The Housing and Homelessness Policy and Accountability Committee are scheduled to meet to discuss tenant satisfaction, and a strategy for family housing. The meeting will also include a review of the minutes from the previous meeting.

Family Housing Strategy

The committee is scheduled to discuss the Family Housing Strategy, which was approved by the cabinet in July 2025. The strategy sets out seven actions that Hammersmith and Fulham Council can take to increase the amount of family housing available to people in housing need in the borough.

The report pack states that there is:

a clear trend whereby young people and young families are leaving Hammersmith and Fulham.

The report pack suggests that this is due to a combination of factors, including declining birth rates, the availability and affordability of family homes, and demand for social housing.

The Family Housing Strategy outlines three broad areas of intervention to increase the supply of family homes and improve the availability of the existing family housing stock:

• Updating housing strategy and planning policy
• Making best use of existing homes
• Building and buying new homes.

The report pack lists seven action plan items:

1. Ensure that the need for the provision of family accommodation features strongly in the new housing strategy and local plan documents to be prepared from 2025 onwards.
2. Develop a package of options that will form a campaign approach to promoting and incentivising downsizing of accommodation to free up large family accommodation.
3. Explore with housing association partners how closer joint working, potentially through a Housing Compact, can deliver more family accommodation for residents.
4. Following Cabinet's decision to approve the principle of establishing a Housing Company, continue to explore the business case for the Company to become a vehicle to grow the supply of family homes.
5. Building on current housing development activity, continue to explore all opportunities to maximise the development of family housing for both rented and intermediate provision.
6. Undertake a scoping exercise to identify sites which can host family housing development opportunities.
7. Seek to prioritise acquisition opportunities that offer the greatest quantum of family sized homes.

The report pack also provides an update on the implementation of the policy. It notes that the council has begun drafting its new Housing Strategy and Local Plan, and that both documents will be subject to extensive consultation and will set out commitments to continue the delivery of family accommodation. It also notes that Hammersmith and Fulham has a competitive downsizing incentive scheme, including £2,000 per bedroom released, coverage of moving costs, optional decorating, and utility reconnections. The council is launching a new quarterly Housing Association Forum to engage with its largest partners in the borough, including Notting Hill Genesis, Guinness, and Peabody. The Cabinet's decision to approve a Housing Company is progressing through the business case stages, with a focus on bringing complex void properties back into use. Across both the council's own development pipeline and private sector schemes, there is a strong emphasis on delivering more family-sized homes.

Tenant Satisfaction Measures

The committee will receive an update on the 2024/25 Tenant Satisfaction Measures¹ (TSM) Survey.

The report pack states that Hammersmith & Fulham Housing has been able to improve its performance across the majority of measures through its approach to continuous improvement and implementing a robust improvement plan between 2023/24 to 2024/25.

The TSM framework comprises 22 measures, of which 12 are derived from tenant perception surveys and 10 from management information held by landlords.

The council commissioned the independent research company, BMG Research to conduct the TSM surveys in both 2023-24 and 2024-25.

For the 2023/24 Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) return, the council adopted a mixed-method approach to data collection, including telephone, face-to-face, and online surveys. Following feedback from residents, it was decided for the n 2024/25, this methodology was refined to focus primarily on face-to-face (70%) and telephone (30%) engagement. The shift aimed to enhance the quality of feedback by capturing more detailed, qualitative insights and verbatim comments.

The report pack states that:

H&F's performance against the TSM perception measures has shown broad improvement against nearly all the measures.

The data set out in the report pack highlights marked improvements across 11 out of 12 measures. There has been a particularly strong improvement in overall satisfaction, the proportion of residents who are satisfied that the landlord listens to their views and responds to them and that the landlord treats them fairly and with respect.

The data set out in the report pack also shows some key improvements:

• 100% compliance was maintained or achieved across all safety-related metrics
• Non-emergency repairs completed on time improved
• Emergency repairs also improved slightly from a high base
• The number of stage 1 and stage 2 complaints per 1,000 homes both recorded a notable decrease.

The report pack notes that the proportion of Decent Homes² has increased by 46%, but from a low base of 2.8% to 4.1%.

The report pack states that the Housing Services is undertaking a continuous improvement journey which initially focussed on ensuring that residents are at the heart of service standards, ensuring tenants have improvements across the Consumer Standards, in particular ensuring tenants are safe across the Big 6 on Building Safety, and having a modern-day repairs service that tenants are satisfied.

Previous Meeting Minutes

The committee will review the minutes from the meeting held on 24th July 2025. At that meeting, the committee:

• Received a Housing Repairs Service Update. John Hayden, Assistant Director – Repairs, introduced the report which provided an update on key areas, noting that 91% of repairs were completed on time, with strong performance from contractors.
• Discussed Housing Provision in Hammersmith and Fulham for People Over the Age of 55. Richard Shwe, Director – Housing, and Aaron Cahill, Housing Policy Strategy Lead, introduced the report which provided an overview of the types of housing available to residents aged 55 and over in Hammersmith and Fulham.
• Received a Homelessness Update. Clare Dorning, Head of Homelessness Prevention, introduced the report which outlined that during 2024/25, 3,000 households approached the Council as homeless.