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EASTHALL
PARK
Meeting the Scottish Social Housing Charter 2015
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Introduction
Welcome to our third residents greatest thing we can achieve is our tenants’ approval. So charter report! In it you can see how we were delighted with the results of our Satisfaction we performed over the last year Survey carried out in the autumn which showed continued against the standards set out in the high levels of satisfaction with what we do and how we do it. Scottish Social Housing Charter. Although we are doing well we also know that there are We are very proud of what has been areas where we could do better. We want to improve on achieved in the past year. We have brought the estate satisfaction levels with our repairs service and we want to caretaker service in house and I am sure you can see how ensure that you get the best service for the least amount of much more clean and tidy the area is. rent charged so we have not increased rents for this year.
We were a finalist in the ‘Small Social Landlord of the Year’ I would like to thank the Committee, Residents Panel, category in the CIH/Inside Housing awards and we won Staff and everyone who has worked with us for all their the best Small Social Landlord of the year in the Housing hard work and I hope you enjoy reading about what has Excellence Awards. been accomplished.
It was great to see our work noticed by experts but the Mary Davidson, Chairperson
This report will give you a clear picture of how Easthall Park Easthall Park aims to provide excellent services and quality is performing as your landlord. In it you will see our homes and we charge some of the lowest rents in performance figures for the last two years which will let you Easterhouse (and indeed in Scotland) we want to see where we are improving and where we are not. You understand why tenants are thinking that way. will also see details about the performance of other social landlords to let you compare our performance with others. We believe that the best services are delivered by We give you figures for the Quality Efficiency Forum (QEF), organisations that listen to their customers and really a group of 30 landlords including ourselves who share best understand what they want. We are committed to putting practice and compare performance, as well as SHBVN residents first and listening to what you say so we can be figures – around 90 housing associations and the best we can. You can judge for yourself how well we co-operatives, including Easthall Park who submit are doing by reading this report. Its format and content has performance information to the Scottish Housing Best been agreed by the Residents Panel who gave comments Value Network (SHBVN). and ideas on the sort of information tenants want.
We always welcome feedback, so if you want to tell us As our Chairperson has said, during the coming year, we what you think of the report, or will be focussing on a number of functions where we want comment on our performance to improve. We want to make improvements in our service please get in touch by email at delivery and in particular increase satisfaction with our [email protected] repairs service. or phone us on 781 7277. We would love to hear from you. Also, we are concerned that only two thirds of our tenants think our rents represent value for money. Given that John McMorrow, Director 3 Easthall Charter 15:easthall charter 25/08/2015 11:57 Page 6
What is the Charter?
The Scottish Social Housing Charter has been introduced by the Scottish Government as a way of monitoring how well social landlords perform in providing their services to tenants and other customers against the standards set out in the Charter. The Government wants to improve the quality and value for money of services provided by social landlords by:
• Setting out the outcomes and standards which tenants and other customers should expect from their landlord. • Helping tenants hold their landlord to account about their performance in delivering services.
If you would more information on the Charter please visit www.housingcharter.scotland.gov.uk
Each year landlords have to report how they have performed against the Charter to the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR). This information is then published on the SHR website www.scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk at the end of August which means that you can compare Easthall Park with all Scottish landlords. On top of this all landlords are expected to tell their tenants about their performance and their plans to improve. This is where this report comes in.
We have to measure our performance against 14 different outcomes laid out in the Charter - these are grouped under 5 key questions which cover the questions that the Scottish Government thinks all tenants want to ask of their landlord.
1. Do we provide good value for money? 2. Do we provide quality housing and a good maintenance service? 3. Do we manage our estates well? 4. Do we have a positive relationship with our tenants and our community? 5. Do we provide access to housing and support to those who need it?
The purpose of this report is to provide information to allow you to make your own assessment of how well 4 we are doing in delivering these outcomes. Easthall Charter 15:easthall charter 25/08/2015 11:57 Page 7
Do we provide value for money?
We know that rent levels are really important to our tenants. We know that many of our residents are on low incomes. We aim to keep rents as low as we can but at the same time we need the income we get from rents to deliver the range of services tenants want, and to repair your homes now and in the future, so it is a bit of a balancing act. We think we are getting it right – tell us by letting us know if you think we are doing things that are not value for money.
Average weekly rent Easthall Park £65.80 Did you know that on QEF £73.97 average our rents are lower Calvay £66.89 Gardeen £65.35 than most Easterhouse Blairtummock £66.61 landlords and amongst the Ruchazie £67.38 lowest in Scotland? Lochfield Park £72.36 Wellhouse £69.13
We didn’t raise our rents for 2015/16 – only a handful of Scottish landlords did the same! The average increase for QEF members was 2.3% and SHBVN members was 2%.
Our annual income from rent is 2.4 million pounds We need the income from rents to deliver our services – so we work hard to minimise the amount of rent we lose from tenant arrears and by properties being empty. 5 Easthall Charter 15:easthall charter 25/08/2015 11:57 Page 8
...Do we provide value for money?
Reducing rent arrears In last year’s report we told you that our performance in dealing with rent arrears didn’t compare well with other landlords. We have worked hard on improving this and are pleased that our efforts have had an impact. We reduced the amount of money owed by tenants to the Co-operative from £139,615 in March 2014 to £97,780 in March 2015. The table below shows how the gross rent arrear has changed over the last 3 years and how we compare now with the QEF average.
Easthall Park 2015 Easthall Park 2014 Easthall Park 2013 QEF 2015 4.0% 5.9% 5.2% 4.3%
Letting empty houses quickly We re-let 36 properties in an average of 8.75 days. This is slightly longer than the previous two years but we still performed well in comparison to others, and more importantly the amount of rent lost decreased from £3,513 last year to £2,332.
We will be working this year at trying to reduce the average time to re-let properties while at the same time trying to balance bringing all properties to an acceptable standard that new tenants want.
Easthall Park 2015 Easthall Park 2014 Easthall Park 2013 QEF 2015 Average number 8.75 days 8.3 days 8 days 20.65 days of days to re-let
% of rent lost while 0.1% 0.15% 0.1% 0.65% properties are empty
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...Do we provide value for money?
How every pound is spent
Day to day repairs 11p
Cyclical repairs 9p
Funding for current and future major repairs 10p
Environmental management 4p
Interest on loans 14p
£1 Administration 23p
Salaries 27p
Community Development 2p
*figures are rounded down or up to the nearest penny.
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...Do we provide value for money?
Easthall Park aims to be ‘more than a landlord’ - we support and fund a wide range of initiatives that make a difference and make Easthall Park a better place to live. Only 2p in every pound of rent money is spent on these community development initiatives such as:
• Delivering a community facility at the Glenburn Centre which has almost 25,000 attendances each year
• Providing assistance and volunteering opportunities for 8 people with supported needs and delivering services to supported needs groups with over 100 attendances per week
• Providing an annual bursary for residents in further education
We think these things provide value for money - do you?
We restructured our staff team to give a greater focus on front line services. Appointing two housing assistants allowed us to improve our rent arrears recovery and our response time to complaints of neighbour nuisance. We think that is value for money - do you?
Despite having lower than average rents and a high level satisfaction with the service we provide, we are disappointed that the percentage of tenants who regard their rent as value for money continues to reduce.
Easthall Park 2015 Easthall Park 2014 Easthall Park 2013 SHBVN 2015
66% 89% 89% 76%
We will be asking tenants about this – through the Residents Panel and through surveys to try and get to the bottom of why our tenants’ perception of value for money is dropping given that we charge some of the lowest rents in Scotland.
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Do we provide a good repairs service and quality housing?
Our day to day repairs service Did you know? • We carried out 2,821 reactive repairs in 2014/15 - an average of four for each property we own • We spent £266,732 on providing a reactive repairs service - an average of £395 for each property
We know that an effective repairs service is a key priority for the majority of our tenants - it is a priority for us too.
Over the last year we improved our performance in most aspects of delivering the day to day repairs service.
Easthall Park 2015 Easthall Park 2014 Easthall Park 2013 QEF 2015 Average time to complete 2.4 hours emergency repairs 2.7 hours n/a 2.7 hours Average time to complete 4.1 days non-emergency repairs 3.8 days 4 days 4.7 days % of repairs carried 89.5% out ‘right first time’ 82.2% 83% 92.7% % of repairs 92.7% appointments kept 87.9% 88% 95.5%
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...Do we provide a good repairs service and quality housing?
In the last three surveys we have asked tenants to rate their satisfaction with the repairs service
Easthall Park 2014 Easthall Park 2012 Easthall Park 2010 SHBVN 2015 % of tenants satisfied with the 87% 86% 88% 89% repairs service
Satisfaction levels have gone up but we are disappointed that we still appear to be behind other landlords. For 2015, we have appointed new maintenance contractors and will be working closely with them to improve our service in an effort to increase satisfaction levels, and we will also carry out a large number of telephone surveys of tenants, soon after their repairs are carried out, so that we can find out quickly if people are unhappy and we will try and sort it out.
The quality of our homes Did you know?
• All our 693 properties meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard – compared with only 92.4% of QEF members’ properties and 93% of SHBVN landlords • 94% of our tenants are satisfied with the quality of their home, compared with the SHBVN average of 86%
This is how we compare with local landlords
% of tenants satisfied with the quality of their home Calvay 91% Gardeen 89.2% Blairtummock 86.1% Ruchazie 88.7% Lochfield Park 100% 10 Wellhouse 73.1% Easthall Charter 15:easthall charter 25/08/2015 11:57 Page 13
...Do we provide a good repairs service and quality housing?
Although there was a slight increase in new tenant satisfaction with the quality of their home when they moved in over the last year, we still lag behind other landlords – this is an area that we want to improve although we have to balance this with our aim to re-let properties quickly to minimise lost rent and to keep our costs on empty house repairs down.
Easthall Park Easthall Park Easthall Park SHBVN 2015 2014 2013 2015 % of new tenants
satisfied with the 78% 75% 97% 83% quality of their home when they moved in
Looking ahead Each year we set aside money so that we can carry out planned improvements to our properties to make sure that we continue to provide good quality homes into the future.
In 2015 we plan to
• renew over 100 kitchens and over 50 boilers in properties throughout our community.
• engage with external partners to source funding to transform the external appearance of ex GHA stock
• carry out an external Wall Insulation Project with Everwarm and Glasgow City Council at Westerhouse Road to transform the appearance of the area whilst providing 12 tenants and 18 owners with more energy efficient homes. 11 Easthall Charter 15:easthall charter 25/08/2015 11:57 Page 14
Do we manage our estates well?
We recognise that providing an attractive, well maintained neighbourhood where people wish to live is just as important as carrying out repairs and other services.
% of tenants who rated the landlord’s management of the neighbourhood as ‘good’
Easthall Park survey 2014 Easthall Park survey 2012 SHBVN average 2015 95% 85% 84%
We were pleased with this increase in satisfaction. We believe that this is in part the result of introducing a new ‘in house’ estate caretaking service in August 2014 which has allowed us to provide more responsive services to the communities of Easthall and Kildermorie.
This allowed us to create 4 full time jobs as well as creating training and employment opportunities for the community with the provision of 2 trainee posts.
Dealing with neighbour nuisance and anti-social behaviour
2014 2012 Did you know? Do you feel safe in your In our last two surveys we community during the day? 99% 91% asked you if you felt safe during the day and at night in the Do you feel safe in your community and the results community at night? 92% 89% speak for themselves 12 Easthall Charter 15:easthall charter 25/08/2015 11:57 Page 15
...Do we manage our estates well?
Easthall Park 2015 Easthall Park 2014 SHBVN 2015
Number of cases of ASB & neighbour 21 23.5 9 nuisance per 100 properties Percentage resolved within target 90.3% 80% 82%
We received 146 complaints of neighbour nuisance and anti-social behaviour last year. Of these only 7 were about serious anti-social behaviour. Most complaints (78%) were classified as ‘category C’ and involved issues of neighbour disturbance and breach of tenancy. We know that these issues, although usually relatively minor, have an impact on the lives of residents and we were pleased that we were able to improve our performance in resolving these quickly.
Along with other Easterhouse landlords we will be looking in 2015/16 at how we deal with anti-social behaviour and how we work together with other agencies, like Police Scotland and Community Safety Glasgow to make Easterhouse a better place to live. Watch out for news - we will be asking for YOUR views.
We know that many residents regard groups of youths hanging around as a problem. For this reason, in conjunction with Easthall Residents Association, we have a big focus on working with young people to provide activities that they find fulfilling and fun.
Did you know that 130 children and teenagers attend activities at the Glenburn Centre every week? 13 Easthall Charter 15:easthall charter 25/08/2015 11:57 Page 16
Do we have a positive relationship with our tenants and our community?
• We carry out a large residents survey every two years to help us understand what our tenants and residents think about our service and to help us plan for the future. In our 2014 survey, 276 tenants were interviewed and 94% of them were satisfied with our overall service.
Easthall Park Easthall Park Easthall Park SHBVN 2014 survey 2012 survey 2010 survey average 2015
94% 98% 95% 88%
We also provide a factoring service to 53 owner occupiers – 20 of these were surveyed in 2014 and 80% said they were happy with the service they received from Easthall Park.
• In the survey we asked tenants whether they thought we were good at keeping them informed about our services and decisions.
Our Modern Apprentice Chloe on reception
Easthall Park Easthall Park Easthall Park SHBVN 2014 survey 2012 survey 2010 survey average 2015
99% 95% 93% 90%
We were really pleased with this result. We know from the survey that Did you know? tenants think our quarterly newsletter, We have a website Did you know? the Glenburn News, is a good www.easthallpark.org.uk full of You can get us on source of information. useful information, and you can Facebook and Twitter even log in and get details of your rent account and 14 repairs history Easthall Charter 15:easthall charter 25/08/2015 11:57 Page 17
...Do we have a positive relationship with our tenants and our community?
• We also asked tenants if they were satisfied with the opportunities we offer to participate in our decision making process - our satisfaction rates are high and compare well with others.
Easthall Park Easthall Park Easthall Park SHBVN 2014 survey 2012 survey 2010 survey average 2015
95% 97% 91% 80%
• As a tenant you are a shareholding member of the Co-operative - this means you can attend the Annual General Meeting and have the right to vote – or stand for election – for the Management Committee • The Management Committee consists of local tenants and meets 10 times a year. It has the role of setting the strategic direction of the Co-operative and making sure the business is well managed and is working to ‘make a difference’ in our community • The Residents Panel is open to all interested tenants and owners. It meets regularly to look at the Co-operative’s performance in delivering services and to review how we do things.
Did you know? We offer a range of opportunities to allow tenants to become involved in things that interest them, at a level they feel comfortable with 15 Easthall Charter 15:easthall charter 25/08/2015 11:57 Page 18
...Do we have a positive relationship with our tenants and our community?
Did you know that the minutes of Committee meetings and notes of Residents Panel meetings are on our website?
If you interested in becoming involved in either the Management Committee or Residents Panel please contact the office to find out more.
Dealing with complaints It may seem odd to say but here at Easthall Park we really do welcome complaints - we value what tenants have to say about our service and we try where possible to resolve any problems you have with the service as quickly as possible. PLEASE let us know if you are unhappy with any aspect of the service we deliver – we need to know what is wrong so that we can fix it and do what we can to prevent it happening again.
In 2013/14 we received and recorded 128 complaints, we resolved 97.5% of these within target and upheld 49% of the complaints made.
In 2014/15 we received and recorded 54 complaints, we resolved 95.8% of these within target and upheld 66% of the complaints made.
We are concerned about this drop in the number of complaints recorded - although it would be nice to think it had, we don’t think our service has improved to the point that the level of complaints has dramatically reduced over the year. We think that tenants were reporting dissatisfaction and staff were dealing with the issues but not recording the work undertaken - we have therefore reviewed our procedures and carried our additional training because we believe that getting your feedback both good and bad is vital in making sure our service is the best it can be. 16 Easthall Charter 15:easthall charter 25/08/2015 11:57 Page 19
...Do we have a positive relationship with our tenants and our community?
Making a Difference to our Community
The Co-operative, in partnership particularly with Easthall Residents Association, runs a wide range of social enterprise Did you know? activities for people of all ages in the community. In last In 2014/15 the Glenburn Centre year’s survey we asked residents their views on community held 1,198 activity sessions activities. Almost all respondents (95%) thought that these for 24,715 attendees supported activities were valuable and make a difference - this is an increase on the 90% reported in the 2012 survey. by 28 volunteers
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Do we provide access to housing and support for those who need it?
Access to housing We have 693 properties for rent and very few become available to let each year, in fact our turnover (the percentage of properties that become empty and available for let) is decreasing - in 2014/15 our turnover was 5.5%, compared to 6.9% the previous year – in 2015 the Scottish average was 9.7%.
This is good news for the Co-operative - because it means less money spent on empty houses and less rent lost - and for the communities of Easthall and Kildermorie because this indicates that people want to stay there.
This is not good news for those people needing a house and currently waiting to be housed - in simple terms demand for housing outstrips supply – in 2014/15 we had 734 applicants on our list and only 36 properties became available to let.
To improve access and choice we • operate a Common Housing Register (CHR) with three other Easterhouse landlords - Calvay, Lochfield Park and Gardeen. • introduced a common allocation policy in 2014 with the aim of allocating our available properties in a way that is fair, transparent and gives most priority to those in housing need. • Help our tenants who want to move by operating our own mutual exchange register and through membership of HOMESWAPPER, a UK wide register.
Our allocations policy is based on a group plus points system. Applicants are placed in a group based on their housing need and circumstances. Each year our Management Committee decide the number of lets to be made to each group - this is based on housing demand and our legal obligations. 18 Easthall Charter 15:easthall charter 25/08/2015 11:57 Page 21
...Do we provide access to housing and support for those who need it?
In 2014/15 we let 36 properties to applicants from the following groups
8% 33% 3%
Homeless 12
Urgent needs 2
17% Overcrowding 12
Unsatisfactory housing/medical 6
Transfer 1 6% General needs 3 33%
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...Do we provide access to housing and support for those who need it?
We want people we house to be able to settle down easily into their tenancy and enjoy living in their new home for as long as they want to - we see that as a success. We support all new tenants by giving them information on the rights and obligations of their tenancy and follow this up with a new tenant visit. Most people don’t need any more help but for those who do we offer welfare rights support/money advice, and can refer tenants to other agencies that can help in more complicated matters. This advice is available to all Easthall Park tenants throughout their tenancy.
Did you know? Leigh Marinelli Welfare Rights Assistant We provide free and confidential advice on money and welfare benefits 5 days a week – tenants or factored owners can call for an appointment or drop in on Friday mornings. We can visit you at home if you can’t make it to the Glenburn Centre. This service provides a comprehensive range of support on personal debt, energy bills and general information and advice as to how to maximise income and minimise debt. Our Welfare Rights Assistant Did you know? has managed to provide support to residents Since starting our Welfare in a huge variety of ways from helping claim Rights Service we have benefits, protecting those they already have, supported 321 people in our appealing benefit decisions, reducing gas and community with debts of just electricity bills. under £250,000. 20 Easthall Charter 15:easthall charter 25/08/2015 11:57 Page 23
...Do we provide access to housing and support for those who need it?
Adapting homes People’s housing needs can change, either through injury, ill-health or ageing. We can carry out adaptations – something as simple as installing handrails or something more complicated such as installing a wet floor shower. In 2014/15 we helped 11 tenants stay in their home by carrying out a range of adaptations.
It took us an average of 85 days to complete these adaptations. This was not as good as the SHBVN average of 72 days and this is something we will work on over the year.
Sustainability The Scottish Housing Regulator asks us to report on the ‘sustainability’ of our tenancies – measured by the percentage of new tenants who stay in a tenancy for more than a year. We are pleased that we can report an increasing rate of tenancy sustainment which compares well with others.
Easthall Park 2015 Easthall Park 2014 Easthall Park 2013 SHBVN 2015 96% 92% 90% 91%
Going forward We continue to operate in a difficult environment and the UK government’s plans for continued welfare reforms will make things difficult for many of our tenants.
To try and help them cope we will:
• Work closely to support those affected by the introduction of Universal Credit • Improve information and support given to new tenants to help establish and sustain their tenancy • Develop ways of helping tenants to cope in crisis situations 21 Easthall Charter 15:easthall charter 25/08/2015 11:57 Page 24
Thank you for reading our Charter Report!
We hope you have enjoyed reading this report.
We thank our Residents Panel and Management Committee for their input in developing the report.
If you want to find out more about the work of the Residents Panel, please get in contact.
We are always keen to get your views on this report.
To help you provide feedback on our Did you know performance, we have set out details of our that we pay for a job club in the Glenburn Centre staff team opposite. every Thursday and 96 people were supported Remember this is your community – help us this year. make a difference by getting involved in whatever way you can. 22 Easthall Charter 15:easthall charter 25/08/2015 11:57 Page 4
Our Management Committee
Mary Davidson Caroline Cooper Co-opted Charlotte Skewis Rosalind Murphy Patricia Thompson Charles Harvey George McNaught Josephine Warley Alison Cushingham
Our Office Staff Team
John McMorrow Director
Finance Manager Finance Officer Finance Assistant Audrey Roy Kevin Gallacher Paula Kerr
Senior Maintenance Officer Maintenance Assistant Maintenance Assistant Bryan McMahon Nikkita Smith Steven Ferrie
Housing Manager Housing Assistant Claire McGraw Conall Deveney (on maternity leave) Housing Assistant Temporary Housing Manager Paula McCann Elaine Whyte Welfare Rights Housing Officer Assistant Geraldine Cullen Leigh Marinelli
Housing Officer (P/T) Receptionist/Clerical Officer Leza Lafferty Chloe Cuthill
Housing Officer (P/T) Modern Apprentice Louise McNally Chloe McClure 23 Easthall Charter 15:easthall charter 25/08/2015 11:57 Page 1
EASTHALL PARK
The Glenburn Centre, 6 Glenburnie Place, Easthall, Glasgow G34 9AN Telephone: 0141 781 2277 Email:[email protected]
®
Recognised for excellence 3 star - 2014
www.easthallpark.org.uk This narrative is available in any language or format you require. Remember you can be kept updated with our performance by viewing our website or following us on Twitter or Facebook Please contact the office for details.