Islington Housing Scrutiny Committee Jon Milburn, Group Development Director Nahide Cook, Regional Manager
What’s going well and how can we improve links with Islington? Going well • Excellent response and partnership work with Emergency Planning Team • Support with residents meetings from Technical reps and Councillor Ward • Good partnership work with our ASB team Work in progress • Improving joint work between local teams • Joint approach to tackling fly-tipping • Agreeing location of bulk rubbish collections • Improved communication about changes in recycling • Enabling new housing • Planning
Resident satisfaction • 79% of residents who rent and 54% of homeowners are satisfied with our services over the last 12 months. • Improvements - New Guinness Service Style, complaints handling, CRM, new Customer Liaison Service • Housemark satisfaction benchmarking results (Q4 2016) - Amicus Horizon (99% satisfaction) top rated and Metropolitan (57%) lowest. There’s lack of consistency in questioning and methodology between different providers. • 4 satisfaction surveys by independent research agency Voluntas on general satisfaction, responsive and planned maintenance. • Piloted SMS surveying for repairs. • Text analytics to analyse residents feedback to identify areas of improvement. • 8 schemes in Islington and none are in our top 20 complaining schemes and one has zero complaints this year – Barnsbury complex
Performance in Islington Performance Measures Units Target YTD Avg number Number of Available to Let Empty Homes in month 5 Average days taken to turnover Empty average Homes in month 27.5 16 % in Current tenant arrears as % debit month 3.50% 3.65 value (£) Value of current tenant arrears in month £138,041.05 number Anti-Social Behaviour Cases in month 5.7 number Gas Safety (408 properties) in month 100% 100
Voids and relets • 5 empty properties have become available so far this financial year within Islington. • 2 of which have been offered to LA nominations and 3 offered to our residents on our transfer list emergency band A priority. • We are committed to working to our nomination agreement.
Rents in Islington • We allocate our homes in partnership with local authorities or from our own waiting lists. If we are not able to allocate in this way we may advertise directly to the public. • We are currently converting applicable properties to affordable rent although within Islington this is at a maximum of 65% of the market rent value.
Repairs Performance in Islington Average Completed on Days to Open and Type Completed time Complete Open Overdue Aids and Adaptations 6 83.3% 15.8 2 0 Cyclical and Servicing 349 87.1% 14.5 280 26 Planned Maintenance - Capital 21 100.0% 9.1 7 1 Planned Maintenance - Revenue 19 47.4% 38.6 8 5 Responsive Repairs 1,983 83.9% 13.1 266 134 Void Repairs 16 75.0% 16.6 17 14 TOTAL 2,394 84.2% 13.5 580 180
Finances and wages • 2016/17 – £95.9m surplus on £354.4m turnover • An extraordinary year reflecting profits from two large development for sale • Profits covenanted to the charitable parent / charitable subsidiaries • 2017/18 – 53m surplus budgeted on £319.7m turnover • Budget will not be met due to extra maintenance work this year • This is about “in the middle of the pack” and within our loan covenants • We do not have policies on the Living Wage or other pay ratio
Maintaining assets and developing homes • Over 600 homes in Islington , 66,000 across the country • Investment prioritised on the basis of building safety • And then stock condition surveys and resident feedback analysis determine long term needs • This year we will spend £71m on maintaining our homes • And continue to achieve 100% Decent Homes Standards • We have not sold homes in the borough but we keep our stock under review. • We would love to build new homes for target rent in the borough
Welfare Reform changes • 1400 residents in receipt of Universal Credit (UC) • Arrears for this group stands at 20%, compared to 4% for those in receipt of Housing Benefits • Targeted communications with those in receipt of UC and new claimants supported through our Customer Support Team. • No increase in evictions yet but worrying level of arrears which aren’t sustainable in the long term. • DHP’s for the shortfall of rent are available for short periods, 2 nd and 3 rd requests aren’t usually successful
Vulnerable people • We provide sheltered housing but not in Islington • National Customer Support Team work to maximise income to improve financial stability, sustain tenancy and to find the right external agency if there’s a specific support need. • Supported almost 7,000 residents across the country to apply for benefits securing almost £7 million in benefits (HB, UC, DHP's). • Supported those in food and furniture poverty during the UC waiting period through local food banks, national furniture re-use organisations and Guinness hardship fund.
Fire Safety measures for schemes with ACM cladding • Ongoing communication with residents through door knocking, meetings, letters and FAQs. • Person centred fire safety risk assessments for vulnerable residents • Daily monitoring of fire escape routes and all communal areas • 24/7 fire warden service who carryout 15 minute observations of the entire block • A full compartmentation survey and carried out additional fire stopping work • Repairs to fire doors including flat front doors regardless of ownership. • Upgraded the current fire alarm system (communal and in flats) to facilitate a simultaneous evacuation strategy. Repeater panels fitted to adjacent buildings to provide early warning of fire.
Fire Safety measures for schemes with ACM cladding What’s next? • Nearing completion of existing structure investigation works • Options for re-cladding works to be finalised in February • Planning & Building Regulation submissions will then be prepared and submitted • Further discussion with suppliers and tender works. • Once submissions approved works commence. • Timeframe dependent on supply chain etc.
Recommend
More recommend
