The backlog in council housing repairs has now been slashed by 81% since June as Harlow Council and HTS continue to clear the housing repairs backlog by the end of this financial year as part of our priority to fix council housing.
The latest figures released for November show that since 1 June, 4,421 backlog repairs have been completed from a starting figure of 5,481, leaving a backlog figure of just 1,060 to clear by end of March 2024. The backlog figure of jobs from 2021 is now completely cleared, and there are now just 270 dating back to 2022. The council is on track to slash the backlog by 90% before Christmas.
The changes in working practices that were introduced back in June have had a major impact in addressing the issue and the backlog figures continue to tumble. Changes included making use of local subcontractors to clear outstanding repairs and have focussed on clearing the oldest jobs first and removing the nine-month standard repair time with the introduction of a 60-day timeframe.
Void turnaround performance has continued to improve as well. The council and HTS are now exceeding set targets, with the turnaround time currently at 23 days against a target of 24 days and the number of voids recorded at the end of November being 97 against a target of 120.
These improvements come alongside the new tenancy audit programme underway to visit tenants in their homes, the full stock condition survey to improve maintenance of council homes and the proposed new Housing Allocations Policy to ensure local council homes are for local families.
Councillor David Carter, cabinet portfolio holder for housing, said:
"This is fantastic news. We are well on track to clear the housing repairs backlog by the end of the financial year in March 2024 and are continuing to increase the amount of void council properties being brought back into use for Harlow families on our Housing Needs Register.
"It has involved a great deal of work to get us to this stage, but I am so pleased to see these latest figures; a reduction of 81% in the overall backlog is a huge achievement in such a short time, and it’s all down to the council and HTS working together, adapting to some change and getting on with the job of fixing council housing.
"I am confident that by the end of March we will have cleared the backlog completely and can focus on keeping our homes up to the standard our residents expect."