The meeting on 18 April heard evidence about Islington Council's New Build Programme from housing officers and external speakers, including the worrying experiences of residents on the Parkview Estate. This was followed by presentations on Islington Council's performance on housing and its accreditation with the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance.

New Build Homes in Islington

The Committee heard evidence from two expert witnesses about the challenges facing local authorities in London seeking to build new homes. Rachel Bagenal, Assistant Director, Housing Regeneration & Delivery at Hackney Council, explained that Hackney has been directly delivering its own council homes since 2011, with over 3,400 homes now built across more than 30 sites. Hackney's approach is to deliver a mix of social rent, shared ownership and outright sale homes, with the latter two tenures used to cross-subsidise the building of new council homes. Ms Bagenal explained that this model is very challenging in the current market, with increasing construction costs, inflation and plateauing property prices. She also highlighted the impact of recent changes to the regulatory framework on tall buildings, with the introduction of requirements for second staircases, new building and fire safety regulations, and increased energy efficiency standards.

Tim Porter, Director of Delivery at Be First, Barking and Dagenham Council's regeneration company, explained that Be First has been responsible for delivering 20% of all new council housing in London over the past six years. Mr Porter explained that Be First's approach is to focus on direct delivery of new homes, utilising council borrowing to fund the building of new homes for the council's housing company, Reside. He also highlighted the importance of working with the private sector and developing innovative funding models, such as the income strip deal used to fund the Trocoll House development in Barking.

The Committee then heard powerful evidence from a representative of the Parkview Estate Tenants and Residents Association (TRA). The TRA representative told the Committee that residents had been extremely disappointed with the council's handling of the new build project on the estate. They were particularly critical of the lack of communication and engagement with residents, and the lack of transparency around the decision-making process. The TRA representative also expressed concern about the loss of three and four bedroom dwellings from the scheme, and questioned the viability of the new homes, especially in light of recent rent increases. The TRA representative concluded by informing the Committee that a Freedom of Information request submitted in February 2024 for information on the cost of the scheme had not been answered.

Responding to the TRA representative's evidence, Councillor Diarmaid Ward, Executive Member for Finance, Planning and Performance, and the Corporate Director of Community and Wealth Building apologised for the council's failings on the Parkview Estate project and pledged to meet with residents to discuss their concerns.

Islington Council New Build Programme Finances

Nick Stylianou, Assistant Director of Homes, Neighbourhoods and Public Health, then gave a presentation on the council's new build programme finances. Mr Stylianou explained that the council is committed to delivering 750 new council homes by 2026. However, he acknowledged that there are a number of challenges facing the council, including the complexity of building in Islington, challenging legislative changes, a depressed housing market and high inflation. Mr Stylianou went on to explain that the council has taken a number of actions to address these challenges, including reviewing scheme viability, exploring alternative funding sources and improving its programme management.

Responding to questions from the Committee, Councillor Ward acknowledged that the council had abandoned plans to build Block D of the Parkview Estate development and other schemes due to a number of factors, including escalating costs and legal challenges. He said that the council had been forced to take some tough decisions but insisted that it remained committed to delivering new affordable homes.

In response to concerns about the competence of the New Build Team, the Corporate Director of Community and Wealth Building acknowledged that there had been issues. However, he said that these had been addressed and that the team was now in a much stronger position. He also insisted that the council had learned from its mistakes and was committed to improving its performance in the future.

Housing Performance Annual Report from Executive Member

The Committee were due to receive the Housing Performance Annual Report from Executive Member for Housing, Councillor Una O'Halloran. However, this item was deferred to the next meeting on 30 April. Councillor O'Halloran invited Committee members to submit questions in advance of the meeting.

Quarterly Review of Housing Performance

In the third quarter of 2023/24, Islington continued to have significantly fewer people in temporary accommodation (TA), at 11 per 1,000 households, compared to London (17 per 1,000) and England (5 per 1,000).¹

The Council is performing well in managing its TA. However, the report highlighted the urgent need to reduce its reliance on expensive and insecure nightly paid accommodation in the private rented sector. This is due to a combination of ever increasing demand and the almost complete unavailability of private rented sector accommodation that is affordable to people on low incomes.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has found that no private rented sector properties in Islington are let at or below the Local Housing Allowance. In the last 12 months, London rents in this sector have risen by 12% and the number of properties available to rent has fallen by 41%.

With the exception of lift maintenance, which has been impacted by contractor issues, all tenant satisfaction measures were found to be satisfactory.

The Committee also heard that the Housing Ombudsman had informally notified the council that its investigation under Paragraph 49 of the Housing Act 1996² had been discharged. This news was welcomed by the Committee as testament to the work undertaken by officers and members to address the Ombudsman's recommendations.

Due to a shortage of properties within the borough, Islington is increasingly having to accommodate homeless people in boroughs such as Haringey and Barnet.

The Corporate Director of Community and Wealth Building agreed to provide a breakdown of costs to the council arising from legal disrepair claims and complaints to the Housing Ombudsman.

Communal Heating

The Committee received a report on the progress made against recommendations arising from its review of communal heating in Islington.

The installation of remote meters is helping to ensure that most boiler breakdowns are now resolved on the same day, or within 24 hours. However, it is not currently possible to remotely reset boilers. For safety reasons an engineer must first visit the property to establish the cause of the breakdown.

The council is consulting on proposals to give vulnerable and elderly residents greater flexibility over the timings for communal heating.

The Committee also heard that, in future, contracts for communal heating will include clauses ensuring that the council can recover compensation costs from contractors.

Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance Accreditation

The Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) is a national accreditation scheme that sets the standard for how local authorities should respond to domestic abuse. The meeting heard that Islington Council's Homes and Communications team were accredited in 2021 and that Housing Operations have been working towards accreditation since June 2022. They are aiming to achieve accreditation by December 2023.

The Committee heard that the accreditation will ensure that the council makes the right response to domestic abuse the first time and amplifies the voice of the survivor.

Work Programme

The Committee noted the work programmes for 2023/24 and 2024/25.