Housing Committee - 13/02/2012

At a MEETING of the HOUSING COMMITTEE held at Dundee on 13th February, 2012.

Present:-

BAILIES

COUNCILLORS

Councillor Jimmy BLACK, Convener, in the Chair.

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 23rd January, 2012 was held as read.

Unless marked thus * all items stand delegated.

I HOUSING DEPARTMENT IMPROVEMENT PLAN - PROGRESS REPORT

There was submitted Report No 66-2012 by the Director of Housing reporting on progress on the Improvement Plan agreed with the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR).

The Committee noted the progress on the implementation of the Improvement Plan up to the end of November 2011 and agreed that, as part of the commitment to Public Performance Reporting, this report be added to the Plans and Performance section of the Council's website.

II HOUSING OPTIONS

There was submitted Agenda Note AN23-2012 advising the Committee of the procurement of IT software to assist the Housing Department in its development and delivery of a Housing Options approach to meeting housing needs in the City.

A Housing Options approach was essentially about a dialogue with customers to assess their housing needs and to clarify the options that they might have in terms of accommodation. The Housing Department already provided elements of Housing Options advice and assistance through the Homeless Services Prevention Team and the Lettings Centre prospects advice service.

The Committee noted that the Scottish Government had allocated funding of approximately 500,000 for the establishment of five regional Housing Options Hubs to encourage cross Council working in the development and implementation of a Housing Options approach.

The Tayside, Fife and Central Hub (comprising Dundee City, Perth and Kinross, Fife, Clackmannanshire and Angus Councils) had attracted funding from the Scottish Government of approximately 140,000, of which approximately 26,000 was to be used to procure an IT software package to assist with the customer contact aspect of the developing service. This software would allow for a personalised action plan to be created and given to each customer detailing the best options they might have regarding meeting their accommodation needs.

There was no cost to Dundee City Council arising from the procurement of this stand-alone IT package as a pilot scheme.

The timescale for implementation was April 2012 to allow set up of the necessary IT system and for staff training.

The pilot scheme would be monitored and evaluated during 2012/2013.

The Committee noted accordingly.

Jimmy BLACK, Convener.