YHN Annual Report 2009-10 - Your Homes Newcastle

Chair’s statement
Board and its committees take a keen interest in how
we are performing against Delivery Plan targets and
they often discuss ways they can support staff to do
things differently to achieve more. This year we have
continued to do well in areas of business that I know
customers are interested in such as:
• reducing the time it takes us to let empty properties
• reducing the amount of rent that people owe us
• improving satisfaction with the way we carry out
repairs and maintenance to homes, and
• continuing satisfaction with our improvement
programmes.
I am delighted to present my second annual report. It is very much a
testament to the tremendous work of everyone involved in the services
we provide.
My thanks are extended to:
• Board, who have tussled with many challenges during the last year,
• staff who continue to work hard and with enthusiasm to provide excellent services,
• tenants and other customers, many of whom have contributed to improving our
services through a range of activity, and of course
• partners, without whom we could not have delivered many of the services we offer.
We are all more aware of how we manage our money
these days and I am pleased to say that YHN is no
different. We have made signifi cant efforts to make
sure that our services are not only excellent but are also
value for money and in doing this we have:
• achieved over 3% effi ciency savings overall,
• maintained a healthy £5 million revenue balance (for
emergencies),
• carried out 97% of all modern homes work within
budget,
• attracted over £700,000 of additional funding for
services,
• signifi cantly reduced the number of days our staff are
off work ill.
This is all good news but we know we can do better in
some areas such as:
• satisfaction with the way anti-social behaviour is
dealt with,
• greater satisfaction with the overall housing service,
• making more homes decent, and
• improving the satisfaction of those tenants who are
involved in decision making.
Last year I told
you about YHN
building the fi rst
council housing
in Newcastle for
over 30 years. I
am delighted that
this year we have
made lots more progress. We now have a number
of sites at various stages of development as well as
a new charitable subsidiary of YHN called Leazes
Homes, which allows us to maximise funds. These
developments will provide much needed homes to
families in need, those in need of additional support
and those who want to buy an affordable home.
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