New Tech To Test Air Quality In Council Homes

Two councils are taking part in research as to how technology could be used in council properties to improve indoor environmental conditions and air quality. The aim is to improve the health and wellbeing of council tenants, and provide councils with real-time information to assist with property management and the provision of better quality accommodation. Led by Leeds City Council and the City of York Council, the project is part of the GovTech Catalyst programme, which enables public sector bodies to harness new and emerging technologies. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/new-tech-to-test-air-quality-in-council-homes/

Council Houses Return To Local Authority

Leeds City Council has taken back control of its council housing stock. The council had agreed earlier this year to become the sole landlord for the city's 70,000 council tenants. For the last 10 years the city's council homes have been run by three ALMOs. The Labour-run authority said the decision followed a review of the service and a major consultation with council tenants. Read more on the Leeds City Council website.

Nine Year Wait for One-Bed Property

Council tenants are facing a nine-year wait for a one-bedroom property, the YEP can reveal. Stark figures show around 15,000 residents are currently languishing on waiting lists chasing just 35 available one-bedroom properties in Leeds. More than 4,335 tenants are deemed by Leeds City Council to be under-occupying their homes and in need of one-bedroom properties because they could be subject to the Government’s so-called Bedroom Tax. And the council warned tenants could turn to higher priced private sector rentals to avoid the ‘tax’, which would actually drive up the city’s benefits bills.  Read more on the Yorkshire Evening Post website.

New 'Doctor' To Tackle Empty Homes Problem

A free Empty Homes Doctor service for owners of empty properties has opened the doors of its first ‘clinic’ in Leeds. The first of its kind in the UK, the service aims to help people who have an empty property and want to put it back into use – but don’t know the options or support available. Free for empty home owners in Leeds, the Empty Homes Doctor service aims to help tackle Leeds’ empty homes problem by understanding a person’s individual circumstances and providing a one-to-one service.  Developed by Leeds-based social enterprise Leeds Empties, the Empty Homes Doctor service is backed by a £100,000 investment from Leeds City Council.  Read more on the City Talking website.

Council Ignores Freud Threat

A council has pledged to legally challenge the government over its stance on bedroom tax reclassifications. Lord Freud said councils found to have reclassified properties without reducing the rent charged would face a cut in their housing benefit subsidy.  Leeds Council has reclassified 837 homes as having one fewer bedroom each, but is refusing to reduce the rent. Peter Gruen, deputy leader of Leeds Council, said: ‘We have taken all the legal advice we have and what we are doing is perfectly legitimate.’  Read more on Inside Housing.

Council Tackles Bedroom Tax With Semantic Solution

Leeds council has come up with a novel way of sidestepping the controversial bedroom tax: reclassifying more than 800 "spare" rooms in its social homes as "non-specific rooms".  The creative wordplay means tenants in affected properties are not classed as underoccupying their homes and do not have to pay a surcharge as a result.   Councillor Peter Gruen said it would cost the council more to evict tenants and rehouse them than it would to simply accept that many could not pay for the underoccupation charge.  Council officials had inspected the housing stock and reclassified any unoccupied ground floor bedrooms as non-specific as well as very small bedrooms, or those which acted as a thoroughfare to another room. He said he hoped that all "fair-minded politicians" across the country would implement the same changes.

Read more on the Guardian website.

Council Told To Improve Housing Services

Leeds City Council's executive board is to receive a report recommending improvements to its housing management services - after consulting its 70,000 tenants.  As part of an eight-week process, all of the council's residents were sent consultation packs and given the chance to attend meetings and road shows.  Over 60% of respondents said they wanted the council to provide all of their housing services, while 20.9% said they preferred a single ALMO option. Just under 20% were undecided.   And over 82% said they wanted to be involved in how their housing is run. The report, which will be presented in June, will recommend bringing services in-house.

Read more on 24dash.

‘Bribe To Buy’ Blast in Homes Crisis

Leeds’s housing boss says council tenants’ right to buy their homes is more a “bribe” to buy - and should be scrapped.  Coun Pete Gruen was speaking as figures obtained by the YEP revealed that the controversial scheme is having a major impact on the city’s overall housing crisis. Experts say a radical overhaul is needed to allow supply of council homes to catch up with demand. The authority has raked in £350m from selling off 10,000 council houses in the last decade – yet it currently has funding to build just 105. Official figures also show that the number of Leeds council tenants using their right to buy has increased in the last year since a maximum 70 per cent discount was introduced, meaning the council is losing its stock faster than it is replacing it. The authority has sold more council homes in the last year than it is planning to build in the next three. Read more on the Yorkshire Evening Post website.

Another Landlord Reclassifies Homes

Labour-led Leeds Council has become the latest social landlord to consider reclassifying homes to enable tenants to avoid the bedroom tax.  The Council has confirmed it is looking at reclassifying 865 homes. These include 398 three-bedroom, low-rise flats which could be re-designated as two-bedroom and 341 five-bedroom houses with a downstairs bedroom which could be reclassified as having four bedrooms. There are also 126 two-bedroom flats which the council believes could be classed as one-bedroom. Read more on the Leeds Council website.

ALMOS under Review

Leeds Council has launched a review of its arrangements with the city’s three ALMOs amid concerns over accountability. The council will extend the management agreements for a year from the current expiration date of January 2013 while the review is carried out.  A report to be debated by the Labour-led council’s executive board next Wednesday has highlighted ‘a perceived lack of clarity around decision making and accountability between the council and the three ALMOs, specifically around who takes responsibility when there is service failure’.  Read more on the Leeds City Council website.