Annual Report 2016
Introduction Our mission
To deliver great housing services for thriving neighbourhoods
Who we are
We are an ambitious organisation set up 10 years ago to improve housing in the borough, currently managing 18,000 homes on behalf of Lewisham Council. We are a not-for-profit housing provider with our own maintenance company and we’re building new homes through a partnership with the local authority.
A new management agreement was signed in May 2016 that extends the life of the contract for another ten years.
Our board
Our management structure Our corporate objectives
We have four corporate objectives, these are the main areas that we focus on to deliver great housing services to residents. They are:
. Excellent services . Thriving neighbourhoods . Sustainable future . Employer of choice
Excellent Services
We want our customers to experience great service at all times. To do this we spend time listening to residents and responding to their needs so we can keep on improving. More services online
We’re continuing to make more services available online, so residents can access them anytime, anywhere.
Residents can:
. Book a repair appointment . Check the progress of a repair . See when planned maintenance is due for their home or estate . Give us feedback in forums and polls . Check account balance online and by text Over 1900 residents with an online account
Ola Hindley attends our Digital Hub on a Thursday
“I never thought I’d be able to do the things that I can do now. I can email, browse the internet, take photos on my phone and even take a selfie! I feel so much more confident, you are never too old to learn new skills.”
Find out more about training opportunities here. Better customer care
All of our staff have received specialist customer care training to give them the skills and knowledge to give residents a great experience. The training is already making a difference. Improving your repairs
We know a good repair service is important to residents, and we work hard to keep improving it.
Resident Danny Gill had a kitchen and bathroom fitted by apprentice Keaton Barry
“He’s done a first class job. To say he is an apprentice as well, it’s really good.
I’m a former brick layer, so I know a good job from a bad job, and this is superb. The kitchen is fantastic, and the bathroom.
The new walk–in shower makes such a difference. I’m pleased to jump in the shower in the morning now, I actually look forward to it.”
Tackling antisocial behaviour
We revamped our approach to tackling antisocial behaviour including longer hours and a mobile service so we can respond more quickly.
Stamping out housing fraud In 2015/16, we’ve recovered 102 properties from illegal occupation to help Lewisham council address the housing shortage. The homes are now going to families in genuine need.
We have also achieved:
evictions for persistent antisocial behaviour
searches in communal areas to remove weapons on our estates in New Cross, Honor Oak, Deptford and Catford
search warrants, helping Police to find drugs, guns, ammunition and dangerous dogs within our properties
evening patrols to tackle problems including noise nuisance and drug dealing The team patrols hotspot locations every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night till 10pm with the view that prevention is better than cure. You can see live updates from the team on twitter @LH_ASB.
Sgt Chris Garfield from the Telegraph Hill, Safer Neighbourhoods team, comments on the new ASB service:
“Your ASB service is very positive and the late night service is vital. Invariably a huge number of ASB complaints will arise at this time of day, noise, drunkenness, drugs etc.
The Twitter account is great, positive outcomes are posted immediately. This shows the community what you do, how responsive you are and that, like us, you are doing your best to help.”
Home Ownership
We know we need to improve our services for leaseholders, and we are using your feedback to do this. We still have a long way to go, but we are pleased to see satisfaction significantly increasing in some areas.
Improved services
. We redesigned the service charge bill so it’s easier for leaseholders to find information and understand. . We’ve made it more convenient for leaseholders to check their service charge account balance by text. . We launched a secure online shop for leaseholders who wish to purchase documents quickly and securely at a convenient time.
Thriving Neighbourhoods Improving your homes
We’ve invested £135m to date in improving homes and neighbourhoods across Lewisham.
90% of homes meet the Decent Homes Standard in 2016
All work on kitchens, bathrooms and electrical rewiring is now carried out by our own repairs service. This work is achieving 100% satisfaction compared to 91% satisfaction with contractors.
Building new homes
Affordable housing is in short supply in Lewisham and creating new homes is crucial to addressing the growing pressure on Lewisham Council’s waiting list.
As part of our New Homes, Better Places programme, we have:
Working with local residents and the council, there are more developments in the pipeline and we’re on track to deliver 500 new homes by March 2018. See a map of where we are building here. Homes for families in need
With a loan from Lewisham Council we have bought 50 properties to provide temporary accommodation to families and prevent local people becoming homeless saving the council £300,000 a year on temporary accommodation.
One Sydenham resident housed through this scheme spoke about the impact moving out of emergency accommodation had on her family.
"Living in a bed and breakfast with three children was really difficult. Now that we have a home of our own, my children have stability and can go to nursery and school for the first time. They’ve been able to form proper, lasting friendships and we have the space we need. We are all so much happier.” Investing in our community
We aim to enable our residents to influence how we shape and deliver services. We are committed to investing in local people, and providing skills and training opportunities to support our residents.
We’re proud to be 100% focussed on Lewisham and work with our residents to invest in the things that matter most to you.
By numbers 2015/16
Working with the London Metropolitan University
We are working in partnership with the London Metropolitan University to deliver a three day course, funded by Lewisham Tenants Fund. It is tailored specifically for our residents and carries five credits towards a degree. The course was developed to give residents a better understanding of housing issues and the work of Lewisham Homes.
In total 28 graduates have completed the course so far and some have gone on to:
. Study for a Level 3 qualification in Housing . Study for a degree with the Open University . Secure full time employment with housing providers, one at Lewisham Homes . Join our Resident Scrutiny Committee . Successfully apply for our resident board position
Angela Okoye, an Improving Housing Services graduate, now works in our Customer Service team:
“I learned a lot and it gives you an insight into Lewisham Homes as an organisation and a background into social housing as well. I learned about why it came about and what it is actually there for. Some people just expect it, but it’s about giving housing to people who genuinely need it.
The tutors were really good too, they made you really engage with the content. They told us that we should go into our housing office and observe how we’re treated as a tenant, the customer service you get, how long you’re left waiting. When I was on my training here for the Customer Services Advisor role, I was really able to get in the tenants’ mind.” Our Community Fund
We work in partnership with contractors and community organisations to support projects across the borough that help local people with:
Since 2009 we’ve provided over £200,000 of funding to help residents and support community projects. Here are some of the projects we supported this year….
Evelyn Parents Family Support Scheme This resident led programme delivered 18 days of holiday play activities to nearly 600 children in an area with one of highest levels of deprivation in the borough. These successful schemes have enabled the Evelyn Parents Forum to take on the full management of the Deptford Park Play Club. The scheme also won the award for Best Resident Led Initiative at the National Federation of ALMO’s (NFA) Awards 2016.
Somerville Youth and Play Provision Thanks to money from our Community Fund and The Big Lottery Fund, a new state of the art community hub has opened on Somerville Estate. The hub will provide a range of services including employability and careers advice, health workshops and programmes for young people excluded from school.
Lewisham Youth Conference 400 young people attended an event to inspire and empower them to take up volunteering, training and employment opportunities, organised by Elevating Success.
Andrew Brown, Managing Director of Elevating Success: “Without the money from the community fund, Lewisham Youth Conference 2015 and 2016 would not have been possible.
One of the main benefits that has come from the event is the 100 volunteering opportunities for young people aged 13-21 living in Lewisham.
The young people said that they are doing good for others and the community, which provides them with a natural sense of accomplishment. Their role as volunteers gave them a sense of pride, and we know the better you feel about yourself, the more likely you are to have a positive view of your life and future goals.” Inspiring activities
In July 2015 we launched a new partnership with the Albany in Deptford to open up its inspiring activities to our residents, increasing aspirations, self-esteem and confidence.
Love2Dance
The Love2Dance street dance programme has grown from 25 young people to 112 in Deptford and Sydenham, and this year it expanded to Honor Oak.
Parent of Love2Dance participant said:
“Each child has a chance to shine and show their talent, we’re so proud of all the children and the tutors are great!”
Meet Me at the Albany
The Meet Me at the Albany arts club, which tackles social isolation for older people, has been bringing residents together at Roseview sheltered housing scheme and will be coming to more schemes this year.
Meet Me at the Albany artist said:
“Fun, laughter, and the sounds of living return to environments that sometimes have the charm of a waiting room. Gentle risks are taken. Attendees see their actions have immediate effect. They become engaged with their environment. Stress is reduced. Some sense of community is built.”
We have also provided ticket subsidies to residents to access the Albany’s programmes and this has saved residents nearly £500.
Sustainable Future
We aim to be efficient and effective and grow our business so that we can deliver more for less for the benefit of our residents.
While improving services we have achieved efficiency savings, generating a surplus of £1.7m to spend on improving homes and services next year.
In 2015/16 we invested in:
. A new fleet of vehicles for our repairs operatives and caretakers that are cheaper to run, more reliable and produce less pollution . New asset management and performance systems that will enable us to make better decisions about how best to improve homes and services . Purchasing 50 local properties to provide temporary accommodation, saving the Council money and helping homeless families . Bringing more properties up to the decent homes standard
We’re also repairing and re-letting homes quicker to reduce rent lost while they are empty. This saves over £1.3million a year compared to 10 years ago. Delivering more for less
We are growing the business and the Council has helped us improve efficiency by transferring services to us to deliver directly to residents.
Even though we have taken on more services, the management fee we receive from the Council is only £0.2m higher than in 2013/14, and is £3.6m lower than in 2007.
We are working with residents to improve these services too. For grounds maintenance we have invested £400,000 in new equipment and planting 9000 new plants on 24 estates across Lewisham. We’ve invested in sustainable plants which will grow and bloom for years to come. These are the first new plants on our estates for nearly 20 years. Supporting residents through welfare reform
We’re working with residents to support them through changes in welfare benefits, and rent arrears of current tenants are continuing to reduce.
Employer of Choice
We strive to be a great employer. Attracting the best people to work for us helps us deliver a better service for residents. We are Gold
This year we were awarded the prestigious gold award as an Investor in People. Only 7% of organisations with IIP status have achieved the ‘Gold’ standard – which means excellence in people management, leadership, staff involvement and empowerment, work life balance and health and wellbeing of its employees.
91% of employees agree Lewisham Homes is a good place to work.
22 employees benefited from a mentoring scheme by being paired with more experienced staff members.
Internal recruitment accounted for more than 40% of appointments, showing the success of training and development opportunities.
Apprentices
We support Lewisham Council’s apprenticeship programme and promote training and job opportunities for local young people.
. In 2015/16 we employed 9 apprentices . 23 additional apprenticeships provided through our contractors . Since 2006, we’ve trained 91 local apprentices
Our apprentice Shiloh Henry was awarded Lewisham and Bromley Apprentice of the Year 2016 and has been successful in getting a full time job with us as a Customer Services Officer.
Raising money for local causes
We’re proud to be part of Lewisham, and passionate about our local community. Eleven intrepid employees cycled 280 miles to Amsterdam in March 2016. The team raised over £3,000 for the Lewisham Foodbank and the Freddie Farmer Foundation.
Carol Bostridge, Chief Operating Officer for Lewisham Foodbank
“Lewisham Foodbank is really grateful to Lewisham Homes for their amazing fundraising cycle ride. Last year we distributed nearly 40 tonnes of food to people in crisis and this year we are helping an average of 80 people a week. The money raised by Lewisham Homes will be used to buy food so we can continue to offer this vital support.”
10 years of Lewisham Homes
Lewisham Homes was set up to improve housing in the borough.
Over the past 10 years we have been working closely with residents to make your homes and neighbourhoods great places to live. Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham
“In ten years, Lewisham Homes has become a successful organisation meeting the needs of its customers and partners by effectively managing and improving the homes it inherited and being ambitious to play a part in providing the homes that are needed for the future.
Lewisham Homes began by focussing on the need to deliver a better service to its tenants and managing the Decent Homes programme – its success in doing this has given it the confidence to develop ambitious plans for the future
Housing was one of many competing priorities but the creation of an effective specialist Housing organisation has given a greater focus to something which continues to grow in importance.
Lewisham needs thousands of new homes over the next decade and Lewisham Homes will be a key player in delivering them.
Julia Cotton, Lewisham Homes resident and Chair of our Board from 2007 to 2016. Julia stepped down in 2016 after 10 years service.
“Over the past 10 years I have seen huge improvements in the standards of service and homes provided for residents. The programmes of Decent Homes and Major Works has meant that now more than 90% of our properties are well maintained with good bathrooms and kitchens. All residents are safer with enhanced fire safety provision and 100% gas safety certification.
Before Lewisham Homes there was a lack of consistency in the provision of services to residents.
Lewisham Homes has been able to improve the standards and also provides other new services, for example, looking after Grounds Maintenance which was previously supplied by the council.
I’m looking forward to seeing how Lewisham Homes strives to improve further its levels of services and also improve the life chances of many of its residents through the provision of training opportunities and activities which also involve the next generation.”
Want to know more…
What we are doing in 2016/19
View the digital version of this report: annualreport.lewishamhomes.org.uk