The effects of ‘Secure Warm Modern’ homes in Nottingham: Decent Homes Impact Study Community outcomes Improved Lower carbon neighbourhoods Impact on people emissions Less anxiety / stressImpact on homes Lower fuel costs Fewer burglaries Warmer Secure Better mental Reduced Increased Reduced health and draughts Warm energy fuel wellbeing and noise Modern effi ciency poverty Home as Reduced a social space cardiovascular illness Fewer hazards Less damp and mould More jobs Less respiratory and training illness Fewer falls Fewer aches Better Boost for and accidents and pains physical local economy health and employment Alice Jones Néstor Valero-Silva Dan Lucas The effects of Secure Warm Modern homes in Nottingham: Decent Homes impact study by Alice Jones, Néstor Valero-Silva and Dan Lucas Published in 2016 by Nottingham City Homes Copyright © Nottingham City Homes. All rights reserved of the authors. ISBN: 978-0-9934093-2-5 2 Foreword The Decent Homes Programme (DHP) was introduced by the UK Government in 2000 to address ‘a large backlog of repairs in local authority housing, estimated at £19 billion in 1997’. It aimed at improving the homes of social housing tenants, making them ‘warm, wind-and weather-tight, and with reasonable modern facilities’, based on a defi ned ‘Decent Homes Standard’ (National Audit Offi ce, 2010). Nottingham City Homes (NCH) initiated its £187m Decent Homes Programme in 2008, branded locally as Secure, Warm, Modern (SWM), to improve the 28,300 council-owned properties in the city up to and beyond the Government’s standard. It was widely assumed that making homes secure, warm and modern would result in a number of benefi ts to the lives of individual tenants, and also that a such a large investment would have a signifi cant positive impact on particular neighbourhoods and on the city as a whole. However, as the National Audit Offi ce highlighted, research was urgently needed in order to test these assumptions, and to assess the wider overall impact of the DHP on wider social outcomes. To address this gap with robust knowledge and evidence, NCH launched its ambitious Decent Homes Impact Study in partnership with the Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, in 2010. Following initial consultation with relevant stakeholders, including NCH’s own tenants, four key themes were identifi ed as the primary areas in which investment in social housing could have an impact on wider social outcomes: crime and security; energy effi ciency and fuel poverty; health and wellbeing, and employment and the local economy. The impact study included an overall Social Return on Investment (SROI) assessment. The positive reception of the reports by other housing organisations and local authorities that followed confi rmed the value of the fi ndings. The research project was an exemplar of stakeholder engagement, demonstrating the value of working in partnership with other government organisations, such as local government and businesses, the Police, and the NHS. It heralded the beginning of a wider, holistic approach to understanding the social value delivered by social housing providers in their communities, and also provided the necessary tools to enhance effective decision making. Unsurprisingly, this impact study received equal attention in central government. In June 2012, during a Parliamentary debate about the future of Decent Homes, a Minister for the government stated ‘the study, undertaken by Nottingham City Homes with Nottingham Trent University, of the wider impact of Decent Homes… has made a very useful contribution to our knowledge, and ought to be required reading for those who doubt the importance of investing in our social housing stock.” NCH continues to use the fi ndings from the impact study to inform its capital programmes and long-term investment plans. For example, the evidence of crime reduction resulted in the immediate prioritisation of further security improvements. Another long-term priority is improving the energy effi ciency of NCH homes. The evidence showed that this not only has a positive effect on the environment, but also on tenants’ health and wellbeing and on fuel poverty. This supported NCH in initiating one of the largest insulation programmes in the country, and NCH’s achievements were recognised through the award of UK Housing’s ‘Sustainable Landlord of the Year’ in 2013. This book gathers all the reports from the impact study. Subsequent research and development work has continued since, as new data are collected and as the methodological approach developed is embedded into the organisation’s planning and decision making process. Details of the subsequent research can be found at www.nottinghamcityhomes.org.uk. July 2016 1. https://hansard.digiminster.com/Commons/2012-06-26/debates/1206271000002/DecentHomesProgramme(Nottingham) 3 Nick Murphy, Chief Executive of Nottingham City Homes: Nottingham’s City Homes’ vision is to ‘create homes and places where people want to live’. The Decent Homes Impact Study gave us the evidence to show that the investment in our homes is much more than ‘bricks and mortar’; it demonstrably improves the quality of life for our tenants, as well as benefi tting their communities, and the wider environment. This has been the stepping-stone to building new and closer relationships with partners from other sectors, bringing together services that impact on our tenants’ wellbeing. NCH now sits on the Nottingham Health and Wellbeing Board, gaining recognition both locally and nationally for the role of housing as an effective early-intervention health measure. Since the Impact Study, there has been a growing emphasis on social value within the housing sector and wider public sector. The Social Value Act 2012 now requires all public service commissioners to consider how they might improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the local area. We have been fortunate to be able to work with one of our local academic institutions, drawing on the expertise of the Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, to develop our approach. This has enabled NCH keep pace and contribute to the developments in social value. NCH has continued to build social value and impact into our strategic and operational approach. Our Corporate Plan for 2015-18 states: ‘We are committed to increasing the social value of our core activities, service initiatives and projects and to measure the value and social impact of our work. We will ‘design in’ social value from the outset of any activity, and put in place processes and measures that will enable us to account for the social impact that we generate across NCH. This approach will help us explore where our investment may be most benefi cial in helping us achieve our corporate ambition.’ (July 2016). Decent Homes Impact Study team (2010 – 2012): Nottingham Business School: Alistair Mutch, Néstor Valero-Silva, John Buglear Nottingham City Homes: Amanda Schofi eld, Dan Lucas, Steve Hale, Steve Edlin KTP Adviser: Philippa Ryan Housing Investment Impact Analyst: Alice Jones, [email protected] The following organisations contributed to this project: Nottingham Crime and Drugs Partnership, Nottingham City NHS, Nottingham Energy Partnership, Nottingham Trent University School of Architecture Design and Built Environment. NCH contractor partners: Bullock, Frank Haslam Milan, Nationwide Windows and Doors, SPI, Vinshire Plumbing and Heating Limited, Wates Living Space. The project was supported through the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships programme (KTP). KTP aims to help businesses to improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills that reside within the UK Knowledge Base. KTP is funded by the Technology Strategy Board, along with other government funding organisations. This project was also funded by One Nottingham. 4 Contents 3 Foreword 7 Chapter one – Impact study overview 9 Introduction 13 Context and approach 20 Summary of fi ndings 59 Chapter two – Crime and security 60 Chapter summary 63 Introduction 65 Aims and method 67 Data analysis fi ndings 73 Findings from local residents and offi cers 77 Conclusions and recommendations 80 Appendix A 81 Appendix B 83 Chapter three – Energy efficiency and fuel poverty 84 Chapter summary 88 Introduction 91 Aims and method 92 Energy effi ciency of NCH stock 95 Fuel poverty amongst NCH tenants 97 Waste and recycling 98 Case study – property and tenant monitoring 111 Conclusions and recommendations 117 Chapter four – Health and wellbeing 119 Chapter summary 124 Introduction 130 Housing and health – uncovering the evidence 134 Findings on the health impacts of housing 159 Housing and health – taking the fi ndings further 164 Conclusions and recommendations 165 Appendix – notes on data collection and analysis 167 References 175 Chapter five – Employment and the local economy 177 Chapter summary 181 Introduction 185 Approach 189 Local multiplier effect of Secure Warm Modern 195 Business benefi ts 196 Skills and training 199 Community legacy benefi ts 200 Conclusions and recommendations 205 Chapter six – Conclusions and recommendations 206 Social return on investment 210 Learning points and key messages 5 6 Impact study overview Community outcomes Improved Lower carbon neighbourhoods Impact on people emissions Less anxiety / stressImpact on homes Lower fuel costs Fewer burglaries Warmer Secure Better mental Reduced Increased Reduced health and draughts Warm energy fuel wellbeing and noise Modern effi ciency poverty Home