The achievements and success of housing professionals across the UK have been recognised in this year's Guardian Public Services Awards in London. The housing sector provided eight finalists in thirteen categories and walked away with three winners despite tough competition from the rest of the public sector.
The three category winners were:
The runners-up can also take great pride from the night with the achievements and versatility of housing professionals helping them to reach the final stages of the Awards, which attracted more than 800 entries.
The runners-up included:
Registered social landlord inspection reports issued by the Audit Commission during November included:
Equity Housing Group
Equity HG has 'a balance of strengths and weaknesses' according an Audit Commission short-notice inspection report of the Stockport based housing association.
The inspection covered how Equity delivers day-to-day repairs, manages empty properties and lettings and involves customers.
Inspectors found it is easy for customers to access services and they are consulted on the activities of the Association. However, it is taking too long to carry out repairs and allocate empty properties to people on the housing waiting list. Gas servicing is effective but monitoring of the programme is flawed.
Strengths noted include:
Weaknesses identified include:
Equity Housing Group has dispersed housing stock over a wide geographical area, operating in more than 20 local authorities, with the highest concentration in Stockport and Manchester.
__________
HydeMartlet
The Association 'has a balance of strengths and weaknesses', according to an Audit Commission short-notice inspection report.
Inspectors examined how well HydeMartlet is responding to tenants' requests for repairs and managing gas safety checks. The report shows that services are generally accessible to tenants, and the repairs service they receive is good. The number of gas safety checks has increased significantly. However, services are not tailored to meet tenants' needs and don't always represent value for money.
Recommendations made in the report include:
Martlet Homes was created following a stock transfer of some 5,200 homes from Chichester DC in 2001. Martlet Homes joined the Hyde group in December 2007 and took the trading name HydeMartlet.
Martlet now operates as an 'operational business unit' within the Hyde group with its own management and governance structures. It manages 11,662 homes across Hampshire, Surrey and Sussex, with a large concentration in Chichester where the head office is based.
_________
Newlon Housing Trust (NHT)
NHT is working well in carrying out gas servicing and dealing with rent arrears, but could improve its repairs service according to a report released by the Audit Commission.
Inspectors reached this conclusion following a short-notice inspection of how the Association is responding to repairs reported by tenants, the servicing of gas appliances and how well it collects rent arrears. The report shows that NHT is concentrating on these areas and has worked to improve its performance.
The report makes a number of recommendations, including:
Newlon Housing Trust (NHT) was established in 1968 when philanthropic members of the New London Synagogue decided to club together to buy properties that could be rented at affordable rates by members of the local community in need of decent homes.
Since then, it has expanded considerably and now owns and manages over 6,000 homes spread across eight boroughs in north and east London.
The Group also comprises Access Homes and two registered charities providing care and support services and community regeneration programmes.
__________
Soha Housing
A short-notice inspection report on how Soha Housing involves residents in its services and how well it manages its estates concludes that it 'has more strengths than weaknesses'.
The inspectors found that the Association offers good customer care and residents have a high level of involvement in deciding and improving services. Estates are well managed, although not always to a consistent standard.
Specific weaknesses identified include:
Soha Housing owns and manages about 5,200 homes across Oxfordshire, including 800 homes in sheltered housing schemes for older people.
__________
Wulvern Housing
In a short-notice inspection report that concludes that Wulvern Housing 'has a balance of strengths and weaknesses', Ann Bennett, Audit Commission Lead Housing Inspector, said:
"Wulvern is improving its repairs service and this has been noticed by tenants. All homes have a current gas safety certificate and there are fewer empty homes, but they need to be repaired more quickly.
"Further improvements are also needed to make the service more responsive to tenants' needs and the organisation needs to adopt a value for money culture'.
Recommendations made by inspectors include:
Wulvern Housing was established in 2003 following a stock transfer from Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council. The Association owns and manages around 5,000 properties, of which approximately a quarter are sheltered homes.