Review of the Development of Choice Based Lettings

Scrutiny Review of the Development of Choice Based Lettings

Summary of evidence received:

Erimus Homechoice, Middlesbrough (Site visit 12/10/06)

 Evidence was gathered during a site visit to Erimus Homechoice (Middlesbrough) and from speaking to Chris Joynes (Erimus) and Julia Kett (Sub-Regional Co-ordinator).

Erimus Housing is a Registered Social Landlord (RSL) created by the Large Scale Voluntary Transfer (LSVT) of Middlesbrough’s council housing stock. The strategic housing overview is still within Middlesbrough Council’s remit, however all other housing functions are with Erimus eg homeless services. At the time of the transfer in November 2004, Erimus had 11,968 properties.

Erimus has been operating its CBL scheme for 10 months. Previous to this, allocations were carried out at area housing offices but they are now centralised using a ‘One Stop Shop’ approach, together with the Housing Options and Homeless teams. The new scheme is called ‘Erimus Homechoice’.

It took a considerable amount of time to first find a suitable town-centre location, and then to refurbish the premises. By seating the CBL team alongside the homeless and housing options teams, the aim is to provide housing solutions at one location, the idea being if one service cannot help they can provide signposting. Further integration of services is planned for the future. In the lead up to the launch of the scheme, all related agencies were alerted in order to spread the word about the new system.

Although Homechoice mainly advertises Erimus’ housing stock, 50% of other available RSL properties eg Endeavour, Accent are advertised through the CBL scheme. There are also moves to involve the private sector. This brings the benefits of a wider choice of housing for customers, with landlords gaining from a wider client base and verification checks on applicants, covering such things as past history of Anti-Social Behaviour. A sub regional seminar with private landlords is being arranged for the early part of next year.

 Consultation

Erimus Housing carried out a data cleansing exercise of the Housing Register a couple of months prior to the implementation of CBL. Letters were sent out to people on the Register to decide whether or not they would like to be part of the new CBL scheme. As a result of this exercise, the number of people registered reduced to 4,500 but this figure has now increased to 11,500. Homechoice engaged in significant marketing activity in order to raise awareness of the scheme and this helps explain the rise in the numbers of people applying to join the scheme, e.g. development of a web based system to reach a wider audience. However it should also be borne in mind that the recent rise in inflation and interest rates could have resulted in more customers turning to social housing as they cannot afford to purchase or rent a property in the private sector. When developing CBL, staff from Erimus gathered extensive evidence of best practice from elsewhere. Although modelled heavily on Bradford’s version, it is a bespoke system for Middlesbrough. The development stage took around 12 months and involved 5 officers. This stage in the process was very resource intensive.

It is acknowledged that Erimus has had to make significant efforts in changing the culture of the organisation and the old method of thinking, towards a more customer- focussed approach.

 Procurement

The web based ICT system is supplied by Comino, who also supply Erimus Housing’s housing management system, saffron. The initial cost to set up the system amounted to £20,000. After a workable system was developed, it was then presented to residents to gain their approval, as part of a consultation exercise.

 Registration and eligibility

The area housing offices still exist, but their allocations function has been transferred to Homechoice’s office on Corporation Road. The CBL team consists of 6 full-time members of staff working at an operational level, including one member of staff that specialises in vulnerable applicants accessing the scheme. Initial registration on the scheme can be paper or web based.

Apart from those who require adaptations to properties (these are not advertised), applicants are placed into one of four bands of need:

- Band 1 is made up of existing tenants who are losing their home due to redevelopment and clearance schemes. - Band 2 is made up of all other priority status members such as homeless people, those in unsatisfactory/unsanitary conditions, people living in severely overcrowded conditions, and those with urgent medical needs. - Band 3 is made up of members without any urgent or special housing needs. - Band 4 is made up of owner-occupiers and scheme members living outside Middlesbrough without any urgent housing needs.

 Bidding and the bidding cycle

When people bid for property, and there is more than one member of the same band bidding for the same property, the scheme member with the earliest date of priority will be ranked first. If the priority date is the same, the earliest registration date would be considered.

People who are registered on the scheme are allowed to bid for any property advertised; Erimus don’t make judgement calls on any particular bid. The bidding cycle opens every fortnight; the first 7 days allows for customers to make bids for available properties, the following 7 days are used by staff to short-list bidders, carry out verification checks and arrange viewings for successful bidders. The bidding cycle opens on a Thursday at 9am, and closes at midnight the following Wednesday. In order to help let ‘unpopular’ properties, the scheme advertises some properties as ‘property of the week’ and the successful applicant can benefit from incentives such as an enhanced decorating allowance or carpet voucher. If more than 160 bids are received for a property, and if there are no applicants from band 1, the priority bands are discounted and customers are ranked in order of their registration date instead. In the past this rule was applied after 30 bids, but customer feedback led to it being changed to 60 bids and then to the current level. The concerns raised were with regard to the perception that homeless people were not getting a fair chance of housing (homeless people are placed into band 2).

It was pointed out that with any Choice Based Lettings scheme, subject to legality, it is possible to build in features that reflect local circumstances.

Customers can be suspended from the scheme if their behaviour does not change, eg. with regard to rent arrears.

The scheme has 11,500 registered users, of which approximately 9000 are ‘active’ and are bidding for properties.

Marketing - Adverts are placed in the Evening Gazette property section, the Homechoice website and in the Homechoice property shop. A list of empty properties is available on request from Homechoice and the area housing offices. This list is also posted to vulnerable customers every fortnight e.g. people that are elderly and/or housebound. The properties are advertised alongside local information that help customers form an informed opinion; for example, information on local schools and amenities. Applicants are encouraged to consider properties across the whole of Middlesbrough. Bids can be placed through the website or by a bidding coupon. Once received, the number of bids and their ranking is displayed in ‘real time’ on the Homechoice website and so people can see exactly where their bid is placed at any time. When first developing the website, Erimus listened to customer feedback when producing the electronic system.

The Homechoice property shop has the appearance of an estate agent, with adverts placed in the window and a bright, airy appearance. (Also, as the website/shop has the appearance of an estate agent, signposting information is provided on the HomeBuy scheme. However, they are not qualified to provide detailed guidance.)

 ‘Sensitive Lettings’

Applicants are vetted before they are allowed to become members. So far, Erimus have not had any reported problems in terms of CBL allocations. The team works closely with the estate officers in order to highlight potential problems. If void properties are identified as being a potential source of anti-social behaviour (ASB), there is an option not to advertise it through the CBL scheme, and to use direct letting management to provide tenants. For example, if there was a mainly private street with an empty ‘Erimus’ house and the possibility of a problem tenant, Erimus would listen to the estate information and make a judgement call on whether to advertise the property by CBL.

For any local lettings policy, there must be consultation with the community.

When people register on the scheme through the web, there are a series of trigger questions that can lead to the highlighting of possible problems that applicants may bring with them, for instance a past history of ASB. These cases are investigated with the relevant partner organisations e.g. Cleveland Police, MBC Enforcement Teams, prior to an offer of accommodation being made.  Homelessness

Middlesbrough Council contracted out its homeless and housing advice function to Erimus in 2004. They provide funding for 5 homelessness officers. Plans exist to merge the homeless and CBL teams. The aim is to prevent homelessness by presenting people with a range of options and for one staff member to deal with a problem from the beginning to resolution. There is an emphasis on prevention and now each homelessness officer is dealing with 18 cases.

Shelter and the Housing Corporation approve of Erimus’ work and hold it as an example of best practice. Erimus also work alongside the Shield Project in Middlesbrough. This project aims to reduce anti-social behaviour in the private rented sector and so help to stem the re-housing cycle.

 Provision for vulnerable customers

At the registration stage information is gathered to enable the Housing Options team to assess applicants’ special needs. On both the paper-based and web-based versions of the registration form there are ‘trigger questions’ that allow the team to highlight potential issues. Those requiring housing urgently may be given a priority banding and placed within the CBL scheme. Support agencies have been trained to use CBL in order to help support people when they make bids. Others requiring specialist adapted properties, or sheltered housing, will be directly matched to properties that become available within the scheme and would not be required to bid.

£650000 has been earmarked for use in adapting houses and Erimus try to anticipate needs and future needs. Erimus are trying to merge the list of those with disabilities with the list of houses with adaptations, in order to make sure that properties with adaptations are matched with those who need them. Special needs can also encompass a person’s need to have someone ‘live in’ with them, as a carer, and provision must be made for this. The structure at the moment consists of three teams (CBL, Homelessness, Housing Options) but there are plans to bring in Adaptations within this structure.

The aim is to provide a one stop shop for those with special needs. (Other support exists for people with drug induced problems, however there is an officer within the CBL team who is trained and able to provide signposting in this respect.) The team at Homechoice is able to look at a range of options and pin point the best accommodation available, including the provision of supported housing. Support packages can be provided through Erimus, and estate officers need to be aware of those in their area, but this leads to questions about responsibility if something was to go wrong.

 Customer Satisfaction

Homechoice conduct monthly customer satisfaction surveys and they are reported on quarterly. At the time of the Committee visit, the latest results showed 81% rating the scheme and the service they have received from staff as being ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’. (ie. this is not necessarily just satisfaction with CBL itself).

On the old system of allocation there was no intelligence on ‘dormant’ clients, but now it is possible to see how often customers are taking advantage of the CBL system to bid for a house. Erimus were able to conduct a survey of non-active members. Reasons given for not ‘bidding’ included the lack of suitable properties but also 36% of respondents, mainly elderly, stated that they were unsure of the system. Although the system is web based, there is a provision for people to contact the office in person or by telephone to submit a bid on a property they are interested in. Using the results of the survey, Homechoice went to Age Concern to raise awareness of the scheme and to identify other routes to carry out training sessions with elderly people on how to access the scheme and the methods they can use to bid on available properties.