2014 Annual Report on the Charter
Front Cover: Dewar Avenue, Kincardine
Contents Chairman s Introduction........................................................4 About Us.......................................................................5 Annual Performance Results (2013/14) Landlord Reports........................ The Customer / Landlord Relationship...........................................8 Outcome 1 Equalities Outcome 2 Communication Outcome 3 Participation Housing Quality and Maintenance.............................................10 Outcome 4 Quality of Housing Outcome 5 Repairs, Maintenance and Improvement Neighbourhood and Community...............................................12 Outcome 6 Estate Management, Anti-Social Behaviour, Neighbour Nuisance and Tenancy Disputes Access to Housing and Support................................................14 Outcomes 7, 8 & 9 Housing Options Outcome 10 Access to Social Housing Outcome 11 Tenancy Support Getting Good Value from Rents and Service Charges............................17 Outcome 13 Value for Money Outcomes 14 & 15 Rents and Service Charges 3
Introduction Iam delighted to introduce our first Annual Report on the Charter, which follows the first Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) Landlord Report, and which lets tenants know how we are progressing in meeting the standards of the Scottish Social Housing Charter. We have worked with a group of tenants to determine what information might be of most interest to you, as well as what format and layout would be most attractive and easy to read. We hope you like the results and would be pleased to have your feedback on any aspect of the report. Please add any comments to the form at the end of this report. Your feedback will help us improve the report for next year and make sure we include the aspects of our work which are important to you. Thank you to the tenants who assisted in getting us to this stage, your input was invaluable. Monitoring and reporting on our performance is something we do on a regular basis so, although the format is new, the principle is not. I am pleased to say that the SHR Landlord Report, available on our website, shows that we are performing well in most aspects of our business. Overall satisfaction with services provided remains high and is above the Scottish average. We meet or exceed the Scottish averages on many of the other standards. We perform well in collecting rent due, which is crucial to the financial stability of the organisation. Our rents compare favourably with other organisations. We perform well in the time taken to re let houses. The income we lose through having empty properties is well below the Scottish average. This is important, not just to maximise income to the organisation, but most importantly to make sure that those people needing houses wait for the shortest possible time. We perform well in the time we take to complete both emergency and routine repairs and have above average satisfaction with the quality of repairs carried out. This means that our properties are kept to a good standard, which enhances the lives of our tenants. We are not complacent however and there are areas in which we want to improve in the coming year. These are: To improve our performance in tenant participation and scrutiny and to get tenants more involved in the work of the organisation and influence decisions. If you would like to become involved in tenant participation and scrutiny please let us know by returning the form at the end of this report. To continue to support tenants with the impact of Welfare Reform and build on our success in supporting tenants to secure Discretionary Housing Payment to offset the Under Occupancy charges which have challenged many tenants this year. To improve our performance in dealing with neighbour disputes - we will be monitoring this closely given recent changes to our Neighbour Disputes policy. To continue to improve services across all areas of our activity so that our tenants have the best possible service from us. We are in a strong position to meet the challenges of the coming year and I look forward to seeing the results of the hard work which will undoubtedly be required by us all. Charles Milne - Chair 4
About Us Kingdom Housing Association was formed in 1979 to ensure that the last 44 residents from a lodging house in Fife were properly rehoused in the community following its closure. The completion of the first affordable housing project came in 1986 when 16 new homes were built at Victoria Terrace in Dunfermline. Since then the organisation has developed over 4,500 new homes for a range of affordable housing needs. We currently own 3,607 properties and the breakdown of these is shown below. 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 3206 117 Social Rented Mid Market Rent Sharing Owners Number of Properties 284 We have invested in sustainable housing, investing in low energy housing and modern methods of construction and are committed to continuing with this to ensure that tenants have the best quality, affordable housing for the future. We continue to work across Fife, Falkirk and Perth & Kinross and are currently discussing potential expansion into Clackmannanshire. New Housing Completed in 2013/14 14.6m was spent on new builds in 2013/14. Of this total spend 7.1m was funded by the Scottish Government and other grants; 7.5m was funded as private finance through either new loans or the Association s own reserves. During the year we completed 112 new homes for both social and mid market rent to add to our housing stock in Dunfermline, Cupar, Kirkcaldy and Cellardyke. We also continued to progress on site contracts and started others, which will provide a further 227 new homes next year. Turnover Belfield Gardens, Cupar The Association s turnover for 2013/14 was 18.8m, a decrease of 0.9m from 2012/13. Additional Services The Association provides Support and Care services to people who need assistance to live in their own homes in the community. We also provide wider role activities which support tenants and those in local communities in areas such as developing skills for employment and finding work, budgeting and tenancy sustainment. We provide factoring services to 1,421 properties across Fife; 949 of these properties are owned by Kingdom Housing and 472 are owners and sharing owners. 5
Annual Performance Results (2013/14) Landlord Reports The Scottish Social Housing Charter sets out the standards and outcomes that all Scottish landlords should achieve. All landlords are required to submit details on performance to the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) and the SHR publishes landlord reports, which compare a landlord s performance with the performance of other Scottish social landlords. The report compares our performance with that of other Scottish social landlords and details are provided below. Homes and Rent The number of properties we own as at 31.03.14...3,206 Total rent due for the year... 12,099,313 Average rent increase...3.5% The table below compares our average weekly rent with that charged by other Scottish social landlords. Tenant Satisfaction Of the tenants who responded to our most recent tenant satisfaction survey: 88.5% said they were satisfied with the overall service provided, compared to the Scottish average of 87.8% 88.6% felt that we were good at keeping tenants informed about services and outcomes, compared to the Scottish average of 88.9%. 63.6% of tenants were satisfied with the opportunities to participate in our decision making, compared to the Scottish average of 78.4%. The outcomes above confirm our tenant satisfaction levels are above the Scottish averages; however there are areas we continue to prioritise and would hope to report higher satisfaction levels in the future. Number Size of Home Owned Kingdom HA Scottish Average Difference 1 apartment 12 55.12 59.56-7.5% 2 apartment 788 63.79 65.18-2.1% 3 apartment 1,703 71.34 67.19 6.2% 4 apartment 645 78.31 73.07 7.2% 5 apartment 58 84.27 81.68 3.2% Quality and Maintenance of Homes The landlord report confirms the following and helps identify areas to be improved in the future: Kingdom Scottish Average Performance Comparison Homes meeting the Scottish Quality Standard 93.1% 85.4% Average time to complete emergency repairs 2.1 hours 6.9 hours Average time to complete non-emergency repairs 7.8 days 8.2 days Reactive repairs completed right first time 84.9% 87.2% Repairs appointments kept 92.6% 92.9% Tenants satisfied with repairs and maintenance service 93% 87.6% Performance above Scottish average Performance below Scottish average 6
Neighbourhoods 22.8 cases of anti-social behaviour were reported last year for every 100 of our homes 75.3% of these cases were resolved within targets agreed locally, compared to the Scottish figure of 75.9%. Value for Money The amount of money we collected for current and past rent was equal to 99.8% of the total rent due in the year, compared to the Scottish average of 99.0%. We did not collect 0.5% of rent due because homes were empty, compared to the Scottish average of 1.2%. It took us an average of 25.4 days to re-let homes, compared to the Scottish average of 35.7 days. Want to know more? If you would like a copy of our SHR landlord report, please contact our Customer Service Team on 01592 630922. A copy of the report is also available on our website www.kingdomhousing.org.uk The SHR also has lots of further information on Scottish landlords performance on their website www.scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk Elgin Drive, Glenrothes Priorities to consider for next year: Improve performance in completing complaints within targets Work with tenants to reduce arrears through assistance with money advice, tenancy support, assistance into work and referral to other agencies Consider whether our target for arrears should be changed due to the impact of welfare reform on tenants Improve performance in relation to dealing with neighbour disputes and get feedback on tenant satisfaction levels Improve performance across a range of categories Increase and promote the opportunities for tenants to participate Review our repairs and maintenance policy and procedure 7
The Customer / Landlord Relationship Outcome 1: Equalities Social landlords perform all aspects of their housing services so that: Every tenant and other customer has their individual needs recognised, is treated fairly and with respect and receives fair access to housing and housing services. You said: Our tenants with hearing difficulties were having problems contacting us. We did We have now provided a facility for those tenants to text us with any issues they are experiencing with their tenancy, eg report a repair, etc Throughout the year we have continued to carry out adaptations to our properties to make life easier for the tenants who live there. The chart below provides some information on the work carried out. Satisfaction surveys were carried out following completion of all the adaptations, showing an overall satisfaction rate of 92% and comments included: This has made life so much easier getting up and down the stairs, thank you. The work is much better than I could have hoped for; I can now have a shower at any time. Will help greatly with the day to day care of my daughter. Great work now able to get out to all of the garden. In order to make our allocation policy as fair as possible, we have various categories that we select applicants from. Here is a breakdown of the targets we worked to last year: Allocation Quotas The chart below summarises services we provided last year to ensure effective communication with our tenants and applicants. Interpretation & Translation 40 35 30 25 20 15 35% 16% 20% 27% 5 8 20 Sign Language Interpreter Translated Documents Provision of Interpreter 10 5 0 Statutory Homeless/Medical 2% Urgent Housing Need Social and Medical Poor Housing Circumstances Lack of Security We also aim to allocate 40% of all of the ground floor properties that become available during the year to applicants with mobility problems. Adaptations 72 66 75 Number of Applications Completed Applications Number of Medical Adaptations Priorities to consider for next year: We have recently asked tenants if they wish to be supported in a different way. We will be looking at this information to make sure we provide advice and support in a way which suits their particular needs. 8
Outcome 2: Communication Outcome 3: Participation Social landlords manage their business so that: Tenants and other customers find it easy to communicate with their landlord and get the information they need about their landlord, how and why it makes decisions and the services it provides. Tenants and other customers find it easy to participate in and influence their landlord s decisions at a level they feel comfortable with. In our large scale satisfaction survey in 2013/14: 88.5% of respondents felt we were good at keeping them informed about the services we provide and the decisions we make. You said: We like being kept informed by letter, newsletters, phone and e-mail We did We agreed to continue with the newsletters and look at how we can involve tenants in producing and contributing to them. We gathered information to increase the number of e-mail addresses we have for tenants and are using this to keep in touch and to reduce our costs of sending information. We have updated our website to make it more interactive. You will soon be able to review your rent statements, report and track the progress of a repair or update personal details. Also in our survey: 63.6% of respondents were satisfied with their opportunities to participate in our decision making process. You said: We would like to be involved in surveys, a tenant conference, information days, tenant groups, public meetings and focus groups We could provide more information and listen more to tenants views We did We have worked with the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) to complete the first stage of our review of our Tenant Participation Policy and Strategy (formerly our Customer Relations Policy). We will recruit a Tenant Participation Officer so that we can increase opportunities for you to be involved. We will continue to hold focus groups with tenants and other customers to seek their views on how they would like to be involved and to discuss the format and content of our report on the Charter. Please contact us if you would like to be involved in one of these groups. Priorities to consider for next year: Increasing the use of e-mail to send information and newsletters, keeping people informed but cutting our costs Looking at ways of increasing the use of social media to connect with you Consulting on and implementing a Tenant Participation policy and strategy to increase opportunities to get involved in the work of the organisation Completing an interim survey to make sure we get your up to date views on our services in the years where we do not carry out a large scale survey One of our Focus groups 9
Housing Quality and Maintenance Turner Crescent, Methil Outcome 4: Quality of Housing Outcome 5: Repairs, Maintenance and Improvement Social landlords manage their business so that: Tenants homes, as a minimum, meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) by April 2015 and continue to meet it thereafter, and when they are allocated are always clean, tidy and in a good state of repair. Tenants homes are well maintained, with repairs and improvements carried out when required and tenants are given reasonable choices about when work is done. We are on track to meet the SHQS standards for all of our properties by the target date of 31 March 2015. At March 2014 we assessed that 93.1% of our qualifying stock met the standards. In the last year we brought another 100 properties up to this standard, the work required included energy improvement measures, heating upgrades and alterations to kitchens. During the year we spent approximately 58,000 on improvement work, in addition we obtained some grant funding from energy suppliers for additional loft insulation for some properties. In 2014/15 we plan to improve the remaining 187 properties that we have assessed as failing the standard. The expected cost of this work is approximately 100,000, not including grant funding we hope to obtain towards insulation improvements. From our survey in 2013/14, 83% of tenants were satisfied with the quality of their home. You said: You were dissatisfied when you felt homes were in need of general upgrading or were too hard to heat We did We already have a planned maintenance programme in place to replace all major components in our properties. Planned replacement dates are based on expected life cycles for key components. Over the last year we: Replaced 69 kitchens Replaced gas boilers in 86 homes Installed more efficient electric central heating systems in 8 homes Replaced vinyl flooring in common areas of 39 flats Replaced smoke & heat detectors in 700 properties Redecorated windows, doors and common areas to 473 flats and houses This work was completed at an investment cost of 525,000 10
We carry out post allocation surveys on the standard of properties at allocation to assess satisfaction with the general condition of the property and the standard of cleaning at change of tenancy. Our survey of tenants showed that: 83% were satisfied with the quality of their home when moving in, assessing it as clean, tidy and in a good state of repair. 84% were satisfied with the way we deal with repairs and maintenance and 86% were satisfied with the repairs visit on the last visit. 90% were satisfied with the speed of completion of their repairs. 91% were satisfied with our new appointment system where they had this option We now ask tenants to complete a short satisfaction survey every time they have a repair carried out and will address any issues highlighted. Dewar Avenue, Kincardine 2013/14 2012/13 No. of emergency repairs carried out 3,155 1,963 No of routine repairs carried out 9,463 11,080 Cost of repairs over the year was 866,000 Priorities to consider for next year: Meet the 2015 SHQS standards We plan to carry out the following replacements: Kitchens - 112 Gas Boilers - 90 Complete Heating Systems 35 House Heat & Smoke Detectors - 244 At an investment cost of 565,000 Mobile working for tradesmen this will hopefully cut the costs of repairs and improve efficiency. We have recently introduced an appointment system for joinery repairs and we hope to extend this to all trades. We provide tenant choice as part of our kitchen replacement programme and we hope to extend this to other contracts in the future wherever possible. 11
Neighbourhood and Community Outcome 6: Estate Management, anti-social behaviour, neighbour nuisance and tenancy disputes Social landlords, working in partnership with other agencies, help to ensure that: Tenants and other customers live in well maintained neighbourhoods where they feel safe. Estate Management Our large scale survey measured your satisfaction with different aspects of our service and the results are in the graph below. Large Scale Survey Satisfaction Results 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 82% 88% How KHA manage Neighbourhood as your a place to live neighbourhood Landscaping Service Stair Cleaning Service We would like to improve levels of satisfaction with landscaping and stair cleaning. We are looking at: Involving tenants in estate walkabouts to identify where improvements could be made Introducing more regular questionnaires to get feed back about the standard of work from tenants 73% 78% Anti-Social Behaviour, Neighbour Nuisance and Tenancy Disputes 73% of tenants who responded to our survey said they were very or fairly satisfied with how we deal with anti-social behaviour and neighbour complaints. Number of Neighbour Complaints Rubbish in Common Area 19 Pets Parking Noise Garden 42 Drugs 21 Vandalism 21 Other Business from Property 2 Children 28 Bins 38 Assault 5 Abusive Behaviour Neighbour Disputes 1 April to 31 March 2014 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 730 Complaints Received 68 57 80 110 Resolved in Time Resolved Outwith Time Following consultation with tenants, we now aim to resolve neighbour disputes in no more than 20 working days. We now seek tenants views on the neighbour dispute process and will use this feedback to update and improve this service where appropriate. 550 239 204 12
You said: Our neighbour complaint letters did not provide enough information and you also suggested some changes to way we deal with complaints We did We have reviewed our neighbour complaints letters to make them clearer and more informative and we are reviewing our approach to handling neighbour complaints. 88% of those tenants who completed our large scale satisfaction survey were very or fairly satisfied with their neighbourhood overall as a place to live. To help make our neighbourhoods safer to live in: We work closely with other agencies to try to ensure a safe environment for our tenants. We adopt secure by design principles when building our houses. Priorities to consider for next year: Dunlin Drive Get more regular feedback from you on the quality of landscaping and stair cleaning and how we deal with your complaints Improve how we monitor the work of our contractors through more regular sampling and through feedback from staff when visiting developments Set up a formal schedule of estate inspections Dunlin Drive, Dunfermline 13
Access to Housing and Support Outcome 7, 8 and 9: Housing Options Social landlords work together to ensure that: People looking for housing get information that helps them make informed choices and decisions about the range of housing options available to them. Tenants and people on housing lists can review their housing options. Social landlords ensure that: People at risk of losing their homes get advice on preventing homelessness. Staff at our Glenrothes and Cowdenbeath offices are trained in housing information and advice to nationally recognised standards and are available during normal office hours to provide comprehensive housing information and advice. We provided housing information and advice to 667 people between 1 January 2014 and 30 June 2014. A breakdown of the advice given is in the table below: Number of People Enquiring About Housing Information/Advice January 2014 June 2014 Housing Information and Advice January 2014 June 2014 14 47 15 591 Number of Prevention First Referrals Number of Housing Option Interviews Number of Enhanced Housing Option Interviews Number of People Given General Housing Information & Advice We will refer applicants to other agencies who can provide immediate support to help them deal with the crisis they find themselves in. We gave out post allocation questionnaires and the results indicated that there was: 94.40% Overall satisfaction with application/allocation process for relets 95.70% Overall satisfaction with application/allocation process for new builds Priorities to consider for next year: Work towards having an online application system Provide information on location and size of properties that became vacant during the previous year to help people make more informed choices. 14% 11% 75% 501 Telephone Calls 93 Presented in Person 73 Email Correspondence We are partners with Fife Council in Prevention First. This scheme aims to provide alternative choices for those people who feel their only option is to go down the homeless route. 14
Outcome 10 Social landlords ensure that: People looking for housing find it easy to apply for the widest choice of social housing available and get the information they need on how the landlord allocates homes and their prospects of being housed. When your housing needs change, we will do our best to help you find more suitable accommodation. We are partners within the Fife Housing Register (FHR) which means applicants only need to complete one form to be considered for housing by all FHR partners. We also have a separate housing list for our properties in Falkirk and Perth & Kinross. Both housing lists are reviewed on a six monthly basis to ensure that information we hold for applicants is accurate and reflects their current circumstances. Number of Applicants Housed By Kingdom 1 April 2013 31 March 2014 29 44 7 252 Number of FHR Applicants Number of Transfers Number of Mutual Exchanges Number of Outwith Fife Applicants Welfare reform has meant that many tenants are finding it necessary to look for smaller accommodation. We have joined HomeSwapper as an organisation so our tenants do not need to pay to take advantage of this on line mutual exchange scheme. Priorities to consider for next year: Provide clearer and more easily understood information on our Allocation policy. Encourage applicants to attend housing options interviews when we feel more information and advice is required to help them make the most appropriate choices. Consider increasing pre tenancy support to help applicants prepare for taking on their own tenancy. 15
Outcome 11: Tenancy Sustainment Social landlords ensure that: Tenants get the information they need on how to obtain support to remain in their home; and ensure suitable support is available, including services provided directly by the landlord and by other organisations. Between 1 April 2013 31 March 2014: We have helped with 194 Discretionary Housing Payment claims We have helped with 283 claims for Housing Benefit We have helped with backdated Housing Benefit claims to the value of 38,000 Number of Allocated Tenancies 1 April 2013 31 March 2014 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 288 Allocated 282 Successfully Sustained Number of Tenants 6 Tenancies Ended We worked with 30 tenants on a long term basis to help them sustain their tenancy. We offered help which included: Budgeting Requesting repairs Applications for benefits Referrals for alcohol / substance misuse Neighbour issues Accessing employment and training activities Help to access health services Advice on keeping your home and garden up to an acceptable standard Basic advice on healthy eating and accessing food projects Priorities to consider for next year: Review how we support people to prepare for and sustain their tenancies. Be more active in referring people to other agencies. Consider how we help tenants to access online benefit claims from all our offices. Continue to support our tenants to claim Discretionary Housing Payment. The results of the large scale satisfaction survey indicated: 84% of respondents were satisfied with the advice and support we gave them whilst applying for housing and other welfare benefits. 79% of respondents were satisfied with the advice we gave them on managing their finances and paying their rent and service charges. We provide a number of services directly to our tenants to help them sustain their tenancy. This includes pre-tenancy work, post allocation visits and tenancy sustainment visits. Last year we carried out 98 post allocation visits. 16
Getting Good Value from Rents and Service Charges Outcome 13: Value for Money Outcome 14 & 15: Rents and Service Charges Kirkmay Road, Crail Social landlords manage all aspects of their business so that: Tenants, owners and other customers receive services that provide continually improving value for the rent and other charges they pay. Social landlords set rents and service charges in consultation with their tenants and other customers so that: A balance is struck between the level of services provided, the cost of the services, and how far current and prospective tenants and other customers can afford them. Tenants get clear information on how rent and other money is spent. We believe value for money is about getting the right balance between cost and quality. In our 2013/14 survey 78% of tenants thought that the rents for their property represented fairly good or very good value for money, taking into account the accommodation and service charges. 61.6% of tenants thought the stair cleaning and landscaping services represented good value for money. Rent Comparison / Annual Rent Increase The following table shows our rent increases over the last two years and how this compares with other similar landlords. 2014/15 2013/14 2012/13 KINGDOM 3.5% 4.2% 4.0% FIFE HA 3.6% 5.0% 4.5% HILLCREST 3.6% 3.8% 4.8% LINK 3% 3.7% 5.2% DUNEDIN CANMORE 3.5% 4.5% 4.9% CALEDONIA 2.7% 3.2% 4% Priorities to consider for next year: Liaise with tenants to make sure they know how their rents are calculated and how money is spent. Involve tenants in estate walkabouts to scrutinise landscaping and stair cleaning to make this more efficient and cost effective and to improve satisfaction levels. Consider involving tenants in the procurement process when we tender for new contracts. 17
Affordability According to our latest affordability study, based on 2012 data and the assumption that no household paid more than 30% of their income on rent, our rents, excluding service charges, were affordable to: 78% of the households in Fife 79% of the households in Falkirk 79% of the households in Perth and Kinross Cellardyke Average Rent Per Month Including Service Charges Comparison 2013/14 The table below compares our average rents with other housing associations working in Fife, Falkirk and Perth & Kinross. Dunedin Weekly Charge Kingdom Fife HA Hillcrest Link Canmore Caledonia 1 apartment 55.12 46.90 30.21 60.69 69.14 83.23 2 apartment 63.79 58.87 64.40 69.16 76.99 80.33 3 apartment 71.34 71.18 73.08 78.24 86.07 72.42 4 apartment 78.31 81.33 81.42 85.50 93.69 79.27 5 apartment 84.27 92.14 89.59 93.17 99.24 87.95 How Your Money is Spent The chart below provides a breakdown of how we spend the income we receive from rents: How Each of Your Money is Spent 0.37 0.12 0.03 0.26 0.22 Repairs Services Interest on Loans to Build Houses Management Expenses Including Housing Depreciation Amount Available to Meet Future Costs Priorities to consider for next year: Complete the rent review to make sure rents are fair, equitable and affordable. Consult with tenants on the proposed increase to service charges at the same time as we are consulting on the rent increase. 18
Customer Feedback Form Name Address Tel Email We really value your comments and welcome your participation and so would ask that you take some time to note in the box below your feedback on the content and layout of our Annual Report on the Charter. Alternatively, you can email your comments to m.sneddon@kingdomhousing.org.uk Comments If you think you would find it interesting to join our Customer Relations Panel, please contact our Customer Service Team on 01592 630922 for more information. You can also find out more about tenant participation on our website www.kingdomhousing.org.uk or email m.sneddon@kingdomhousing.org.uk I would like to find out more about tenant participation I would like to join the Customer Relations Panel
Kingdom Housing Association Limited Saltire Centre, Pentland Court, Glenrothes, Fife KY6 2DA Phone: 01592 630922 Fax: 01592 631991 Email: customerservices@kingdomhousing.org.uk Web: www.kingdomhousing.org.uk Scottish Charity Number SC000874 Financial Conduct Authority Reg. No. 1981 R (S) Scottish Housing Regulator Reg No. HEP 142