ADD2412 London Housing Panel funding extension

The London Housing Panel (‘the Panel’) was established by the Mayor and Trust for London in April 2019. It was set up to build on the Mayor’s existing community engagement work and to provide a structured forum for the community and voluntary sector to consider housing issues and inform the Mayor’s housing policies.

The Panel membership consists of 15 voluntary and community sector organisations and is chaired by Raji Hunjan, Chief Executive of anti-poverty charity, z2k. Trust for London provides secretariat and project management support for the Panel. In order to ensure that there is a direct link between the Panel and the Mayor’s work on housing, the Chair is also a member of the Mayor’s Homes for Londoners Board.

Since its launch in April 2019, the London Housing Panel has held four formal meetings, and agreed on three priority areas where it wants to focus its attention. These areas are:

• building more homes for social rent;
• ensuring that the voices of Londoners are represented in plans for new homes; and
• improving the experience of Londoners living in temporary accommodation.

In addition to agreeing the priorities above, members of the Panel have also been invited to engage with the GLA on wider policy work including rent control, empty homes, and intermediate housing. The Chair also represented the Panel at events including the GLA’s Homes for Londoners conference in October 2019.

The Panel was initially funded for one year (2018/2019). The GLA provided £30,000 (approved in ADD2339) and Trust for London provided £20,000 to meet the total project cost of £50,000. This funding enabled Trust for London to set up and facilitate the functioning of the Panel, as well as providing a stipend and expenses for members to ensure that smaller and unwaged community organisations were not prevented from taking part.

This ADD seeks approval to provide an additional £10,000 to enable Trust for London to continue running the Panel until July 2020. This would be match funded by Trust for London with £10,000.

The objective of providing additional funding for the London Housing Panel to continue its work until July 2020 is to provide time and resource for:

• the GLA and Trust for London to review the first year of the London Housing Panel and make a recommendation on its future funding and format; and
• the Chair and Panel members to work with Trust for London and the GLA to develop a proposal for its future workplan.

Alongside these specific objectives, the funding will also enable the London Housing Panel to continue engaging with the GLA on housing policy issues and ensuring that the voices of diverse communities are represented in the development of housing policy over the coming months.

The roles and responsibilities of Trust for London, Panel members and the Chair will continue on the same basis as agreed for the first year of funding. This will include:

• Trust for London continuing to be responsible for running the London Housing Panel, including clerking of meetings, management of communications and development of the Panel’s work programme (led by the Chair and members);
• The Terms of Reference agreed by the Panel will continue to apply;
• Members continuing to have access to a stipend and expenses for each meeting to ensure that small organisations and/or unwaged individuals are able to continue participating; and
• The Chair will continue to attend Homes for Londoners Board.

The forum will meet twice between April 2020 and July 2020.

Under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, the GLA must have ‘due regard’ of the need to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation; and
• advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not.

The London Housing Panel represents a range of communities across London, including those with protected characteristics who are disproportionately affected by the housing crisis. A key consideration during the recruitment of the Panel was to need to ensure that its membership represented London’s diverse communities. This includes Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups, who are more likely to experience poverty and are disproportionately affected by overcrowding; women (including victims of domestic abuse) who experience homelessness at a disproportionately high rate, and older people whose needs are often unmet due to a lack of sheltered and/or supported housing. The London Housing Panel provides an opportunity for these communities to engage with the GLA and influence the Mayor’s housing policies.

Key risks and issues

The London Housing Panel was initially established for one year and so there is a risk that some members may be unable or unwilling to commit to extending their participation until July, which could result in the Panel being less representative of London’s diverse communities. This will be mitigated against by continuing to provide a stipend and expenses for Members, and by using the review to understand the views of Members and the Chair on what has worked well and what could be improved.

There is no funding committed beyond July 2020 at this stage. If all parties wish to proceed, further approval will need to be sought to extend funding for the Panel.

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

The Mayor is committed to giving residents a voice in housing policy-making. The London Housing Panel builds on the existing work undertaken by the Mayor to involve Londoners in developing his housing policies. This included extensive consultation on the London Housing Strategy and draft London Plan, as well as attendance from City Hall officials at numerous bilateral meetings, workshops and large conferences on housing.

The three areas identified by the London Housing Panel (see paragraph 1.3) align with the Mayor’s housing policies and priorities on delivering genuinely affordable homes, creating inclusive neighbourhoods and tackling homelessness.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest to note for any of those involved in the drafting or clearance of the decision.

This decision seeks approval for an additional grant of £10,000 to Trust for London to extend delivery of the Voluntary and Community Sector housing forum project to July 2020. Trust for London will be responsible for running the forum and will provide match funding of £10,000. ADD2339 approved a GLA grant of £30,000 with match-funding of £20,000 from Trust for London in 2018/19.

The expenditure will be funded from the H&L Management & Consultancy budget and will be spent in 2019/20 financial year.