Scottish Social Housing Charter Performance 2017/18 November 2018 A report prepared by
2 Page
Contents CHAPTER PAGE NO. 1 Introduction 4 2 Stock profile 4 3 Satisfaction 5 4 Housing quality and maintenance 7-10 5 Dealing with anti-social behaviour 10 6 Rent indicators 11-13 7 Overall summary 14 Appendix List of GWSF members 14-15 Scotland s Housing Network Scotland s Housing Network is the national benchmarking club in Scotland and supports landlords to improve services by benchmarking cost and performance results and sharing best practice. The organisation also provides support to landlords to conduct peer review and self-assessment to assess the quality of services. With most social landlords in Scotland as members, Scotland s Housing Network plays an important role in driving up service standards across Scotland. W: www.scotlandshousingnetwork.org T: 0131 466 3710 Follow us on @ScotHousingNet Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing s (GWSF) GWSF is the leading membership and campaigning body for local community-controlled housing associations and co-operatives (CCHAs) in the west of Scotland. The Forum represents 64 members who together own almost 86,000 homes. Along with providing this decent, affordable housing CCHAs also deliver factoring services to around 14,000 owners, mostly in mixed tenure housing blocks. For around 40 years CCHAs have been at the vanguard of strategies which have helped improve the environmental, social and economic wellbeing of their communities. W: www.gwsf.org.uk T: 0141 946 0645 Page 3
1. Introduction This report follows on from the previous reports on the Charter indicators for GWSF member associations, which showed very high performance standards compared to other landlords, and looks at performance over the last three years. This report covers the same indicators, comparing GWSF members against other RSLs, stock-retaining councils, (LAs), and the sector as a whole. The indicators are those used in the Scottish Housing Regulator s (SHR) Landlord Report, with the addition of gross rent arrears. The 64 GWSF members are listed in the Appendix, together with their stock numbers. The charts show the indicators over the three years using these categories: GWSF members (note that this is based on current members, so comparisons with figures in previous reports may be different) Other RSLs (including specialist supported accommodation providers) LAs (note that this includes Glasgow Housing due to its size) All social landlords The report adopts the calculation of averages used by SHR, which weights the average according to the size of the landlord, (except for the satisfaction indicators, which use an unweighted average). 2. Stock Profile The table below shows the variation in size of GWSF members. Most are relatively small, with fewer large landlords compared to other RSLs. Size Number of landlords < 500 11 500 0 24 1 1500 9 1501 2000 8 2001 5000 10 > 5000 2 Overall stock numbers total 85,791; this represents around one in seven social rented houses in Scotland. There was a net increase of 363 properties for current members, with nine members building more than 10 houses, but there was a loss of at least 76 houses through RTB sales, with 24 members losing some stock. 4 Page
3. Satisfaction The key Charter indicator of tenant satisfaction with overall service continues to show GWSF members improving their performance, around two percentage points above the national average. Only four members were in the bottom quartile, three of which have not updated their results for this year, suggesting consistently strong results across all GWSF members. There were updated surveys for 30 members, a higher proportion compared to other RSLs. Satisfaction with overall service 91.1 92.4 93.0 89.2.1 91.2 83.3 85.3 84.9 89.0.2.7 70 60 50 Page 5
Keeping tenants informed GWSF members continue to excel at keeping their tenants informed, with over 95% satisfaction. Again, as in previous years, very few (six) are in the bottom quartile of all landlords, indicating consistently strong performance across the membership. Satisfaction with keeping tenants informed 94.3 95.1 95.6.8 91.3 93.1.6 91.1 92.2 81.5 81.5 84.7 70 60 50 Opportunities to participate GWSF members perform much better on satisfaction with opportunities to participate, compared to other landlords. Performance also continues to improve. Satisfaction with opportunities to participate 70 86.5.8 92.7.7 82.4 86.2 71.3 72.4 76.9 81.3 83.8 86.4 60 50 6 Page
4. Housing quality and maintenance Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) The percentage of stock meeting SHQS has improved but remains lower than for other landlords. Exemptions are much higher than average, probably reflecting the age profile of the housing stock: GWSF members have four times the percentage of pre-1919 stock compared to other RSLs, and also have a lower percentage of newer properties. However, stock failing SHQS is also higher, mainly due to significant levels for six members. Some of these are tenemental stock which is part of Glasgow s Property Acquisition & Repair programme, but other failures are due to ongoing programmes which are not completed, For the Energy Efficiency in Scottish Social Housing (EESSH), the proportion of stock meeting the Standard is 83%, matching the performance of other RSLs, and better than the national average. Meeting the Scottish Housing Quality Standard.2.4 91.1 93.3 94.3 95.3 93.1 94.1 94.4 92.8 93.6 94.2 70 60 50 Page 7
Repairs timescales Repairs timescales are key indicators for tenants. Performance is still improving on emergency repairs, although other RSLs and LAs have reduced their average timescales substantially this year. GWSF members do clearly perform better: only seven members take longer than the average for other RSLs, and only three are higher than the Scottish average. Time to complete emergency repairs (hours) 8 6 hours 4 2 2.9 2.9 2.6 3.7 3.9 3.1 5.8 5.1 4.4 5.1 4.7 4.0 0 For non-emergency repairs, performance is still much better than other landlords, although the average for GWSF members has risen slightly this year. Time to complete non-emergency repairs (days) 10 8 9.1 8.4 6 6.5 6.2 7.3 7.5 7.1 6.4 days 4 4.1 4.1 4.3 5.7 2 0 8 Page
Repairs right first time Repairs completed right first time, on target, without recall, showed a drop in performance, after improving steadily in previous years. Two-thirds of GWSF members perform better than the national average, suggesting that smaller GWSF members tend to perform better than larger landlords on this indicator. Repairs right first time % % 96 92 88 84 Repairs appointments kept Thirty-five of the 64 GWSF members offer repairs by appointment, mainly the larger GWSF landlords, a similar proportion to other RSLs, but less than for LAs. Performance has dropped again, and is lower than other RSLs and LAs. It may be worth members looking at the reasons for this. Repairs appointments kept 95 85 93.4 93.6 95.9 92.3 89.7 94.3 93.0 94.5 91.3.9 95.4 94.7 91.3 94.2 92.7 92.8 96.1 96.2 91.2 94.4 92.4 92.2 95.7 95.5 75 Page 9
Repairs satisfaction Although some indicators show a decline in performance, repairs satisfaction continues to improve, although only slightly from last year. Other RSLs have seen satisfaction improve, as have LAs, and the GWSF performance is above, but close to the national average. Satisfaction with the repairs service 95 % 85 91.2 92.3 92.5 89.7.7 92.4 88.0 86.2.8.0.6 92.1 75 GWSF Other RSLs LAs Scottish Average 5. Dealing with anti-social behaviour The anti-social behaviour indicator shows a decline in performance for GWSF members, but remains much better than other landlords. A correct calculation of resolved cases completed within target gives a figure of 94% completed within the landlord s target, again better than for other RSLs, and the same as LA performance. Anti-social behaviour cases resolved within target.1 91.0.2 84.9 83.8 84.8 86.4 87.4 88.5 86.6 87.2 87.9 % 70 60 50 GWSF Other RSLs LAs Scottish Average 10 Page
6. Rent indicators Rent collection and arrears Rent collected shows a fall this year, an experience shared with other RSLs and LAs. Because the indicator includes collection of outstanding arrears as well as rent due, 24 members collected over %, indicating that their arrears should be falling however, this number is also lower than last year. Rent collection 99.9 99.3 98 99.9 99.9 99.6 99.6 99.5 99.4 99.2 99.6 99.6 99.4 96 % 94 92 GWSF Other RSLs LAs Scottish Average The decline in rent collection has not yet been translated into rent arrears, where GWSF members have seen a small fall, to a similar level to other RSLs. LAs have substantially higher gross and current arrears, and which have risen substantially. Gross rent arrears 7 6 6 6.1 6.4 5 5.3 5.3 5.4 % 4 4.4 4.4 4.3 4.2 4.2 4.3 2 0 GWSF Other RSLs LAs Scottish Average Page 11
The loss of rent for empty properties has remained steady at 0.6%, still noticeably better than other RSLs or LAs, although this is partly due to the higher void rates of specialist RSLs. Only six members report a figure higher than 1% (the average for other RSLs). Void rent loss 1.5 1.2 1.2 % 0.9 1 1 1 0.9 0.8 1 0.9 0.9 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.3 0 GWSF Other RSLs LAs Scottish Average Although the void rent loss improved slightly, the average days to re-let properties rose, but is still a quarter less than the time taken by other landlords. Only eight members average was longer than the average of other RSLs. Time to relet properties 50 days 40 30 20 24.7 21.3 23.5 34.4 32.6 29.4 38.6 33.6 32.0 35.4 31.5 30.7 10 0 GWSF Other RSLs LAs Scottish Average 12 Page
Rent levels for GWSF members are slightly above the Scottish average, due to the lower rents of LAs, but substantially less than other RSLs. Even allowing for the higher rents charged by specialist RSLs, rent levels for GWSF members are lower than for other RSLs by around 5 per week. Average weekly rent 70 74.88 76.26 78.09 81.45 82.64 85.06 68.34 70.30 71.82 72.67 74.39 76.23 60 50 40 The rent increase agreed for rents for 2017-18 is much higher compared to the previous year s increase and is the same as other RSLs and LAs. Rents are continuing to rise faster than inflation, suggesting continuing strains on affordability for tenants. Rent increase 4 3 3.2 3.2 3.3 3.2 % 2 1.7 2.1 1.7 2.3 2.8 2.6 1.9 2.3 1 0 Page 13
7. Overall summary As stated in reports from previous years, GWSF members continue to provide high levels of performance against the Scottish Social Housing Charter outcomes. They are particularly strong on satisfaction indicators, especially with opportunities to participate, repairs timescales, antisocial behaviour targets, and efficiency in re-letting empty homes. The most significant area where GWSF members perform less well is on meeting SHQS, partly due to the age profile of stock, but also because of the level of failures for a small number of members, even allowing for acquisition of tenement flats in poor condition. There are now some other Charter indicators where other landlords have caught up, such as repairs right first time and appointments, and some areas where performance is declining slightly, such as rent collection and relet times, but is still much better than other landlords. For other Charter indicators that are not in the SHR Landlord Report, GWSF members also perform very well. This includes gas safety, tenancy sustainment and the other satisfaction indicators. However, other landlords are catching up, and GWSF members will need to review their own performance against all the Charter outcomes to ensure their tenants continue to receive high quality services. The implications for value for money for tenants also need to be considered. APPENDIX 1 GWSF members and stock numbers GWSF member Number of properties GWSF member Number of properties Ardenglen Housing Argyll Community Housing 958 5156 Arklet Housing 357 Atrium Homes 1172 Ayrshire Housing 1511 Barrhead Housing Bridgewater Housing 931 846 Cadder Housing 641 Calvay Housing 825 Cassiltoun Housing Cathcart & District Housing 975 5 Cernach Housing 794 Charing Cross Housing 516 Cloch Housing 1368 Clydebank Housing Copperworks Housing Cunninghame Housing Drumchapel Housing Co-operative Dunbritton Housing East Kilbride and District Housing Easthall Park Housing Cooperative Elderpark Housing 1095 270 2501 479 2 523 694 1256 14 Page
GWSF member Number of properties GWSF member Number of properties Faifley Housing 332 Ferguslie Park Housing Glasgow West Housing Glen Oaks Housing 799 1486 1297 Govan Housing 1559 Govanhill Housing Hawthorn Housing Co-operative Hillhead Housing 2000 2569 316 2 Homes for Life 275 Linstone Housing 1585 Linthouse Housing Lochfield Park Housing 1156 493 Maryhill Housing 3036 Milnbank Housing Molendinar Park Housing New Gorbals Housing 1668 493 2492 ng homes 5409 North View Housing 665 Oak Tree Housing 1735 Paisley Housing 1174 Parkhead Housing 1642 Partick Housing 1718 Pineview Housing 532 Prospect Community Housing 882 Queens Cross Housing 4335 Reidvale Housing 897 Rosehill Housing Co-operative 967 Ruchazie Housing 225 Rutherglen and Cambuslang Housing Shettleston Housing 818 2285 Shire Housing 963 Southside Housing Spire View Housing 2291 556 Thenue Housing association 2856 Thistle Housing 947 Tollcross Housing 2218 Trafalgar Housing 300 West of Scotland Housing Whiteinch and Scotstoun Housing Williamsburgh Housing Wishaw and District Housing 3421 1297 1621 973 Yorkhill Housing 456 Page 15
Unit 3D, Firhill House 55-65 Firhill Road Glasgow G20 7BE Tel: 0141 946 0645 www.gwsf.org.uk GWSF s purpose is to promote and represent local community controlled housing associations and co-operatives in Glasgow and the west of Scotland Photos: Front cover - Cathcart and District HA Page 5 - Reidvale HA 16 Page