Islington's housing is getting better (Islington Liberal Democrats)

Islington Liberal Democrats <Islington_ld@cix.co.uk>

Islington's housing is getting better

July 16, 2004 11:35 AM

Islington's housing services are getting better all the time and have promising prospects for improvement according to government inspectors who visited the borough in January.

The government's Housing Inspectorate awarded Islington's housing services a 'fair with promising prospects for improvement' grading. The pre-inspection followed a request from Islington Council to review how the borough's housing ALMO (Homes for Islington) was managing services before it is inspected fully in November.

The Audit Commission's pre-inspection report highlights how many of the Council's housing services are currently performing well:

the area housing offices are a good first point of contact for tenants. the information the Council provides is well written and useful.there is strong action to tackle anti social behaviour (ASB). there is a clear investment strategy which has been agreed with tenants. most capital and planned maintenance schemes are of a high quality and comprehensive information is provided for tenants. a clear tenant participation framework is in place including a forum for leaseholders. there is a continuous improvement in the performance on making empty homes available for letting. illegal occupation of homes (squatters) is being tackled successfully.

The report also identifies areas where Homes for Islington needs to make improvements if it is to have its rating upgraded when it is inspected fully in the autumn. Homes for Islington needs to win a two star rating (good) if it is to release the extra £157 million funding the government has promised.

Liberal Democrat Executive Member for Housing, Councillor Jyoti Vaja, said:

"It is really good news the Audit Commission agrees that housing services in Islington are improving. This follows on from the most recent tenant satisfaction survey which showed a big improvement in how the Council's housing services were rated.

"The pre-inspection was always intended to show us what we must do in the coming months to ensure that we get the two stars we need when the inspectors come again in November.

"The good news is that because the inspection took place six months ago, a lot of the targets the Audit Commission set are already being met. Others are being worked on now to ensure Islington's housing stock gets the investment it so desperately needs to give residents the homes and estates they want."

The Facts

The Audit Commission's report stated that there were promising prospects for improvement because:

There is strong leadership within the housing service, the priorities are firmly linked with the corporate drive for improvement, and there is high level support within the council for the aims of the service. The Best Value Review of housing management was an honest assessment of strengths and weaknesses of housing services with care taken to incorporate the main concerns of tenants and leaseholders. The council has made early progress on some of the recommendations that focussed key service improvements on the customer. There have been sustained improvement to services and more recently following the agreement of the recommendations of the BVR. Widespread use has been made of gaining information and good practice from other councils and registered social landlords (RSL).