Family Housing Association Self-Evaluation 2016 Family Housing

SELF-EVALUATION REPORT 2016

How well are we doing?The Welsh Government requires all Housing Associations in Wales to publish a “Self-Evaluation” against a set of ten delivery outcomes which are set out in the Welsh Government’s Regulatory Framework. You can read this in full on the Welsh Government’s website, www.gov.wales.

We will give you an idea of what our objectives are for the coming years, how well we have been doing and how we intend to improve our services in the future.

Our objectives1. Putting the people who use our services at the heart of our business

2. Living by our values, and having clarity about who does what and why

3.Havingasoundandfinanciallyviableorganisation

4. Providing high quality homes, in communities where we would be proud to live

5. Providing excellent services, that meet the needs of individual tenants

6. Working with others to enhance the lives of the people and communities we serve

We’ll list each objective, telling you where we’re at now, what we’ve done to improve services and what we need to further improve.

What do we need to improve?

Family Housing Association Self-Evaluation 2016

Objective 1Putting the people who use our services at the heart of our business

Where we’re atAbout 75%ofourtenantshavegivenusprofileinformation so that we can target the help we can offer for those who don’t have bank accounts, access to the internet or need help with claiming benefits.

What we’ve doneWe’ve prioritised contacting tenants who may need help with the changes in welfare reform. We’ve been able to offer personalised support to meet an individual’s needs and helped to promote independent living.

What we need to improve• We need to gather better

information from our tenants so that we can see who might need our help

• We need to use the information we have about our tenants better and encourage tenants to offer their opinions and suggestions

• We need to further develop the Tenants Panel and the Scrutiny Panel and encourage tenants to get involved and steer us to improve the services we offer

75%

Family Housing Association Self-Evaluation 2016

Objective 2Living by our values, and having clarity about who does what and why

Where we’re atIn 2013 we introduced a set of Values that we want the organisation to operate within. We are currently updating these. We want our staff, our Board and tenants who are involved in the Tenants Panel and other groups to live by these. We use them as part of our procurement process when we are choosing suppliers and have shared the Values with our external partners including contractors and training providers.

What we need to improve• We need to embed our Values across

the organisation, so that they are apparent in everything we do

• We need to ensure that our Board has the appropriate skills, behaviours and diversity to ensure that the organisation is properly managed

What we’ve doneOur Extra Care Schemes are recognised by the Welsh Government as an “absolutely outstanding example” of services working together. We have an excellent reputation with our stakeholders (the other organisations we need to do business with such as banks and contractors) and the other organisations (such as Local Authorities) that use our housing and Care and Support services.

Living by our values

Family Housing Association Self-Evaluation 2016

Objective 3Beingasoundandfinanciallyviable organisation

Where we’re atFamily Housing is now over 40 years old. Many things had not changed in the organisation over these years and this became apparent in 2012. Over the last 18 months there have been many changes in the way Family Housing is managed. There is a new Chief Executive, a major change in the make-up of the Board and changes in the way our finances are managed. We aim to ensure the resources and structure are there to meet our current and future business needs and what we wish to achieve in the future.

What we’ve done• We’ve used consultants in partnership with our funders (the banks

and the Welsh Government) to review our 30 Year Business Plan• We have funding in place to complete our current development

programme of new homes• We’veidentifiedwheresavingscanbemade• We have a stronger Board, with more financial skills• We have analysedandidentifiedpotentialrisks to the Association

What we need to improve• We need to make better use of technology• We need to review our assets (mainly the homes we

own) to understand how they make a positive or negative impact on the business

• We need to ensure that what we do demonstrates value for money

We have a stronger

Board

Family Housing Association Self-Evaluation 2016

Objective 4Providing high quality homes, in communities where we would be proud to live

Where we’re atFamily Housing provides a range of homes and services across five Local Authorities in Wales, including general needs homes (for the wider community), older persons homes and Extra Care homes (for those needing specialist services). We are currently completing a development programme to deliver homes in Carmarthenshire and Swansea.

What we’ve doneWe have developed partnerships with support agencies and local authorities to make a positive contribution to the well-being of our tenants and to support them in sustaining their tenancies.

We have provided support to our tenants to help them get online, to manage their money, to access community resources and to help them find specialised employment and training advice.

What we need to improve• We need to improve access to Physical

Adaptation Grants (PAGs) and make allowance within our revenue budget for minor adaptations

• We will use our knowledge and experience in providing services to older people and people with mental ill health to assist in the development and provision of future specialist accommodation to meet the needs of people in these groups

• We will work with our partners to identify opportunities to develop new homes once our current development programme is complete.

• We will learn from previous development schemes when we are planning future schemes

Family Housing Association Self-Evaluation 2016

Objective 5Providing excellent services, that meet the needs of individual tenants

Where we’re atIn 2013 Family Housing commissioned a survey of tenants to find out their level of satisfaction with the homes and services Family provide. This was called the STAR Survey and 788 of Family Housing’s 2,340 tenants at the time answered the questionnaire.

• 79% of tenants were satisfied with the overall quality of their home

• 82% of tenants agreed that their home is of sound condition and comfortable to live in

• 79% of tenants agreed that Family Housing is helpful meeting their needs so that they do not need to move home

• 13% of tenants reported needing some sort of additional aid or adaptations in their home

• 79% of tenants were satisfied with the way that we deal with repairs and maintenance

• 84% of tenants were satisfied with their neighbourhood as a place to live

• 76% of tenants were satisfied that their rent provides value for money

• 49% of tenants were satisfied that their service charges provide value for money*

What we’ve doneWe have also seen tenants’ satisfaction with homes and services increase when comparing our own internal satisfaction surveys over recent years, which tells us that we are making improvements in all areas.

What we need to improve• We will find ways to seek more tenants’ views on their

levels of satisfaction with their homes and the services they receive

• We will learn from the compliments, concerns and complaints we receive from our tenants

• We will support and develop staff who interact with tenants to develop skills that enable tenants to live independent lives and sustain their tenancies

• We will learn from other social landlords• We will use new ideas and best practice from within the

Welsh Housing sector to provide the best possible services, ensuring tenants receive value for money

*result may include tenants who don’t pay service charge

Family Housing Association Self-Evaluation 2016

Objective 6Working with others to enhance the lives of the people and communities we serve

Where we’re atWe have helped contribute towards providing accommodation for homeless and vulnerable people. We know that to do this we need to have productive partnerships with other organisations working in the communities that we serve and to keep our own empty homes to a minimum.

What we’ve done• Last year we helped 309 individuals and families to find a new

home, helping to avoid homelessness• We have reorganised our Housing Department so that the

Housing Officers and Income Recovery Officers (i.e. the Rents Department) are responsible for specific geographic areas and so they get to know their tenants better

• We have ensured that our staff and tenants are aware of the changes due to Welfare Reforms

• We have reviewed our adaptations policy and appointed an independent Occupational Therapist to speed up applications for adaptations, enabling tenants to stay in their homes when their physical needs change

What we need to improve• We will use the information we have about our tenants better.

This is so that we can find out more about how the advice and support we give them makes a difference to their lives, and equally how we can be better at filling any gaps

• We will support and develop our staff to identify tenants that may be having problems managing their tenancies earlier, in order that we can better offer support when and where it is needed

• We will work with our partners to develop and support other opportunities for our tenants

• We will further promotethebenefitsofourcommunityinvestmentwork on tenancy and community sustainability so that it becomes an integral part of the work across all the Association’s activities

we helped

309people

Family Housing Association Self-Evaluation 2016

Family Housing Association (Wales) Ltd, 43 Walter Road, Swansea SA1 5PN.Telephone: 01792 460192 email: farid.ali@fha-wales.comWebsite: www.fha-wales.com

Family Housing Association (Wales) LtdWelsh Government Reg No L002.Registered with the FCA as a cooperative and community benefit society.registration 21057R.Charitable Status

This document is available in other formats on request

Measuring our success

We need to understand how well we are doing and the difference we make. Each service area has a set of indicators and measures that are reviewed regularly.

This information helps us know how well we are achieving our business objectives. It is important to us that we keep you informed of our progress and therefore we are developing, with the help of tenants, a Tenant Assurance Framework. We will use this framework to provide a quarterly progress report for our tenants.

We want to hear from youWe would really like to hear what you think - about this report, the information provided in it and, in particular, what you think of the services we provide and how they make a difference to you. You can provide this feedback in writing, by post or email or verbally by telephoning us or asking to meet with us.