Annual Report to Tenants 2009/10... · Tenant Services Authority (TSA) has set out are: 1. Tenant...

Annual Report to Tenants 2009/10

2 | Annual Service Standard Report 2009/10

The TSA standards

The six Service Standards that our regulator the Tenant Services Authority (TSA) has set out are:

1. Tenant involvement and empowerment

2. Home standard

3. Tenancy

4. Neighbourhood and Community

5. Value for money

6. Governance and financial viability (this applies to Housing Associations rather than Council Housing)

This is the London Borough of Hounslow’s first Annual Standards report for its tenants. The Council as your landlord has written this report with Hounslow Homes

the Council’s Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) which delivers most of our housing services for tenants. We have developed these standards in partnership with tenants, and particularly with the Hounslow Federation of Tenants and Residents Associations, as set out in this report. Work on developing our service standards will continue so that we can offer you outstanding services and real value for money. We will be coming back to you before April 2011 with our “local offer “ for service standards in 2011/12 and talking to HFTRA about how we can involve tenants even more in ensuring we deliver housing services as we set out in our service standards.

Cllr Ruth Cadbury, Deputy Leader and Lead Member for Housing

Welcome

Annual Report to Tenants 2009/10 | 3

What is this report about?The regulator for social housing, the Tenant Services Authority (TSA) requires the Council, as your landlord to issue an annual report to tenants every year.

This first annual report has to give tenants an honest and helpful view about how well the Housing Service is doing against the standards the TSA has set for all registered housing providers. We must also say what we are doing to reach agreement with tenants on the standards of service we will provide in future. It is different to the Annual Report to shareholders Hounslow Homes produce which you may have seen in the past.

The content and design of this report was agreed with your representatives at Hounslow Federation of Tenants and Residents Association (HFTRA) and they have approved the final version.

Your tenant representatives at HFTRA have also played a major part throughout the year in scrutinising the performance of the housing services including many of the statistics referred to in this report. They do this at Area Forums or at formal meetings with the Council and/or Hounslow Homes.

As you may know whilst the Council own the housing stock the management and maintenance services are carried out by Hounslow Homes, the Council’s Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO). The Council are responsible for the strategic planning of housing, monitoring the performance of Hounslow Homes in respect of new build and the provision of affordable housing.

Hounslow Homes carries out repairs and manages the stock on behalf of the Council. They also lead on resident involvement and are managing some new build projects in or near housing estates.

Hounslow Council, in partnership with Hounslow Homes, continuously work to improve and develop the housing service we provide to our tenants and residents. The housing services provided by Hounslow Homes were judged to be excellent when last inspected by the Government in 2005 and by listening to what tenants are saying and by working with Hounslow Homes and your representatives at HFTRA we are trying to continue to improve so we can offer you an outstanding service and real value for money. This is the main message in this first report on TSA service standards.

This year’s annual satisfaction survey (based on returns from over 1500 tenants) showed an 80% satisfaction level that compares very well with other London landlords. Nevertheless we can never be complacent and there are always areas we can work on.

In response to the Government’s new regulator, the Tenants Services Authority, Hounslow Homes have being running a series of consultation events with you through the “Have Your Say” campaign which started at the HFTRA Conference in June 2010. Since then there have been three area consultation events, 10 focus group sessions as well as door knocking, questionnaires, surveys, and talking to people at fun days, conferences and other special events over the summer.

We have used what you have said to us to inform our thinking for the future and as basis for agreeing a set of service standards with you. This is what will be called our “Local Offer” to you and we are working on this in partnership with Hounslow Homes and HFTRA to agree these.

The following section sets out what the broad standards are that the TSA has issued and how we think we are performing against them.


4 | Annual Report to Tenants 2009/10

Tenant involvement and empowermentInvolving our residents in everything we (i.e. the Council and/or Hounslow Homes) do is central to how we provide services. This year we have been working hard on expanding the ways in which we can meet and listen to your views and the ways in which you can get involved in shaping the services we offer. We launched a ‘Be Involved’ campaign which encourages everyone, no matter their age, background or ability, to join us in having a say in your services. As a result of what you’ve told us we have:

• Moved our tenancy and ASB officers back to local offices so you can access them where you live, and when you call in to our Customer Service Centre they will put you through direct to speak to them. Since we’ve made these changes satisfaction levels have steadily risen and are now up to 80% .

• Broadened access to our services through improvements to: receptions, telephone, website, text messaging, letters, fax and our brand new DigiTV service

£1.5 million of Housing Revenue Account (HRA) reserves was set aside for the Rainbow Project, to encourage residents to make key decisions and to work together to make estate improvements promote community cohesion and build community initiatives.

Project Empower enabled a further £4m to be released from HRA reserves: £1.3m will be spent on aids and adaptations to disabled and/or vulnerable tenants’ homes, leaving £2.7m to be spent directly on other chosen projects, through residents’ votes.

Plans for the futureOur new Resident Involvement Strategy, which we are consulting residents on over the months ahead, places further emphasis on choice, and reaching groups who do not normally engage with us. We will also:

• Roll out a programme of ‘local area agreements’

• Use customer profiling to better target resources, services and communication to the right people

• Concentrate on more flexible communication

• Recruit more mystery shoppers to check standards on estates



Home standardRepairs, maintenance and quality of accommodationIn 1997 the government made a pledge that by 2010, 95% of social housing will meet the ‘decent homes’ standard of being warm and weatherproof with reasonably modern facilities. Hounslow Homes completed the Decent Homes target four years ahead of the government’s deadline. Since then we have continued to make improvements to our properties through the ‘Capital Investment Programme’. We consult in advance with you before this programme is agreed and then publish all our planned major improvement works to all our residents. In addition, over the last year we have:

• Offered you appointments at a time to suit you

• Involved you in the selection of contractors such as gas maintenance, lifts and painting

• Introduced a fleet of vehicles holding basic stock to complete more repairs at first visit

• Introduced new technology to improve the mobility of our responsive repairs staff

• Achieved 100% of properties having had their gas safety inspection on time

Plans for futureWe still have much we want to do to improve how we deliver our repairs service. In particular we will be concentrating on:

• Developing technology that allows us to ensure we deliver repairs ‘right first time’

• Reviewing with tenants and leaseholders the standards for major works and better consultation during projects

• Reviewing the repairs reporting process to make it easier

• Introducing mystery shopping by tenants for empty properties (also known as ‘voids’)

• Improving our performance even more. At the moment repair satisfaction is 87% and the percentage of repairs done right first time is 85%. Although this compare well to other London providers we want to do even better.


TenancyAllocationsThe Council publishes its Allocations Policy which sets out how it prioritises households for empty homes available for letting. During 2010/2011 we will be reviewing our Allocations Policy to ensure it is in line with new government guidance. Households bid for housing using a choice system called Locata West London.

RentsWe set our rents in line with government guidance and write to all our residents quarterly to let them know exactly where their money is going. This year we have:

• Reviewed the Rents System leading to the implementation of better systems and intelligent reporting

• Continued to be among the top performers for rents collection

• Increased the amount of face-to-face support for tenants in arrears

TenureWe have made sure resources are available to help us reduce the time properties are empty – last year the average time a property was empty was 41 days, this year we have reduced that to 34 days so far.

Evicting tenants is a last resort, so we have made efforts to support residents maintain their tenancies, for example, by running money advice events and by working alongside other agencies to provide help for our residents, especially those that are vulnerable.

We joined a national campaign targeting unauthorised sub letting to reclaim more housing back for those in need and worked to provide incentives to those under-occupying properties, to ‘downsize’ freeing up more family sized accommodation which is desperately needed in Hounslow.

Plans for the future

• Re-writing tenancy agreement and handbook to reflect modern practices

• Agreeing the Allocations Policy

• Reviewing the resettlement visiting service in Hounslow Homes to ensure it reflects the needs of our new tenants


Neighbourhood and communityNeighbourhood managementWe have concentrated efforts on improving caretaking, cleaning and grounds maintenance, increasing our overall resident satisfaction this year to 80%.

• We publish a schedule of estate inspections that residents attend, along with results and targets for reaching 3 star estate status.

• Over £100,000 has been invested from the Empower and Rainbow projects to improve estates and completed projects so far include the refurbishment of a community centre on the Syon Estate in Isleworth, new security doors at Heston Farm Estate and much needed new play activities for children on the Haverfield Estate in Brentford.

Local area community partnership workWe’ve worked in partnership with a range of other agencies including the Police, Fire Service, other housing organisations, and local schools. Together we produce a schedule of activities and support services for tenants such as a summer programme of football with Brentford FC, street athletics, mediation, money advice, parenting skills courses and fire safety awareness days.

Anti-social behaviourWe have invested in a new anti-social behaviour service. Central to this has been to move staff back into local area offices, concentrating on more face-to-face intervention and using support from professional witness officers and our Neighbourhood Wardens, all of which has helped to reduce the time it takes to deal with tenancy and anti-social behaviour issues.

Our Neighbourhood Wardens work closely with police to identify hot spots and target patrols where needed – this year our wardens attended 2,527 incidents. We are active members of the Community Safety Partnership where we share vital information and work together to improve safety in the community.

Plans for the future

• Wider publication of who to contact for what – with regular updates on any changes

• Further work on ensuring support and regular communication for those who experience anti social behaviour

• Targeted project on fly tipping including a new set of enforcement tools in partnership with the council and the police



Value for money – our commitment to spend your money wiselyHounslow Homes have delivered significant modernisation and efficiency programmes in the last three years. Hounslow Homes now have a dedicated procurement officer who is reviewing the way we buy things to ensure we are getting the best deals.

We compare costs of service provision using Housemark benchmarking data for London ALMOs. These are the initial results for 2009/10.

Plans for future

• Involve residents in reviewing quality versus cost on major works

• Programme of reviews across the organisation to streamline services, ensure they are customer focussed and minimise bureaucracy

• Encourage staff and customers to identify waste

FunctionHounslow Homes cost as

£per propertyLondon ALMOs Quartile

(1=Top 4= Bottom)

Rent Arrears and Collection 91.72 1

Responsive Repairs Works 285.19 1

Responsive Repairs Management 124.92 1

Void Repairs Works 140.48 3

Void Repairs Management 53.35 3

Estate Services 327.80 3


Next stepsThe feedback has been fantastic, especially from HFTRA, and over the winter months we will be refining and further road testing the standards so that by April 2011 we can confidently present you with your specified ‘local offer’.

The Tenant Services Authority (TSA) will then require us to report to you, annually on how we have measured our performance in

respect of these standards and against the TSA standards.

As part of this process we will also be talking to HFTRA about tenant regulation and checking we should be using as part of the assessment and verification process.This will make sure that tenants are at the heart of the monitoring process and having a real say about the services we deliver.



Contact detailsLondon Borough of Hounslow Hounslow Homes Housing Department David Allum Alison Simmons Director of Corporate Services Assistant Director, Housing St Catherine’s House Civic Centre 2 Hanworth Road Lampton Road Feltham Hounslow TW13 5AB TW3 4DN 020 8583 3938 020 8583 2000 www.hounslowhomes.org.ukwww.hounslow.gov.uk

HFTRA Tenant Services AuthorityChair, Julie Brooker Maple HouseThe Alf Chandler Centre 149 Tottenham Court RoadBenson Close LondonHounslow W1T 7BNTW3 3QX 0845 230 7000020 8569 5823 www.tenantservicesauthority.orgwww.hftra.com

For further information about housing services, please visit www.hounslow.homes.org.uk or www.hounslow.gov.uk

Translations

If you require a copy of this Annual Report to residents in another language or format please contact 020 8583 2299 or Minicom 020 8583 3122

Arabic

Nese keni nevoje per raportin vjetor per kete vit per banoret ne gjuhen shqipe ose ne ndonje format tjeter ju lutemi kontaktoni 020 8583 2299 ose minikom 020 8583 3122.

Albanian

Gujarati

Hindi

Panjabi

Urdu

Haddii aad rabto koobbi ah warbixinta sannadka ee loogu talagalay dadka deegaanka oo ku qoran Soomaali ama ku daabacan qaab kale fadlan soo wac 020 8583 2299 ama minicom 020 8583 3122.

Somali

Farsi

Annual Report to Tenants 2009/10... · Tenant Services Authority (TSA) has set out are: 1. Tenant...

Documents

Transcript of Annual Report to Tenants 2009/10... · Tenant Services Authority (TSA) has set out are: 1. Tenant...