The scale of Birmingham city Council's poor performance on housing was revealed on Monday when it admitted to missing more than half of its own performance targets.
A progress report issued to the council's cabinet concluded that the local authority will meet just four of the 11 housing service targets it set itself this February.

The council introduced the rolling set of targets, or "milestones", after last year's comprehensive performance assessment, which rated Birmingham as weak overall and gave its housing services a score of one out of four.

Birmingham had hoped to use its performance targets to bolster its case for eventually getting its CPA rating upgraded.

Seven of the targets – ones related to repairs, the conduct of lettings, tenancy enforcement and neighbourhood environment – were judged to need "immediate corrective action" if they were to be achieved this year.

At least one of those targets, understood to relate to the way repairs are scheduled and performed, was unlikely to be met this year regardless of any "urgent action" taken.

The report was yet another blow to the confidence of the city's housing sector, still reeling from the news that Birmingham council seems certain to lose its director of housing within the next month.

The departure of David Thompson was described as a "severe concern" by the chief executive of one of Birmingham's

largest housing associations.

He said: "With the scale of the changes going on at the moment, there is a real need for strong leadership, and there is a fear that without it, housing might slip down the agenda."

Thompson, who joined the council in 2000 and was involved in last year's failed stock transfer bid, is expected to join the Local Government Association on secondment later this month. The duration of the secondment has yet to be confirmed.

Thompson has been a key figure in the major shake-up of Birmingham's housing services, including plans to devolve control of the service to 11 constituency areas and support the setting up of community-based housing organisations.

Meanwhile, in a move that Birmingham council claims is unrelated to Thompson's secondment, two senior housing figures this week joined the city's housing department.

David Hucker, former chief executive of Orbit Housing Association, and Michael Irvine, former head of housing at the Association of London Government, were recruited as senior managers to help deliver the council's programme of devolution and improvement.

Source

Housing Today