14, inspectors found fewer problems when they visited.

In the most recent year for which figures are available the number of “category 1″ hazards found were (previous year in brackets):

  • Damp and Mould – 2 (1)
  • Excess cold – 6 (17)
  • Overcrowding – 0 (0)
  • Falling hazards – 2 (9)
  • Fire – 4 (4)

Three improvement notices were issued by the Council along with 14 “hazard awareness notices”.

As well as 99 visits to privately rented accommodation, Inspectors visited 63 Houses in Multiple Occupation, 5 socially rented properties and 5 owner occupied homes.

The information was provided by the Council in response to a Freedom of Information request