Agenda item

This report provides the Executive Member with the results of the Annual Housing Services Monitor (AHSM): a postal survey of City of York Council tenants undertaken during November 2008.  It will be supplemented by a presentation to the Executive Member and Advisory Panel at the meeting.

Advice of the Advisory Panel

That the Executive Member be advised to note the results of the 2008 Annual Housing Service Monitor and the proposed follow up focus work and actions.

Decision of the Executive Member

RESOLVED:             That the advice of the Advisory Panel be accepted and endorsed.

REASON:                  To improve the satisfaction levels of tenants with the Housing Service.

Members received a presentation and considered a report providing them with the results of the Annual Housing Services Monitor (AHSM): a postal survey of City of York Council tenants undertaken during November 2008.

The Research Officer, Marketing and Communications, gave a PowerPoint presentation, which provided a brief background to this statutory survey, the overall results, results per subgroup and highlighted the key aspects of the survey.

It was noted that overall satisfaction with housing services was 85%. 74% of tenants described the council as a ‘very good’ or ‘good’ landlord, down from 88% in the previous 2006 survey. 84% of respondents said that they were ‘very’ or ‘fairly satisfied’ with the condition of their home and 83% said that they were ‘very’ or ‘fairly satisfied’ with the repair and maintenance service.

Nine areas were defined in the survey, including: repairs and maintenance; overall quality; neighbourhood; dealing with anti-social behaviour; keeping tenants informed; taking landlord’s views into account; involving tenants in management; value for money; and dealing with enquiries.

Members then raised various concerns and comments to which officers responded:

• Paragraph 15 of the report had noted a fall in satisfaction with regard to the Council as a landlord. Officers stated that a focus group would be set up to establish the reasons for that and the results would be brought back to the Panel. Approximately 300 tenants who took part in the survey had stated that they were willing to take part in more detailed focus groups. It was noted that older and longer-term tenants were more satisfied with housing services than younger tenants.
• It was mentioned that tenants preferred to deal with one person when reporting a problem. Officers responded that unfortunately this was not always possible given that nature of some of the roles, however, they stressed that what was important was whether a response had been made right away and this involved ensuring that the message was passed on and responded to appropriately.
• Anti-social behaviour was the second area of concern for tenants. It was noted that anti-social behaviour was a problem involving other agencies and that it was important to keep all those involved well informed. It was also noted that there was now greater satisfaction in how this was dealt with, an 11% increase from 2006, but that tenants often had high expectations and these could not always be met.
• The Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) group proportion of respondents was less than 1%. Officers responded that they were undertaking a  customer profiling exercise over the next 10 months and this would provide the opportunity to tailor some services to meet the needs of certain tenant groups.
• It was noted that a higher proportion of females responded to the survey. Questions about age range, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation were asked by the survey.
• It was agreed that officers would send a copy of the PowerPoint presentation and the questionnaire to Members.

The co-opted members confirmed that the survey had given a good breakdown and that satisfaction with housing services had generally been high.

Advice of the Advisory Panel

That the Executive Member be advised to note the results of the 2008 Annual Housing Service Monitor and the proposed follow up focus work and actions.

Decision of the Executive Member

RESOLVED:             That the advice of the Advisory Panel be accepted and endorsed.

REASON:                  To improve the satisfaction levels of tenants with the Housing Service.