Issue - meetings

Purpose of Report

The purpose of the report is to present a summary of the performance of the Private Rental Sector mediation service pilot.

The report provides several measures of performance of the service including the number of referrals and the outcomes from cases for the pilot mediation scheme to date.  The report also sets out the cost of the scheme to date.

Recommendations

1.    That the Cabinet Member for Housing and Preventing Homelessness notes the information in this report regarding the demand for the mediation service and the outcomes of the cases that have gone through the system.

2.    That the Cabinet Member for Housing and Preventing Homelessness agrees to end the Pilot scheme on 31^st March 2023.

3.    That the Cabinet Member for Housing and Preventing Homelessness reviews the situation if there is a need for this service in the future and demand supports it.

Clare Hardwick, Head of Private Sector Housing, presented her report and advised that the purpose of the report was to present a summary of the performance of the Private Rental Sector mediation service pilot.

The report also provided several measures of performance of the service including the number of referrals and the outcomes and cost for the pilot mediation scheme to date. 

Residents Consortium Questions

In response to Resident Consortium questions, officers clarified:

·         A lot of work had been done to promote the scheme, but it was found that the demand for the scheme was lower than anticipated and the outcomes not as hoped.  Funding was initially from one off grants from Central Government.  If the scheme had had the positive impact anticipated further avenues for funding would have been explored.  However, the evidence suggested this was not a viable scheme.

Members' Questions

There were no questions.

The Chair noted the government had introduced a court-based ombudsman/mediation system which had fewer cases across England in a year than was seen in this scheme in Portsmouth.  The Chair expressed disappointment the scheme had not produced the results expected as the biggest single cause of homelessness across the city was people leaving the private rented sector.  He noted the work of the Rough Sleeping team at PCC in lobbying the government and the work of the Prevention Hub.  The Chair was also surprised at the low numbers using the scheme.  Of note was that the scheme had not been funded out of people's rent but had been funded from the general fund.

Decision

The Cabinet Member:

·         Noted the information in the report regarding the demand for the mediation service and the outcomes of the cases that have gone through the system.

·         Agreed to end the Pilot scheme on 31^st March 2023.

·         Agreed to review the situation if there is a need for the service in the future and demand supports it.

Before the meeting concluded, the Chair took time to thank Meredydd Hughes who would be leaving the council in July after 37 years' commendable service for the Council and the Housing Property Service.  The Chair drew attention to Meredydd's leadership throughout the Pandemic when he continued to deliver a service approaching normal during the most abnormal of situations.