Housing Management

Housing Stock

We rent 660 homes to tenants, part own 32 shared ownership properties and provide a factoring service to 141 owner occupiers.

The number of lets fluctuate year on year (obviously determined by the number of properties given up) with 91 last year and 87 the year before. Proportionally more single persons were rehoused this year as well as a significantly fewer numbers of couples without children.
 
Rent Increase
2010/11                                3.4%
2009/10                                1.9%
2008/09                                5.0%
2007/08                                5.4%
 
Rent increases are designed to balance the need to ensure that the Association can meet its current and future costs while at the same time continue to charge and affordable rent. This year’s rent reflects the downturn in the economy and was a figure comparable with similar social landlords in West Dunbartonshire.

The average weekly rent is now £49.78 - still one of the lowest in West Dunbartonshire.
 
Performance
 
The Association is constantly seeking to improve its performance in delivering the best possible service to its customers and sets itself targets for key service areas.

The following statistics show how we performed in 2009/10. The targets are based on comparisons with similar organisations and figures that we strive to meet. Each year we review these targets to constantly try to improve performance.
 
Rent arrears
The amount of money owed by tenants.
 
Target                   3.7%
Performance          3.45%
 
The target is arguably a difficult one but one which the staff are constantly working hard to meet.
We successfully reduced the amount of money owed by around 1.65% from last year.
 
Voids
The amount of rent lost on properties to be relet
 
Target                   0.9%
Performance          0.66%
 
The target was met again reducing by 0.22% this year and is a healthy sign reflecting quick turnover and minimal rent loss.
 
Relet times
The number of days to relet a property
 
                              Repair                   Relet
Target                   10 days                 10 days
Performance           12 days                 15 days
 
The performance was a slight increase on last year. However we took the opportunity to carry out some major repairs while the properties were vacant and this is reflected in the time taken.
 
Estate Management
 
The Association works closely with the Council to ensure that the estate is managed adequately.
 
The Council’s night noise and anti social behaviour team help us respond to neighbour nuisance effectively. We have recently agreed a district wide anti social response policy with our partners and hopefully this will be reflected in better coordination of complaints and responses.
 
The CCTV camera system also helps deter low level nuisance and provides the Police with assistance in resolving crime.
 
We continued to carry out inspections around the estate removing litter and cleaning up graffiti where noted. We introduced an Estate Action Plan with the desire to improve backcourts and common areas as well as encouraging residents to participate.
 
The garden competition remains a useful incentive for residents to assist in brightening up the area.

Tenants Satisfaction Survey

Our continuous monitoring of Tenants Satisfaction was completed for 2009. We will also continue this throughout 2010 and 2011. It is effectively a series of regular “mini” surveys 4 times a year over the course of three years rather than obtaining a “snapshot” every 3 years. We hope that this method will ensure that we get continuous feedback and can review the responses and fine tune any action to improve the service.

The following is a sample of the responses.
 
Tenant Satisfaction Results 2009

We have also had continuous recording of our repairs service for the last year. We sent out a survey form for all routine repairs and received 212 responses last year from tenants who reported repairs. We were delighted to have received a satisfaction level of 96%. Effectively there were 8 people were dissatisfied out of 212 people who took the trouble to tell us how we were performing. This remains near in line with the 99% who expressed an opinion in our continuous monitoring survey.