Annual Performance Report “Great Homes, Great People, Vibrant Communities” 2018/19 Foreword from the Chairperson Our Performance in 2018/19 I am delighted to welcome our communities. To help achieve Throughout our Performance Report for Charter. The Charter requires all Registered you to our 2018/19 Annual this, we completed a staff structure 2018/19, you will be able to see how well Social Landlords and Councils to submit annual Performance Report. This is review during 2018/19 increasing we performed in meeting the standards and performance information to the Scottish my first Annual Performance our staffing complement to 20 outcomes of the Scottish Social Housing Housing Regulator. Report as Chairperson. I would while creating 5 new roles including like to thank my predecessor, a Community Regeneration and • Equalities Engagement Officer and Financial The Charter Outcomes 1 - 3. Customer Chairperson, Janet Allan, for her • Communication Inclusion Assistant, allowing us to Relationships dedicated hard work in helping The Charter has 16 outcomes and • Participation better meet our future challenges in standards which are assessed by to guide the transformation of these areas. the Association to a position specific indicators set by the Scottish 4 – 5. Housing Quality • Quality of Housing During 2018/19 we proactively Housing Regulator. Fourteen of • Repairs, Maintenance & of Low Engagement with the the standards apply to housing & Maintenance Improvement Scottish Housing Regulator. This responded to a wide range of strategic challenges including associations and the other two, which status recognises that strong welfare reform changes and relate to Homelessness and Gypsies 6. Neighbourhood • Estate Management governance remains at the heart community regeneration. The or Travellers, only apply to Councils. • Anti-social Behaviour. of our business, in addition to Association invested £1.2 million This report details our performance and Community our ongoing commitment to in our housing stock ensuring we across a range of indicators from continuous improvement and the 2018/19 Annual Return on the are on track to meet the Scottish 7 – 11. Access to • Housing Options providing high quality, value for Government’s Energy Efficient Charter. It forms a key part of the new • Access to Housing money services to our tenants Standard for Social Housing targets Regulatory Framework that came Housing and Support • Tenancy Sustainment for 2020. We also strengthened into effect on 1 April 2019, including and customers. Awards. These nominations and partnership working with a range the requirement to submit an Annual This Annual Performance Report awards recognise the excellent work • Value for Money of stakeholders. For example, Assurance Statement to the Scottish 13 - 15. Rents and highlights how we performed in being carried out by our staff team • Rents and Service Charges collaborating with Ayrshire Housing Regulator by October 2019. Service Charges the last year, the challenges we and we look forward to continued Chamber of Commerce to deliver continue to face as an Association recognition of that hard work during innovative Developing Young and our exciting plans for the 2019/20. Workforce Projects with Doon future. It shows our performance Academy pupils. Overall, it has been another very in delivering the Scottish Social positive year for the Association, Our progress in transforming Housing Charter and compares our and I would like to thank my the Association into a dynamic performance to previous years and colleagues on the Management community anchor has also been with other landlords. Board and the staff team for all recognised through our success in 2018/19 saw the continuing of their hard work and support. winning the 2018 Ayrshire Chamber transformation of the Association 2019/20 promises to be of Commerce Excellence in into an organisation which is able another very exciting year for the Customer Service Award. We were to meet the challenges ahead Association. also finalists in the 2019 Ayrshire through implementation of our Business Excellence Award. Our I hope you find this report Business Plan Vision of Great project with Doon Academy has interesting and we would welcome Homes, Great People, Vibrant also seen us short-listed for the any comments that you may have. Communities and the creation of a Developing Young Workforce Award dynamic community anchor across Lorne Cambell at the 2019 Ayrshire Business Chairperson Telling you about Our Performance Contents Our performance results are for the year ending allow you to compare how well we’re doing locally and at a national level. Our Performance in 2018/19 p3 Neighbourhoods and Communities p10 31 March 2019. We have included comparative performance results to allow you to assess how The Scottish Housing Regulator publishes its own Rents p4 Homes and Rents 2018/19 p11 well we are performing over time. reports on all social landlords that allow you to Voids and Relets p5 Financial Information p12 We provide you with the Scottish Average performance compare our performance across a range of services. Satisfaction and Relationship p6 Board Members p14 figures and the average performance of local Ayrshire This information can be found at the Scottish Housing partners in EYDENT – ANCHO, Atrium Homes and Regulator’s website: www.scottishhousingregulator. Quality and Maintenance Staff List p15 Ayrshire Housing and those of East Ayrshire Council, to gov.uk. of our Homes p8 2 Shire Housing Report 2019 Shire Housing Report 2019 3 Rents Voids and Relets The Scottish Social Charter Indicators for rents and arrears are set out below. Minimising lost rental income from empty homes is a key priority of our Business Plan. Rent Arrears Performance Allocations and Voids - Indicator C8 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 Current Tenant In 2018/19 we re-let a total of 96 properties from applicants on the East Ayrshire Common Housing £101,902 £130,354 £114,683 Arrears Register - known as SEARCH. Properties were let to the following groups of applicants: Former Tenant We recognise our performance in lets to £76,376 £65,474 £81,730 Arrears 2018/19 2017/18 2016/17 homeless people is very low. Working in partnership with East Ayrshire Council, we Gross Arrears £178,278 £195,828 £196,413 Transfer Applicants 24 18 12 recognise that our stock size and its rural location means that it is more difficult for Although our gross arrears figure of £196,413 has Waiting List us to improve lets to homeless people. 72 69 93 increased on last year, it represents 4.55% of the total Applicants However, we continue to work closely rent due, which is a marginal decrease of 0.04% on the Our focus remains on preventing debt and helping with East Ayrshire Council and seek prior year. Former tenant arrears have increased which tenants to take responsibility for paying their rent. We Mutual Exchanges 4 1 6 opportunities with agencies to identify is reflective of the impact of Universal Credit (UC) recognise that this will continue to be a challenge for potential demand, ensuring that we do all Housing Costs not covering rental costs at termination. the Association in the future. we can do to make best use of our stock to Homeless 0 1 4 those in housing need. Rent collected as a % of total rent due in the reporting year - Indicator 30 100% Shire Housing Association 2018/19 Rent lost from empty properties Time to re-let - Indicator 35; Indicator 34 80% Shire Housing Association 2017/18 Our average time to re-let empty properties improved Our performance on the amount of rent lost from Shire Housing Association 2016/17 during the year to 35.02 days from 59.98 days last 60% empty properties continues to be a challenge. We year. We successfully re-let 17 low demand empty Eydent Members 2018/19 lost £58,477 in rental income compared to £43,265 properties. As a result, our performance is marginally 40% last year. The increase comes mainly from a greater above the Scottish average of 31.8 days. However, East Ayrshire Council 2018/19 turnover of properties in our difficult-to-let areas. We stripping out the effect of these difficult-to-let 20% are increasing support for tenants in these areas. properties, our performance improves significantly to Scottish Average 2018/19 24.42 days which is an improvement from 25.29 days 99.7% 97.8% 99.1% 99.9% 98.8% last year and out-performs the Scottish average. 0 1.3% 1.0% Gross rent arrears as a % of the rent due for the reporting year - Indicator 31 Shire Housing Association 2018/19 1.5% 4.55% Shire Housing Association 2017/18 0.7% 4.59% Shire Housing Association 2016/17 Eydent Members 2018/19 1.4% 4.29% East Ayrshire Council 2018/19 Shire Housing Eydent Members 3.78% Scottish Average 2018/19 Association 2018/19 2018/19 Shire Housing East Ayrshire Council Association 2017/18 2018/19 7.50% Shire Housing Scottish Average Association 2016/17 2018/19 4 Shire Housing Report 2019 Shire Housing Report 2019 5 Satisfaction and Relationships The Customer Landlord Relationship Your opinions really matter to us, they help us Satisfaction when moving in - Indicator 9 continue to improve and develop services that are right for you. We collect feedback on a range Delivering high quality affordable homes is at the heart of what we do. The table below highlights that our new of services such as the repairs and allocations tenants have consistently above average levels of satisfaction when they move into our homes compared to the services. We are about to undertake a full national and local average performance. Independent Tenant Satisfaction Survey during 2019/20 which is required by the Scottish Housing Regulator. This is conducted every 3 years and was last done in 2016.