assignment
Housing settelment
QUESTION You have been engaged as a peer
reviewer for a group housing design project.
Enlist all the factors and aspects (parameters)
that you will consider for evaluating the design
quality.
ANUPAM SARKAR
BARC/1022/07
SEM
The aspects I would consider are:
Theme 1 Leadership and Corporate Working
Develop a clear, shared vision for strategic housing through a
process that engages all stakeholders and secures their
commitment
Strengthen the leadership role of the council in local and sub-
regional partnerships to ensure that they are contributing to the
delivery of the council’s strategies
Take steps to reduce the number of call-ins by ensuring that all
members receive the appropriate information, have opportunities
to scrutinise and can take part in, and influence, the decision-
making processes
Ensure that improvements in service areas, such as Community
Housing, are driven by Strategic Housing and are consistent with
strategies
Re-establish the “frank discussions” between housing and
planning to agree joint/coordinated working and the
development of planning as part of the delivery function for
housing
Develop a robust, corporate approach to working with
Renaissance so that sufficient influence can be exerted to ensure
the council’s priorities are being met
Theme 2 Service User Focus and Resident Engagement
Further develop approaches to information and data sharing
with partners to enhance the council’s understanding of the
community
Improve understanding of all communities through the use of
approaches such as ‘Knowing your Communities’ self-assessments
Develop and implement further consultation and engagement
activities to ensure all stakeholders are involved from an early
stage of decision making
Identify opportunities to work with partners and use their
existing mechanisms to inform consult and engage residents
Adopt a more proactive approach to informing residents and
dealing with the media in order to counteract negative
perceptions and publicity
Ensure that service re-design and development, such as
Choice Based Lettings, are undertaken with a focus on service
users, and that changes are communicated effectively
Theme 3 Achieving Effective and Sustainable Outcomes
Ensure that the new Housing Strategy is fully aligned with the
findings of the
Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA), the revised Housing
Needs Survey (HNS) and Government guidance before it is signed
off
Improve the council understands of the private sector through
working with partners and learning from best practice elsewhere.
Develop a more systematic approach to delivering new housing
that includes a longer term appraisal of opportunities
Ensure there is clear agreement on affordable housing targets
and the processes for delivering them across the council and
partner organisations
Use the SHMA, the HNS and work with the District Valuer to
support a more proactive, directive approach to dealings with
developers and RSLs in order to deliver affordable housing
Consider the use of a Supplementary Planning Document,
alongside the S106 strategy that is being developed, to assist in
the delivery of affordable housing
Develop the partnership with Renaissance in relation to the
delivery of affordable housing by sending clear, consistent
messages about what the council wants to achieve, establishing
closer working with Strategic Housing, and brokering links between
Renaissance and RSLs.
Encourage greater member engagement in partnerships,
including sub regional partnerships by, for example, providing
information, awareness raising activities and support
Improve partnership working with RSLs and private sector
landlords so that they have a better understanding of the
council’s strategy, their role in delivering it and how the council will
support them
Theme 4 People, Performance and resource Management
Develop a more strategic approach to performance
management by deploying resources where targets are not being
met, for example use
Savings secured through service improvements to finance
increased capacity to tackle the needs in affordable housing and
empty homes
Develop a clear, pipeline approach to S106 funding rather
than relying on a windfall approach
Identify and provide any required support to ensure South Essex
Homes is rated 2 star in the next inspection and associated
funding for Decent Homes is secured
Implement consistent project management and ensure there
are mechanisms in place to establish links between projects and
share learning from them.
The activities I would undertake are:
Review of the council’s documentation
One to one meetings with key elected members and officers
Focus groups with frontline staff and managers
Meetings with residents and tenants
Meetings with representatives of regional bodies
Meetings with local and sub-regional partners
Theme 1 Leadership and Corporate Working
Decision-making and scrutiny
Strengths
• Excellent examples of scrutiny working well
• Effective delegation of decision-making to the service
• Services are making great efforts to brief and support members
Issues to consider:
• Scheduling and managing meetings so that they can be more
effective
• The number of call-ins needs to be reduced
• Engage and inform others at an early stage in decision-making.
Corporate and strategic working
Strengths
• There is a lot more strategic thinking going on
• The “wider” management team meetings have been effective if
fostering corporate working
• Restructuring is leading to more integration within the service
• There is some closer working between Housing and Planning
Issues to consider;
• Members need to be aware of what is working well, so do others
• Think about how partnership can help deliver your strategies
Theme Two - Service User Focus and Resident Engagement
Understanding the community
Strengths
All the required demographic data is there
A housing needs survey has been undertaken and the SHMA is
due in May
South Essex Homes have a high level resident profile and have
carried out an aspiration survey
Issues to consider
The perceptions need to be dealt with
Learn more from your partners e.g. private sector landlords
Do you know all your communities equally well?
Service user focus
Strengths
The need to improve customer satisfaction overall, and with
services, has been recognised
Structures were designed to improve customer focus
More satisfaction surveys are being developed and
implemented
Issues to consider
Allocations could be more “user friendly”
Think about how changes are presented e.g. CBL
Avoid letting the pace of change prevent a focus on
customers
Theme Three - Achieving Effective and Sustainable Outcomes
Understanding the housing market
Strengths
The sub-regional SHMA is on schedule
The housing strategies being developed are comprehensive
Work to identify the regeneration needs of social housing is
underway
Issues to consider
The implications of housing market information need to be fully
understood
A systematic approach to delivering new housing is needed
A better understanding of the private sector, HMOs, empty
homes is needed
Partnership working
Strengths
There are some very good examples of partnership working
e.g. on domestic violence, homelessness and South Essex Homes
A housing sub-group is being set up in the LSP and will include
RSLs
The Landlords’ Forum is being re-established and is very much
welcomed
Issues to consider
There is potential for the council to take a greater leadership
role in partnerships e.g. LSP and the sub-region
Developing the partnership with Renaissance
More member engagement in partnerships and sub-regionally
Delivering strategic housing functions
Strengths
Housing and regeneration have risen up the political agenda
There is evidence of service improvements on the ground,
Funding is being secured and savings being made
Issues to consider
The focus has been on “quick wins” rather than a longer-term
appraisal of opportunities
Broader agreement on affordable housing targets is needed,
and how to achieve them
Need to learn from best practice elsewhere e.g. town centre
housing
Theme Four - People, Performance and Resource Management
Resource management
Strengths
External funding has been successfully levered in
Resources are being used in creative ways
Skilled and experienced staff are being recruited
Issues to consider
Using savings to finance capacity to tackle the needs in
affordable housing and empty homes
Is there any more you can do to ensure the ALMO is 2 star and
decent homes funding is secured?
Beware of staff burn-out
Performance management
Strengths
Performance has improved in a number of areas
A performance management framework is in place with
regular monitoring and reporting
A range of local indicators has been developed
Issues to consider
Not on target to achieve affordable housing numbers
Some indicators remain below the threshold
LAA targets will need to be monitored
Programme and project management
Strengths
A project management tool is in use and there are project
boards for larger projects
Improvement processes are project managed e.g. supporting
People
Issues to consider
ProMaf is not embedded corporately
Make sure projects are linked and learning from them is shared
