Ten areas testing new ways to revitalise housing markets are continuing to make good progress, despite the recession.
The Audit Commission has assessed each of the pathfinder partnerships involved in the Housing Market Renewal programme. The Commission assessed five partnerships as 'performing strongly' (the top mark) and five as performing well.
All pathfinders have maintained overall performance levels. And three have improved areas of their work:
Roy Irwin, Director of Housing at the Audit Commission, said:
"Our assessments show that even in difficult economic times, the Housing Market Renewal pathfinders are playing an important role in efforts to improve existing homes and provide new homes while supporting communities.
"However, while all must be given credit for maintaining or improving overall performance in a difficult year, issues around value for money remain for some pathfinders, but these are being addressed."
The Audit Commission assesses partnerships on how well they are meeting priorities. These include the number of new and affordable homes, the promotion of cohesive and sustainable communities and their contribution towards creating attractive, prosperous and safe places for communities to thrive in.
The Commission also looks at progress in making improvements that have been identified to help the pathfinder improve its performance and make things better for local people.
Housing Market Renewal was set up in 2002/03 as a programme to rebuild housing markets and communities in parts of the North and the Midlands where demand for housing was weak and where there had been a significant decline in population, dereliction, poor services and poor social conditions as a result.
The following are summaries of selected local authority inspection reports issued by the Audit Commission during March.
Copeland Borough Council
Strategic Housing Service: Zero-star poor service with poor prospects for improvement.
Riza Yassin, the Audit Commission's Lead Housing Inspector for the North West, said:
"Copeland, like many smaller councils, has found it difficult to deliver the high quality service that local people deserve. While there is still much to do, some housing services are improving and the Council needs to ensure that this momentum is maintained and applied consistently across all services."
Inspectors found a number of weaknesses, including:
Copeland Borough Council transferred its housing stock in 2004 to Copeland Homes, which is part of the Home Group and the largest registered housing association in the area.
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Stafford Borough Council
Benefits Service: Zero-star poor service with uncertain prospects for improvement.
The inspection report concludes that Housing and Council Tax Benefits are not paid promptly when a customer submits a claim, and people trying to contact the service by phone experience long delays. Further, the Council has not done enough to encourage residents to claim the Benefits they may be entitled to.
To help the service improve, inspectors made a number of recommendations. These include:
The Benefits Service at Stafford Borough Council pays out around £25 million a year to over 8,000 households. The cost of running the service in 2008/09 was £754,000.
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West Somerset Council
Strategic Housing Service: Zero-star poor service with uncertain prospects for improvement.
Kieran Colgan, the Audit Commission's Lead Housing Inspector for the South West, said:
"Since our last inspection there have been some significant improvements in the strategic housing service. While this is positive, service quality still falls below the standard that local people expect and deserve. The Council now has a clear focus on improving the service but it needs to do more with partner organisations to turn its ambition into a reality."
Weaknesses identified in the service included:
West Somerset is a rural area with two-thirds of the area and one fifth of the population within the Exmoor National Park. The proportion of over 65 year olds at 33% is almost twice the national average and almost 23% of the population have a limiting long-term illness.
Registered social landlord inspection reports issued by the Audit Commission during March included:
Arhag Housing Association
Housing Management Service: One-star fair service with promising prospects for improvement.
Hugh Boatswain, the Lead Housing Inspector for London, said:
"Arhag Housing Association has improved services in key areas such as major works and customer care, resulting in improved resident satisfaction. Clear leadership is leading to better outcomes for residents, but significant weaknesses remain in the collection of rent and dealing with anti-social behaviour. The Association is not yet tailoring services to meet the diverse needs of its tenants."
To help the service improve, inspectors made recommendations, including improving:
Arhag Housing Association operates across 13 London boroughs. It was set up in 1979, and its remit includes meeting the needs of refugees and migrants. Tenants are predominantly from black and minority ethnic (BME) communities and many come from refugee and migrant backgrounds.
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Daventry and District Housing Association
Housing Management Service: Two-star good service with excellent prospects for improvement.
Ann Bennett, the Audit Commission's Lead Housing Inspector for the East Midlands said:
"The Association has done well in areas that matter most to tenants, such as the condition of their homes. This has led to improvements in overall satisfaction.
"There are a few key areas, such as its approach to handling complaints and telephone calls, that have been slower to improve. But the Association has this in hand, and we have every confidence that it will continue to improve."
Strengths identified in the inspection include:
Areas for improvement noted include:
Daventry and District Housing Association, now part of Futures Housing Group, was set up in November 2007 to receive homes transferred from Daventry District Council. It owns and manages around 3,100 properties.
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Kensington Housing Trust (KHT)
KHT is delivering a good repairs service and is working effectively to ensure that it meets its legal obligations to ensure the safety of gas appliances in its tenants' homes. Overall, resident involvement is satisfactory but more could be done in this area. KHT is helping its customers access services but, again, more could be done to ensure that it fully understands what barriers are facing some of them.
These were the conclusion reached after a short-notice inspection of how well the Association provides general repairs and gas servicing and how effectively it involves its tenants in managing and improving services.
The report lists a number of strengths, including:
KHT currently owns and manages 3,237 dwellings, of which 2,300 are 'general needs', located in the boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham and Westminster with a small number falling into the London Borough of Brent.
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Old Ford Housing Association
The Association is working well with its residents to improve their homes and is carrying out annual gas safety checks well. However, day-to-day repairs and access to services need to improve.
Audit Commission inspectors reached this conclusion following a short-notice inspection of how effectively the Tower Hamlets based housing association is providing planned maintenance, repairs and gas safety.
Weaknesses noted include:
Old Ford Housing Association was set up in 1998 as the successor to Tower Hamlets Housing Action Association to own and manage an estate of 1,000 homes. It is part of Circle Anglia Group.
The Association took transfer of more properties from 2007 and now has 4,416 properties in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
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Places for People Housing Group
The Group 'has more strengths than weaknesses' across the areas examined. Inspectors who tested services delivered from both Preston and Bristol offices reached this conclusion following a short-notice inspection of how the organisation delivers day-to-day repairs, gas servicing and resident involvement.
Strengths include:
Places for People (PfP) is one of the largest registered providers in the country and owns and manages 59,703 social rented and mixed tenure homes.
The Group has specialist companies that provide housing for affordable rent, market rent and sale, commercial property, financial services, care and support, regeneration and childcare.
This inspection only looked at PfP services to general needs tenants in the areas of responsive repairs, gas servicing and resident involvement.
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Servite Houses
A short-notice inspection of how the London based housing association is responding to tenants' complaints, re-letting empty homes and recovering rent owed by former tenants concluded that it has 'more weaknesses than strengths'.
Weaknesses noted include:
Servite Houses was set up in 1945. It owns and manages more than 17,000 homes in 58 local authority areas across England, although the majority of its homes are in south London.
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Swan (Essex) Housing Association
A short-notice inspection of the Billericay-based housing Assocation concludes that it is performing strongly in some areas but needs to do more in others.
Strengths outweigh weaknesses in access and customer care, gas servicing and resident involvement. But the Association needs to do more around repairs, value for money and meeting the diverse needs of its tenants.
The report shows that the services are easy to access, that there are a range of opportunites for resident involvement and that gas servicing is well organised.
Repairs are completed quickly but the appointment system is not operating effectively. More work is needed to ensure the Association gets value for money and that its services meet the needs of all customers.
Swan (Essex) Housing Association is part of the Swan Housing Group. The Association has responsibility for managing 2,528 rented homes and 334 leasehold properties in Essex.
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Watford Community Housing Trust
Housing Management Service: One-star fair service with excellent prospects for improvement.
To help the service improve, inspectors made a number of recommendations, including:
Set up in September 2007 to take over the housing stock of Watford Borough Council, Watford Community Housing Trust owns around 4,750 properties. These include 15 sheltered schemes for older people and 118 shared-ownership homes.
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William Sutton Homes (WSH)
A short-notice inspection report concludes that the Association has more strengths than weaknesses. The inspection looked at how well WSH carries out repairs and gas servicing, and how effectively it involves its tenants in managing and improving services.
Hugh Boatswain, Audit Commission Lead Housing Inspector, said:
"William Sutton Homes has a strong approach to delivering value for money in its repairs service and is now also achieving this in its gas servicing programme. Residents have a range of opportunities for involvement and are influencing how their services are delivered.
"However, more needs to be done to ensure that the organisation understands the diversity of its residents so that it is able to shape services to meet their needs."
William Sutton Homes is a subsidiary of The Affinity Sutton Group. It was formed by the merger of Ridgehill Housing Association and William Sutton Housing Association in 2007 and now owns 24,362 homes spread over some 50 local authority areas in England.
