The Homes and Communities Scrutiny Committee of Islington Council met on 17 March 2026 to discuss the council's efforts in tackling homelessness and to review housing performance. Key discussions included the final report and recommendations from a year-long scrutiny review into homelessness, the quarterly homelessness performance report, and the Quarter 3 Housing Performance Report. Decisions made included noting the draft HRA Asset Management Strategy and the National Plan to End Homelessness, and agreeing to finalise draft recommendations for the homelessness review.

Scrutiny Review of Homelessness 2025/26: Final Report and Recommendations

The committee discussed the final report of their year-long scrutiny review into homelessness in Islington. The report concluded that homelessness is a system-made crisis rather than an individual failing, and highlighted the council's strong performance in preventing homelessness and reducing the average time spent in temporary accommodation compared to other London boroughs. However, the report also stressed the significant impact of the national housing emergency, including high private rents and a collapse in the supply of affordable homes.

Key recommendations from the report include:

• Whole-system statutory duty to prevent homelessness: A call for all public services, including health, criminal justice, and adult social care, to have a legal responsibility to actively prevent homelessness.
• Changing the homelessness framework: Reforming national policy to abolish the priority need framework and end local connection requirements for rough sleepers.
• Delivering services that end homelessness for people and places: Implementing a place-based model that integrates housing, health, and social care services.
• Demand and secure a new generation of social homes: Advocating for government funding to purchase 200 ex-Right to Buy homes annually and for council housebuilding to be treated as national infrastructure investment.
• Local Housing Allowance: Urging the government to uprate Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates to reflect real market rents.
• Rent stabilisation: Recommending government introduce rent stabilisation in high-cost areas like London to prevent excessive rent increases.
• Prevent homelessness before crisis point: Strengthening early intervention, face-to-face advice, and outreach services, and recognising legal advice as a core prevention tool.
• Rapid rehousing and reduced reliance on temporary accommodation: Shifting towards moving people quickly from emergency accommodation into permanent homes, with a tenancy preparation phase.
• Housing First: Continuing and expanding the Housing First approach, which has shown high tenancy sustainment rates.
• Ending exploitation and preventing tenancy breakdown, including cuckooing: Developing a multi-agency approach to cuckooing and exploring cross-borough rehousing for at-risk residents.
• Women's homelessness and gender-specific provision: Developing gender-specific, trauma-informed accommodation and support, including exploring a dedicated women's supported accommodation building.
• Supporting migrants and refugees at risk of homelessness: Continuing to work with partners to provide advice and support, and recommending government review the impact of No Recourse to Public Funds conditions.
• Access to support beyond housing: Investing in integrated health, care, and housing support, and ensuring stable, long-term funding for these services.
• Social connections, recovery and belonging: Investing in support for community-based groups and activities to help residents rebuild relationships and a sense of belonging.
• Redefining success and sustaining tenancies: Developing resident-led measures of success that focus on tenancy sustainment, safety, and wellbeing.
• Lived experience and resident voice: Creating a framework to embed the voices of people with lived experience of homelessness in service redesign and policy change.
• Workforce resilience, sustainability, and representation: Seeking long-term investment for specialist homelessness roles and supporting staff wellbeing.
• Regulation, safety, and accountability: Advocating for homelessness and supported accommodation services to fall under the responsibility of the Regulator of Social Housing.
• Domestic abuse: Embedding domestic abuse prevention and survivor-centred practice across housing services, and considering reforms similar to the Scottish Government's approach to evicting perpetrators rather than victims.
• Empowerment and partnership accountability: Strengthening the Homelessness Forum to ensure transparency and shared accountability.
• A National Plan to End Homelessness: Welcoming the government's plan but urging it to go further with statutory responsibilities, shared outcomes, and long-term funding.

The committee noted that the draft recommendations would be finalised on 12 February.

Quarterly Homelessness Performance Report

Ian Swift, Director of Housing Operations, presented the quarterly homelessness performance report. The report indicated that while Islington faces significant challenges with a rising number of households in temporary accommodation, the council's performance in areas like antisocial behaviour and estate services has shown improvement. Rent arrears remain a pressure point due to the cost of living crisis. The report highlighted that Islington has the second highest number of homelessness assessments in London, but a comparatively low rate of households in temporary accommodation, with an average stay of 10-11 months. Domestic abuse and evictions from family and friends were identified as significant drivers of homelessness. The council's property purchase programme has helped secure additional accommodation.

Councillor Heather Staff raised concerns about the lack of data regarding refugees and asylum seekers in the homelessness figures and questioned the effectiveness of the extended move-on period for those leaving Home Office hotels. Ian Swift responded that the 42-day period is an improvement but advocated for 56 days, and confirmed that Islington had assisted those leaving the Barbican Hostel with rehousing.

Resident observer Cassandra Flavius inquired about the focus on preventing homelessness due to family or friends no longer being willing to accommodate, and the duration of stays in bed and breakfast accommodation. Ian Swift confirmed that preventing parental evictions is a priority and that the council aims to move families out of hotels within 72 hours.

Councillor Phil Graham noted the impressive performance in reducing the length of time people spend in temporary accommodation but questioned the 66 households who have been in temporary accommodation for five years or more. Ian Swift explained this is often due to complex needs such as severe autism, physical disabilities, or larger family sizes, where suitable accommodation is difficult to find.

The committee also discussed the upcoming conference on homelessness, organised to present the scrutiny review report.

Quarter 3 Housing Performance Report

The committee received the Quarter 3 Housing Performance Report, which detailed performance against key indicators for the Homes and Neighbourhoods directorate. Councillor John Wolfe, Executive Member for Homes and Neighbourhoods, highlighted strengths in repairs, safety, tenancy satisfaction, and temporary accommodation management, while acknowledging pressures in rough sleeping, complaints, and rent arrears.

Key performance indicators showed:

• Decent Homes Standard: 97% of homes met the Decent Homes Standard, placing Islington in the upper quartile for London.
• Repairs: 83% of non-emergency repairs were completed on time, meeting the target and similar to the London median. Emergency repairs were at 95%, above the London median.
• Building Safety: High compliance rates were reported across gas, fire, asbestos, water, and lift safety checks, generally within 1 percentage point of 100% compliance.
• Anti-social behaviour (ASB): A slight increase in ASB reporting was noted, attributed to making reporting easier, with projections indicating performance within the lower-middle quartile for London.
• Complaints: Stage 1 complaints were at 63 per 1,000 homes, projected to be higher than the London median, but 85% were responded to within timescales, placing Islington in the upper quartile. Stage 2 complaints saw 80% responded to within timescales, with a further 10% pending.
• Tenancy Satisfaction Measures (TSM): Overall satisfaction was 68%, placing Islington in the upper quartile for London. Satisfaction with repairs, home maintenance, safety, and landlord communication all showed improvements.
• Temporary Accommodation: The rate of households in temporary accommodation was 17 per 1,000, below the London average of 21 per 1,000. No families with children were in bed and breakfast accommodation for over six weeks.
• Rough Sleeping: The number of people sleeping rough was 26, a decrease from the previous year, with a target of zero.
• Rent Arrears: Rent arrears stood at 4.8% of the rent roll, a decrease from the previous year, though managing arrears was identified as a significant challenge due to the cost of living crisis.

Councillor Ilkay Cinko-Oner raised concerns about the monitoring of contractors' timing for repairs and the quality of work, citing an example of a contractor finishing just before the deadline. Jed Young, Corporate Director of Homes and Neighbourhoods, acknowledged the need for improved contractor monitoring and data analytics. Councillor Cinko-Oner also raised issues regarding cyclical works taking too long and a problematic tender process.

Councillor Phil Graham reiterated concerns about lift maintenance, highlighting persistent issues with specific lifts and a lack of spare parts. The committee was assured that efforts were being made to address contractor performance and explore solutions for parts storage.

Elizabeth Emmanuel raised concerns about rising rent arrears and the risk of increased evictions, particularly in light of the homelessness strategy. Ian Swift confirmed that rent arrears had not increased significantly year-on-year due to financial inclusion approaches and targeted support, with very few evictions for rent arrears.

A public questioner asked about the frequency of contractors returning to repairs and the associated costs. It was stated that less than 2% of routine non-emergency repairs required a subsequent order, and re-attendances due to unsatisfactory work were at the contractor's cost.

The committee also discussed potential topics for the next year's work programme, including the impact of rising rents in the private rented sector and antisocial behaviour. Councillor Rommel requested that the issue of the new generation scheme for young people be included in the scrutiny review, citing concerns about young people being priced out of the borough.

The meeting concluded with Councillor Hannah McHugh expressing pride in the committee's work over the year.