Agenda item

Report of the Director of Adults and Housing

Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Property Services and Development which indicated that Coventry City Council has been awarded £2.1m as a capital grant as a share of £15m being made available to the West Midlands Combined Authority through a grant from Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The funding is being distributed to the seven Local Authorities to support the physical standards of social housing within the region. The funding is made available to Coventry City Council as a Section 31 Local Authority grant with the Council being responsible for allocating the funds to Registered Housing Providers in the city to tackle disrepair issues specifically with regards to damp and mould. The Council is not a Registered Housing Provider and therefore in order to discharge its obligations under the grant, will pass such funding (via a grant agreement) to Citizen Housing.

The Council’s Constitution requires Cabinet approval prior to signature of a grant agreement where such grant is between £500,000 and £2,500,000. Where time does not allow this to happen approval can be sought by the relevant Director following consultation with the relevant Cabinet Member and Scrutiny Chair with a requirement to then report retrospectively to Cabinet. As time was not available to report in advance of signature for this grant, approval was gained by the Director of Adults and Housing, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities and the Chair of the Housing and Communities Scrutiny Board (4). The report therefore acts as the retrospective report for the grant received and also sought delegated authority to enter into a grant agreement with Citizen Housing in order to discharge the Council’s obligations.

The report indicated that Registered Providers in Coventry were formally notified of their opportunity to apply for the funding in November 2023 and were encouraged to submit a bid in line with timescales provided by the WMCA. Citizen Housing Group were the only Registered Provider to submit a bid for the funding and provided a detailed application which set out their intention to apply for the full £2.1m of available funding.

Following a selection process to ensure that the bid complied with the relevant grant conditions, Citizen have been awarded the full amount of the grant funding available for Coventry. Work has commenced, due to the fact that the funding must be allocated by 31st March 2024. The works planned to be carried out by Citizen include improvement works to 1045 properties in Coventry which will benefit from the installation of mechanical ventilation systems and Switchee Home Monitoring technology to help combat issues relating to damp and mould and alleviate category 1 or 2 hazards from homes. These homes had previously been identified by Citizen as requiring improvements however were not included in the current work programme.

In addition to the above-mentioned works, Citizen will also be contributing funding which will cover remedial works and chemical treatments to up to 1045 properties that have been identified to undergo works as part of this programme. The exact number of properties that are improved as a result of this work will be reliant on any additional works/costs identified as part of the surveys undertaken. Citizen Housing have provided an ambitious works schedule and project plan which demonstrates how they intend to complete works on all homes prior to the given the initial deadline of 31st of March 2024. (It was noted at the meeting that extensions had been provided to this deadline).  Although the grant delivery timescale is very short, Citizen were able to mobilise existing contractors who were working on similar projects to scale up delivery of works and ensure all works are delivered prior to the deadline. They have commenced work on over 500 properties and completed them on 149 by 27th February. They are confident they will have commenced work on all of the properties by the deadline date.

The overall project plan and works schedule is monitored by officers in the Housing & Homelessness service and fortnightly meetings have been convened to review progress and ensure delivery.

RESOLVED that Cabinet:-

1)  Notes the approval of the acceptance of the grant of £2.1m from the West Midlands Combined Authority (already received in accordance with the  Constitution).

2)  Delegates authority to the Director of Adults and Housing to enter into the necessary grant agreement with Citizen Housing to deliver upon the requirements of the grant funding.