Contrast:

The issue

ONE HULL, the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) for Hull, produced a Community Strategy for the period 2006 to 2011 with four outcomes:

• Earning - making sure all local people thrive economically
• Learning - guaranteeing every child or young person achieves their full potential
• Healthy - enabling everyone to make healthy lifestyle choices
• Safe - helping local people build strong communities and a city which is safe.

The Community Strategy’s vision for 2020 is Hull as “a City which is living, learning, working, healthy and proud. One of the most important cities in Northern Europe, we are a gateway for global trade and the heart of a prosperous Humber sub-region.”

Subsequently Hull City Council closely aligned the development of their 2008-2011 Housing Strategy with the Hull 2020 vision and ensured the strategy supported the delivery of the four outcomes of the Community Strategy. The aim was to ensure that Hull’s housing needs and housing related regeneration priorities were to become embedded in their partners’ strategies and service provision plans for health, social care, education and economic development. The Housing Strategy also aimed to drive forward Communities and Local Government’s (CLG) new priority themes of increasing the supply of houses, improving social mobility and addressing worklessness, tackling overcrowding and promoting mixed communities.

The Housing Strategy would support the delivery of the four LSP outcomes through two objectives: building a balanced housing market and building stronger communities. The strategy aimed to develop a more balanced housing market by ensuring that there is a choice of good quality affordable housing options in Hull.  The strategy aimed to deliver choice through a mix of provision by type and tenure and to support a robust private rented sector.

Housing provision would meet the aspirations of the workforce required to improve economic performance and to respond to the demographic changes such as changing household composition and migration.

The quality of housing was to be improved by reducing the number of low demand and vacant properties, by improving the energy efficiency of houses through the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP rating) and by improving the stock condition through the Decent Homes standard.

The affordability of housing was to be improved by providing equity loans, supporting shared ownership and developing affordable housing in partnership with Registered Social Landlords. Funding is being provided from the Council’s capital programme, allocations to the Humber Housing Partnership from the Regional Housing Board and from programmes run by the Housing Corporation / Homes and Community Agency. The Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire Housing Market Renewal Programme (HMR) is integral to delivery of the Housing Strategy and the HMR programme complements the Housing Strategy.

The strategy also aimed to build stronger communities by developing high quality places where people feel safe and by ensuring that housing fully meets the requirements of the diverse community including the needs of older people and people with disabilities.

The strategy aimed to build stronger communities by responding to community need through the provision of extra care housing and personalised services (for example, an interactive television pilot which monitors health conditions and provides information and integrated provision of housing, training and financial advice) and by addressing overcrowding to improve the lives of children and older people.

Community cohesion was to be supported through a choice based lettings system to promote renting and buying, encourage social mobility to meet need, to increase education and training and to reduce worklessness. Community engagement was to be increased through community-led regeneration, tenant participation and by working with area housing boards.

Choice based lettings enables people seeking council and other social housing to bid for the housing that becomes available. The applicant applies for the housing they are interested in. It is let in accordance with eligibility criteria to whoever is bidding and has the highest priority and most eligibility points. This contrasts to a more traditional system where an applicant is allocated a property by a housing officer based on the information that they have previously supplied.

Housing strategy integrationTop of page

Why did Hull integrate their housing strategy?

Hull City Council linked its new housing strategy to the Local Strategic Partnership and Community Strategy to position housing at the heart of the City’s long term vision for change and to ensure consistency with the objectives of the new Comprehensive Area Assessment. The Audit Commission assesses Local Strategic Partnerships through a Comprehensive Area Assessment based on nationally set criteria to assess progress and quality.

The broad but focussed outcomes of the Community Strategy provided a good top level framework for the Housing Strategy. The Housing Strategy and its service delivery plan were able to contribute to all of the outcomes of the Community Strategy. At least nine national indicators in Hull City’s first and second round Local Area Agreement were used as performance measures for the housing strategy. Some of these indicators were shared with other teams to develop and embed joint working.

Hull City Council and its partners realised the significant contribution housing makes both directly and indirectly to the outcomes of the Community Strategy. Direct contributions occur through the achievement of Decent Homes standards in council housing and by improving energy efficiency (through better SAP ratings). Other indicators were affected more indirectly by housing such as “vulnerable people who are supported to maintain independent living” (NI 142) and “mortality rate for all circulatory diseases at ages under 75” (NI 121). For example, housing helps support independent living through the provision of community services for extra care, hostels for homeless people and sheltered housing services. Housing helps to improve the mortality rate for those under 75 by improving energy efficiency and ensuring adequate warmth in a house.

Gateway, the Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder (HMR), was also important in supporting the delivery of Hull Council’s second round Local Area Agreement. Gateway aims to replace low demand housing with high quality, modern and sustainable accommodation through demolition, refurbishment and new building. As well as bringing significant funding Gateway is helping to improve Hull’s attraction and retention of investment by increasing the supply of housing that is attractive to knowledge workers, families and graduates. The Housing Strategy has encouraged the increased supply of higher quality houses in Hull with three or more bedrooms in order to attract residents who are key to improving the future economic performance of the city. This supports the “Earning” objective of the Community Strategy. Currently residents move out of Hull is search of the better schools and better housing in East Riding.

Hull City Council used national and international research to develop an evidence-led approach and to show, for example, the housing team’s contribution to the Healthy outcome in the Community Strategy. Through this research review Hull City Council identified the importance of housing as a background factor influencing child development.  Poor housing conditions including over-crowding, homelessness and poor house conditions have proven effects in the health and well being of children. For example:

• children in damp houses are three times more likely to suffer from asthma
• homeless children have four times as many respiratory infections, are six times more likely to have speech difficulties and three times as likely to have mental health problems
• children living in overcrowded conditions are more likely to contract respiratory diseases and viruses
• 50% of accidents involving children in the home are due to design features; and
• children in poor housing are two to three times more likely to be absent from school.

What Hull City Council did?Top of page

Working with support from the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) the Housing Team met with the cabinet and the Chief Executive’s Team at a roundtable in November 2007 to discuss the 30 page housing issues and options paper which was drawn from the Housing Market Assessment. Following the presentation the leader and the cabinet decided that they did not want a separate housing strategy, but one which was clearly linked to delivering the outcomes of the Community Strategy. This new perspective by its very nature required a partnership approach linked to outcomes.

To take this more integrated approach forward, secure Cabinet support and ensure the necessary linkages in developing their new housing strategy Hull City Council completed a substantial programme of consultation with:

• Seven area housing boards which include councillors, elected tenants and independents
• Seven area committees
• Ward councillors
• Sub-boards of the Local Strategic Partnership
• the Gateway Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder Board
• internal service teams such as Children and Young People
• various political groupings
• key external partners

Hull City Council was also proactive in using their Housing Strategy Focus Group as a critical friend to the housing service. Workshops covering the housing strategy and place shaping were held with the cabinet, corporate management team and heads of service to raise awareness and to obtain corporate support.

The Housing Strategy was written by the internal team that undertook the consultation and the final version was signed off by the full City Council.  Overall the entire strategy development process took about a year.

The Housing Services Team also started working much more closely with Hull City Council’s Children and Young People Services through a series of joint workshops around a common agenda covering housing for families with children with disabilities, homelessness and vulnerable households. In the past there was potential for the objectives of different services to work against a joined up approach. For example a housing management focus on evicting problem families may just create the requirement for additional support from Children and Young People’s Services. The opportunity to understand the consequences of actions and/or omissions of one service on the priorities of another enabled a more holistic and joined up approach which was central to achieving the city’s outcomes.

The BenefitsTop of page

Hull City Council reports a number of benefits from the approach they took to developing their new Housing Strategy and linking it closely to the Local Strategic Partnership, Community Strategy and their Local Area Agreement targets.

1. Much greater awareness and understanding of issues amongst Council staff about the role of housing and the operation of the Council as a substantial landlord during a period when the importance of cross-tenure issues has been increasing. The greater awareness has been achieved through staff conferences, staff newsletters and managers’ briefings cascaded to staff at team meetings. In the past the Housing Service was predominantly focussed on its role as a landlord but a more comprehensive approach has now been adopted.
2. The elevation of housing to the centre ground of decision making in the City which has paved the way for integrating housing objectives into the commissioning priorities of the Local Strategic Partnership.
3. Front line housing staff being trained in Common Assessment so they are able to consider a wider range of issues including general health and welfare issues and not just rent arrears when dealing with local residents.
4. The simple and clear objectives of Earning, Learning, Healthy and Safe have shaped service culture and have been integrated into both strategic and operational decision making. Hull sense a culture shift has been supported by this clarity and easy to understand approach. Staff within the service and beyond now recognise that housing is about more than being “just a landlord” and that by providing quality housing, either directly or indirectly, it assists people to obtain jobs, helps attract investment and supports school pupils. The enhanced housing option service which links a range of council services and partners including Job Centre Plus is a direct result.
5. Overall the integration approach is an efficiency approach. Hull City Council is now able to handle a greater range of inquiries professionally at the first point of contact. The aim is for all frontline services to be cross service and cross tenure.
6. Joint working has extended to job definition and recruitment. A new post jointly funded by housing services and adult social care has been created to help support the healthy outcome of the Community Strategy.
7. Stronger relationships have been formed with the Primary Care Trusts. For example the local Primary Care Trust commissioned a Health Impact Assessment of the Decent Homes activities.
8. With 100 tenants from the Tenants Forum taking part in the Housing Academy the learning agenda has been addressed and volunteering targets supported. Delivered as an evening class over 12 weeks, the Housing Academy is a course which gives tenants a broad insight into how the housing service in Hull works and covers housing law and finance, dealing with anti-social behaviour, lettings policy and practice, and equalities and customer service.

"It is common to consult on strategy but the Strategy and Regeneration Manager organised his presentation to show how the housing strategy will directly impact on the six objectives of the children and young people's strategy. This was made all the more effective by drawing on practical examples and research evidence to show how, for example, a child will not achieve their potential if they have nowhere to do their homework or their house is cold and damp. Delivered with conviction and commitment the now legendary presentation was a good example of how successful partnering comes from really understanding your partner's agenda. As a result four joint evidence-led improvement events were planned to help staff from both teams to review national research and local service user evidence and to move the improvement agenda forward. Covering children with disabilities, vulnerable children, homelessness and large families, the collaborative workshops aim to make the strategy a living strategy. We expect this ongoing collaboration and joint commitment to result in the creative development of joined-up solutions to joined-up problems."

Mike Pinnock, Heading of Commissioning and Business Support, Children and Young People Services, Hull City Council

The lessonsTop of page

The main lessons from Hull City Council’s approach of linking their housing activities closely with their Local Strategic Partnership and Community Strategy were:

• It was very important to get political buy-in at the outset and this was helped by having a Community Strategy with a clear vision for 2020 and four easily understood outcomes. Securing Cabinet support was important and was achieved by working with Councillors on the Area Committees and by briefing the political groups.
• By using an IDeA consultant with experience of Hull to run the workshop for cabinet and senior staff and to act as a critical friend, Hull City Council was able to secure a fresh external perspective with local credibility.  This independence was important as a first step to “doing things differently”.
• The increasing importance of place shaping and the role of housing (and the role of Hull’s Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder, Gateway) in making high quality places has provided a supportive context for strategy integration.
• Hull City Council was able to demonstrate the linkages between housing services and outcomes (e.g. health, learning) by using national and international evidence when local evidence was not available. This helped secure buy-in from other service areas such as children and young people and fostered a genuine approach to joint working
• With the Local Strategic Partnership having control over an expanding single pot of funding it was sensible to ensure that housing was central to the Local Strategic Partnership on a business case basis. For example from 2010 the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) will be entirely controlled by the Local Strategic Partnership. Currently 40 per cent goes directly to the City Council. There is a need to show how housing contributes to the Local Strategic Partnership and work up the necessary business cases (for example, how adapting a house so that a patient can leave return home earlier gives benefits to the Primary Care Trust).
• Acknowledging that housing itself is not an outcome. Housing acts as a contributor to the four Community Strategy objectives of Earning, Learning, Healthy and Safe. The influence of housing has not been lost as housing contributes to each of the four objectives.
• Do not underestimate the time required for comprehensive and effective consultation. The consultation must release internal energy and creativity, has to be undertaken at the right time for an organisation and must succeed in getting key supporters.

Further InformationTop of page

Jameel Malik, Strategy and Regeneration Manager, Hull City Council
email: jameel.malik@hullcc.gov.uk
telephone: 01482 614895

ONE HULL (LSP)