Homes for Haringey - National Federation of ALMOs
Transcription
Homes for Haringey - National Federation of ALMOs
Annual Report to Residents 2011/12 Homes for Haringey Ltd About this Annual Report Residents wanted our Annual Report 2011/12 to be a film so residents and Homes for Haringey staff worked together to produce it. This report accompanies the film and provides information that supports what we say in the film. The Annual Report Film 2011-12 is available online at: www.homesforharingey.org/annualreport © Homes for Haringey Ltd October 2012 2 Contents Welcome from residents Introduction 1. Housing standards and local offers 2. Resident involvement and empowerment 3. Home standard 4. Tenancy standard 5. Neighbourhood and community 6. Governance, financial viability and rents 7. Value for money 8. Progress against residents’ top ten themes 9. How you can get involved 3 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 9 page 11 page 13 page 15 page 17 page 21 page 22 www.homesforharingey.org/annualreport Welcome from residents We, the resident members of Homes for Haringey’s annual report group, wanted our annual report to be a film this year, so we worked with staff at Homes for Haringey to make it. You can also watch the Annual Report Film 2011-12 online at: homesforharingey. org/annualreport. Or contact Joe Boake of the Resident Involvement team to arrange a viewing on 020 8489 4483. We produced this film for you, the council tenants and leaseholders of Haringey. This report accompanies the film and provides information that supports what staff and residents say in the film. We hope the film and this report will tell you what you want to know about housing services. These services are important to us and we want to make sure they are as good as they can be. Our group helped agree the content of the film and a wider group of resident filmmakers helped staff make the film. We hope you are interested in getting involved in next year’s annual report. Please have a look at the film and this report, see what you think, and let us know your ideas on how they could be improved. Homes for Haringey will be showing the film to all its resident involvement panels and groups. The residents on our annual report steering group are: The resident film makers who contributed to the film are: Petal Caddu Neville Giles (Supported Housing Panel nominee) Anne Goodhew (Leasehold Panel nominee) Terry Iland Tony Jackson (Repairs Panel nominee) Eric Lattimore (Asset Management Panel nominee) Michael Murphy (Tenant Participation Panel nominee) Alan Paul Anne Scott Burns Boucher Joshua Buyukilmas Prince Shoyelu Pamela Lamptey Shirley James Tunje Omoshebi Chris Hutton Hortense Kolade Anne Scott Emmason Okoroha 4 Please see what Paul Bridge, Jonathan Card and Councillor Bevan have to say in the Annual Report Film. www.homesforharingey.org/annualreport Introduction Dear resident, Our staff worked closely with a group of residents on the annual report film and we’d like to thank these residents for their time and their help. Homes for Haringey works with residents and Haringey Council to improve our services, and we believe we have done this over the last year. We worked to provide support to local communities in our response to the Tottenham riots in August 2011, and we are committed to working with young people in Tottenham through our Project 2020. Our work with the Council and constructor partners on the Decent Homes programme continues to go well; we had a 99% customer satisfaction rate with Decent Homes works completed. We also introduced a ‘quick fix’ customer feedback scheme, which increased satisfaction with the way we respond to complaints to 93%. Our progress as an organisation was recently recognised when we were awarded the ‘ALMO of the year’ award, and we hope we can continue to improve the services we offer you. We hope you enjoy the film and this report and that they cover subjects that you are interested in. Paul Bridge Jonathan Card Chair Chief Executive Homes for Haringey Homes for Haringey Board 5 Councillor John Bevan Cabinet Member for Housing Haringey Council 1 Housing standards and local offers 1.1 National housing standards The housing regulator, the Homes and Communities Agency, oversees a set of national housing standards which were agreed with residents and landlords from across the country. Every year we produce a report to residents setting out these standards (see box below) and summarising how we are meeting them (sections 2 to 7). We agreed with residents that most of our local offers would be borough wide. However, we also provide local offers for specific groups such as young people, older people, or vulnerable tenants. Each of our services has a comprehensive set of service standards, agreed with residents, which sets out what you can expect in each area. Our service standards are available at: www.homesforharingey.org 1.2 Local offers We meet the national housing standards by providing services tailored to the needs of local people. These are called local offers. Standard What the standard covers Tenancy involvement and empowerment Customer service, choice and complaints Involvement and empowerment Understanding and responding to your needs Home Quality of accommodation Repairs and maintenance Tenancy Allocations and mutual exchange Tenure Neighbourhood and community Neighbourhood management Local area co-operation Anti-social behaviour ‘Economic standards’ Governance and financial viability Rents Value for money 6 2 Resident involvement and empowerment 2.1 Customer service, choice and complaints 2.2 Involvement and empowerment We offer you accessible services through two Haringey Council Customer Service Centres and you can contact us by post, email, telephone and online. We want to involve you in shaping our services; ways you can get involved include resident panels and groups, resident training courses, youth outreach work, resident associations and advocates. We also hold a wide variety of resident involvement events, such as our Residents’ Open Day in June 2012, which had over 600 resident visitors. We are currently working on an online self-service account system called SeeMyData. This will allow you to access more of your information online (including rent account and service charge information). An area that residents told us to improve was our lengthy complaints process. In 2011 we introduced a quick-fix feedback scheme which allows residents to choose to ‘fast track’ their complaint – to get the problem sorted out quickly – or to choose a full investigation. The new scheme has improved customer satisfaction with the feedback scheme by over 20% (from 71% in September 2010 to 93% in September 2011). In December 2011, we were awarded the Government’s Customer Service Excellence Award for the third year in a row in recognition of the way we design our services around customers’ needs. 7 We held a Rewarding Resident Volunteers Awards in May 2012 which recognised lots of different residents who made a contribution to their local community. At this event, Cllr John Bevan presented 16 residents’ associations with framed certificates and special grants of up to £500 to pay for new equipment or projects in their communities. Our Resident Involvement team promote lots of local initiatives. They recently secured money for nine sheltered housing schemes to have new computers set up in their lounge areas and will be running on-site training courses to help residents get started. “We want to involve and empower you through the services we provide to you.” “We use individual needs information to tailor our services to the diverse needs of our customers.” 2.3 Understanding and responding to the diverse needs of tenants We use individual needs information to tailor our services to the diverse needs of our customers. We also actively engage groups of tenants who have specific shared needs and interests. Performance in 2011/12 In 2011/12, we answered 90% of inbound calls to our Repairs Control Centre, slightly behind our 93% target. By July 2012 this improved to 94.6%. Our target for responding to quick fix complaints is 90% within 5 working days. In 2011/12 Homes for Haringey achieved this target, answering 95% For instance, our disabled people’s group includes carers as well as residents within target. with disabilities and sensory impairments. 93% of residents surveyed in We are currently working with this 2011/12 were satisfied with the way we group and the Council to improve the accessibility of pavements in Hornsey for handled their complaint. disabled people. In 2011/12, our website was visited 67, 453 times. In 2011/12, 1100 people attended our resident involvement meetings, panels and training. 98% were satisfied with what they learnt on our training. 8 3 Home standard 3.1 Quality of accommodation In 2011, the Government reduced Haringey’s Decent Homes funding to £36 million for 2011 to 2013; £50 million less than first allocated. To make the best use of the reduced amount of money available, our focus has been to make sure that homes are safe, warm and dry. We also invited residents to talk to us directly at roadshows we held across the borough. We know that being unable to do kitchen and bathroom replacement works is extremely disappointing for residents. However, we are committed to completing the Decent Homes programme, and are working closely with the Council to look at options for the future of the programme. This means we are prioritising works to roofs, windows and essential health and safety works, such as electrical rewiring. We wrote to all residents who were affected by this back in the summer 2011 to explain the changes. We were able to complete Decent Homes works to 830 properties in 25 sheltered housing schemes in December 2011, and also completed the switchover to digital TV aerials for all properties with existing communal aerials by April 2012. 9 “We are committed to completing the Decent Homes programme.” 3.2 Repairs and maintenance Performance in 2011/12 The Haringey Repairs Service carries out over 60, 000 repairs each year. In 2011/12, 98% of tenants said they were satisfied with the quality of repairs carried out. We work closely with the residents’ repairs panel to help improve the service and to focus on areas where there have been issues. An area that residents said they would like to see improved is our approach to communal repairs. We worked with the residents’ panel to focus on this area and we increased the number of communal repairs completed on time from 92% in March 2011 to 95% in March 2012. Our Repairs Service takes on young people as apprentices from the local area, and trains them in different repairs skills. To mark National Apprenticeship Week in February 2012, a team of Homes for Haringey repairs operatives refurbished the Somerford Grove family community centre in Northumberland Park, Tottenham. “We are very proud of our apprentices, many of whom go on to a permanent position with us. The refurbished community centre will help attract even more children and young people from Northumberland Park and around to take part in activities.” Paul Bridge, Chief Executive In 2011/12, we carried out Decent Homes works to 1, 602 properties. We carried out over £19million of improvement works to homes in the borough. Resident satisfaction with Decent Homes works completed was 99.6%. 99.88% of tenants’ homes had a valid gas safety certificate in March 2012 (it is now 100%). We kept 97.6% of non-emergency repairs appointments. Our target is 98% We are close to target for completing repairs jobs within the government time limits – 98.8% against a 99% target. 97.9% of tenants are satisfied with the quality of their repair. Our target is 95%. We attended 99.8% lift repairs within target times against a 95% target. 95.3% of communal repairs were completed within time, against a 95% target. The average time taken for an empty property (a ‘void’ property) to be repaired is 17.1 calendar days against a target of 15 days. For this year, the average time dropped to 12 days by July 2012. 10 4 Tenancy standard 4.1 Allocations and mutual exchange 4.2 Your tenancy Our Tenancy Management team provides an accessible service to 16, Haringey Council manages housing 500 tenanted households, including allocations and lettings. Most Council 1, 500 supported housing units. The properties are let through the choice Tenancy Management team works with based lettings scheme. residents on both the Tenancy and Estate Management panel and the Supported Our New Tenant Liaison team works closely with the Council to make sure the Housing forum to listen and respond to service meets the needs of applicants and resident feedback and suggestions. new tenants. Our Tenancy Management officers help Our Tenant Liaison officers show people manage and maintain tenancies. They around properties, answer any questions, carry out occupancy checks to confirm and support tenants during those critical that the correct person is living at the address, reduce tenancy fraud, and make first few weeks. Most properties are now sure tenants are receiving the services being let quickly, reducing the time any they need. property remains empty. “We want to ensure you have the support you need to maintain your tenancy.” 11 Each tenancy management officer is responsible for vulnerable tenants on their ‘patch’ (the area they are responsible for) and visits each one at least twice a year to check on their wellbeing. We also work with support agencies such as Hearthstone, Haringey’s domestic violence support service, and the Sanctuary Scheme, which re-houses families at risk. Homes for Haringey has concierges on some estates and these staff offer additional help and support to residents. This year, we will be further developing our concierge service, so that we will be able to offer help in a wider range of ways. We are also aiming to reduce the number of similar estate-based activities that we carry out to avoid unnecessary duplication (we currently have estate action days, inspections and walk-abouts). Performance in 2011/12 97.7% of New Tenant Liaison visits were attempted within four weeks. Concierge desks were opened 98.9% of their advertised opening times. We have set up a New Vision for the Housing Management Service project which is helping to redesign our services to be more tailored to residents’ needs. A key area we are focussing on is our approach to enforcement, which means taking action against breaches of tenancy conditions (and covers issues such as vandalism, dumping and littering). 12 5 Neighbourhood and community 5.1 Neighbourhood management 5.2 Local area co-operation We are currently introducing new machinery to improve the cleaning of estates. We are giving our Estate Service Officers small budgets to help them resolve minor issues on their estates. Following the Tottenham riots in August 2011, we have increased the support we provide to young people in Tottenham in order to help reduce the number who are not in training, education or employment. In 2011 we launched Project 2020 to help tackle this issue and this project includes a mentoring scheme with a wide range of external partners to help support young people in Tottenham. We work in partnership with Haringey Our Estate Service Team takes care of the Council, residents and other partners common areas inside blocks of flats. We to achieve shared goals. This includes our recent work with the Council and work with Veolia Environmental Services who are responsible for cleaning outside residents on the North Tottenham regeneration plan. This involved talking areas, collecting refuse and recycling. to over 130 residents of the Love Lane Haringey Council’s Parks Service estate, Whitehall Street and Brereton maintains parks and open spaces. Road about improvements they would We work with resident monitors on many like to see in the area. The Council has appointed a consultant to work of our estates who do a great job of helping us to keep estates clean and tidy, with residents and develop ideas about possible improvements. and notifying us of problems. We are also working with the Parks Service, environmental charities Groundwork and the London Wildlife Trust, and local residents to improve the environment on estates by supporting several community gardens and food growing plots. 13 “We contribute to neighbourhood management and community life.” 5.3 Anti-social behaviour Performance in 2011/12 We work closely with residents, the Council and the police to deal with anti-social behaviour. Our frontline staff are well trained and can help tenants suffering any form of harassment by referring them to the support agencies they need. We encourage residents to consider mediation when this is appropriate. We also work to prevent anti-social behaviour on estates by actions such as blocking off access through alleyways to keep out non-residents. 93.9% of estates were graded at A (Excellent) or B (Good) by Estate Services Managers. Our target is 96%. We also worked with the Council to agree introductory tenancies for all new council tenants in 2011, to discourage anti-social behaviour and other tenancy breaches. The change means that if the tenant breaks any of the conditions of their agreement with us during the first 12 months of their tenancy, we will be able to evict them much faster than previously. 94% of ground maintenance on estates was graded at A or B by Estate Services Managers. Our target is 97% Almost 100% of blocks and estates have near-entry, mixed recycling facilities. Homes for Haringey won the top award in the ‘Serving the Community: Best Organisation’ category at the National WOW awards 2011. Initial investigations of anti-social behaviour cases were completed in time in 80.9% of cases. 14 6 Governance, financial viability and rents 6.1 Governance 6.2 Financial viability Our Board has overall responsibility for managing Homes for Haringey and its Management Agreement with Haringey Council. The Board’s decision making is supported by the Finance and Audit Committee and the Performance Committee. Both our Board and our Finance and Audit Committee are responsible for managing the financial affairs of the company. The Board and the Committee receive regular reports on the organisation’s finances and make sure it complies with financial regulations. The Board is made up of six residents, five councillors, and five independents. Each position is voluntary. We held an election for the six resident spaces on the Board in 2010 and saw a record rise in voting turnout (60% of supported housing tenants, 47% of tenants, and 45% of leaseholders cast votes). Our financial statements are also assessed by independent auditors to ensure they give a ‘true and fair view of the state of the company’s affairs’. To see our Financial Statements and reports for 2011/12, please visit: www.homesforharingey.org/almo/about/ the_board/financial_governance.htm We also have a Resident Scrutiny panel that reviews our services and provides feedback to our Board and Leadership team, who have a duty to respond. The Government changed the way council housing is financed. From April 2012, the Housing Revenue Account (the Council’s housing budget) became self financing, which means it receives all income from council homes but no longer gets housing subsidies. We are working with the Council to consider how these changes affect the amount of funding we have to invest in council homes. 15 6.3 Rents Every year, on behalf of Haringey Council, we consult residents on proposed changes in rent. We also present an overview of the proposed rent and service charges to our Residents’ Finance Panel and submit comments to our Board. The Council considers feedback from this consultation when deciding on the level of rent for the financial year ahead. Our Income Collection team collects rent and takes prompt, early action to prevent arrears from increasing and firm enforcement action when payments are not being made. In 2011/12, we collected 97.29% of rent including arrears against our annual target of 98.7%. The Income Collection team also provides help and advice to tenants experiencing financial difficulties. The team works closely with partners such as the Council’s Benefits Service and the Citizens Advice Bureau to offer support. Following the Government’s Welfare Reform Act and changes to the benefits system, we have worked with residents to review our Income Collection services. As a result of this review, we will be setting up a dedicated Financial Inclusion team to assist tenants affected by changes to their benefits. This new team will have specially trained officers on hand who can help and advise you about any benefits changes affecting you, or if you are already struggling with your rent payments. Make life easier for yourself! Use your mobile to pay your rent or service charge It's fast, flexible and really easy Use your mobile to pay your rent or service charge It's fast, flexible and really easy 1 Register online at https://www.allpayments.net/textpay to set up your account and get your password. 2 Text the word “pay”, then the amount of rent or service charge you want to pay, and your password to 81025. 3 That’s it! There's more information at: https://allpayments.net/textpay Above: Homes for Haringey ad promoting payments by text published 2011 16 7 Value for money 7.1 Our approach to value for money We involve residents in our annual business planning and procurements so we can understand your priorities and target resources on the things that matter most to you. “We aim to provide you with value for money services. This means they achieve the ideal balance between cost, performance and resident satisfaction.” 17 We also carry out service reviews to identify improvements or savings we can make. We are currently carrying out value for money reviews of Estate Services, our Income Collection team and our Repairs Service. Members of our Residents Finance Panel are actively involved in these reviews, alongside other relevant groups. 7.2 Summary of the Housing Revenue Account budget Income in 2011/12: Supporting people grant £1,689,000 (2%) Charges for services & facilities £21,293,000 (19%) Rents from garages & shops £2,381,000 (2%) Rents from council homes £74,310,000 (66%) 18 Expenditure in 2011/12: Repairs & maintenance £21,734,000 (20%) Depreciation of housing properties £13,444,000 (12%) Bad debts 835,000 (1%) Property insurance & rates £1,774,000 (2%) Housing management £38,896,000 (35%) Interest & debt charges £31,025,000 (29%) Corporate costs funded by the HRA £866,000 (1%) 7.3 Savings made in 2012/13 Homes for Haringey identified savings of £1.89 million in its 2012/13 budget over its 2011/12 budget. We are also committed to achieving a further £1.8 million savings in both 2013/14 & 2014/15. 7.4 Value for money for leaseholders Our Leaseholders’ Panel works with our Home Ownership team to ensure we provide value for money, and looks at annual service charges and consultation on major works. Our Key Leaseholder Scheme is helping to achieve value for money for leaseholders. Leaseholder volunteers receive reports on communal repairs for their estates. Nearly every block in the borough is represented and scheme members meet regularly to discuss communal repairs and major works issues. (The scheme members will shortly be meeting at Leaseholder Panel meetings.) 19 For more details on our Business Priorities see our Business Plan at: www.homesforharingey.org/almo/about/our_business_plan.htm 20 8 “We spoke to residents, staff, the Council and partners in a ‘Big Conversation’ consultation in 2011/12, and identified the top ten themes that you are concerned about. The table below summarises some of the progress we have made against these themes so far this year.” Progress on residents’ top ten themes You want us to: Progress so far this year: 1. Be much stricter on enforcement and make estates We’re going to be focussing much more on safe places to live enforcement, clamping down on poor behaviour and taking action against tenancy fraud. 2. Make first impressions count – let’s have estates We’ve reduced the number of outstanding that both residents and staff take pride in communal repairs on estates, and are improving how run estate walkabouts to ensure that issues residents have identified are dealt with quickly. 3. Work with Haringey Council to invest in Haringey We’ll be investing an additional £35m in the housing stock over the next two years. We will continue to work with the Council to identify ways to ensure that all council homes meet the Decent Homes standard. 4. Improve customer services: phone and face-to We have appointed a new Customer Services face contact Manager to help us improve the way we manage your calls and visits to us. 5. Do more in-house, deliver a wider range of We are about to start offering repairs services services, and deliver services to others to leaseholders. We’ve also reduced the amount we spend on contractors, completing the work ourselves instead. 6. Ensure we get repairs right – from first contact We’re going to working with our customer services to ‘right-first-time’ to help them diagnose your repairs problems to help us fix it on our first visit. 7. Provide opportunities (training and work) for all residents in the borough, particularly young people We’re offering four apprenticeships to young people in Haringey. We’ve taken on five trainees aged 16 to 24 to work with our caretakers. Our Project 2020 is offering mentoring to young people, with over 30 more young people now involved. 8. Offer more support for the most vulnerable Tenancy Management Officer roles are changing residents so they focus more on vulnerability. We’re introducing a Financial Inclusion team which will help residents manage their money and assist them when they are in financial difficulty. 9. Make teams and individuals work more effectively We have a range of activities to enourage staff together to provide a seam less service to get together and work together more effectively. This includes regular team meetings, briefings for wider staff groups and project teams made up from colleagues from different teams. 10. Reduce bureaucracy We are reducing the number of similar estatebased activities such as action days, inspections and walkabouts, and are simplifying our tenancy termination procedure. 21 9 How you can get involved “We offer various ways for residents to get involved in shaping the services we provide.” 9.1 Resident Scrutiny 9.2 Ways to get involved Our Resident Scrutiny Panel looks in detail at the services we deliver, talks to staff, residents and partners and reviews a range of information, before making recommendations. Peter Gilbert has been with the Scrutiny Panel since it was set up in 2011. This is what ‘scrutiny’ means to him: You can join a residents’ panel or group on any of the following service areas: “Scrutiny is the process by which we, the residents in Homes for Haringey managed properties, are able to look closely at the operation of the services that have most impact on us. By using different techniques (such as comparing services to other organisations, analysis of information, mystery shopping, questionnaires, interviewing staff and residents) can consider whether the services are being provided effectively, efficiently and in a way that gives good value for money. We can make recommendations to the Board based on our detailed findings. If the Board accepts our recommendations, we can help draw up an action plan and monitor how these are implemented so that it benefits residents, staff and the organisation as a whole.” Asset Management Finance Leasehold Repairs Sheltered Housing Tenancy and Estate Management Tenant Participation and Training You can become involved at a local level with a residents’ association or as an advocate, on estate inspections, or as a resident estate monitor. Or if it is relevant to you, you can join a special interest group: The Disabled People’s group The Scattered/Street Properties forum The Women’s forum Youth online If you are interested in getting involved in any of these ways, please contact our Resident Involvement team: Phone 020 8489 4463 or email: resident.involvement@ homesforharingey.org 22 Tell us what you think 2013 31 January We would be delighted to hear your views on this Annual Report to Residents and our annual report film. We will use your feedback to improve next year’s annual report. Please complete this form and return it to: Homes for Haringey, Freepost RRXB-SACU-YERY, Resident Involvement, 8th Floor, Alexandra House, 10 Station Road, London N22 7TR 1. Is the annual report clear and easy to understand? Yes No Don’t know 4: Did the film cover what is important to you? Yes No Don’t know 2: Did the report cover what is important to you? Yes No Don’t know 5: 3: Was the annual report film interesting to watch? Yes No Don’t know Did you answer ‘no’ to question 1, 2, 3 or 4? Please tell us what you’d like us to improve: _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ 6: Are you interested in being part of next year’s annual report residents’ steering group? Yes Your name:______________________________________________________________ Your address:____________________________________Postcode:_________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Phone 23 number:_____________________Email address:__________________________ Contact us www.homesforharingey.org freephone 0800 195 3404 or 020 8489 5611 (cheaper from a mobile) Homes for Haringey Ltd Registered company no. 5749092 Registered address: Alexandra House 10 Station Road London N22 7TR