2015-2016

Housing Annual Report
2015-2016
for tenants and leaseholders

Your Annual Report
Councillor Margaret Griffiths, Portfolio Holder for Housing
Welcome to our Housing Annual
Report 2015-16.
It’s important to us that we get our
customers involved in shaping the
future of the housing service, so I’m
delighted to see that 2219 of you
have had your say in some way.
We continue to offer a variety of ways
for tenants and leaseholders to get
involved, with something to appeal
to the whole family. We are working
to promote digital inclusion so that
everyone can access our services
equally and at a time to suit them.
We want to help more of our older
residents get online so that they can
make best use of our website and
other services.
The 2016 STAR survey told us that
your top priority is now providing
new homes for future generations,
so we will continue to invest in
building new affordable homes for
those in housing need.
We hope you enjoy the report.
Elliott Brooks, Assistant Director, Housing
We’re proud to be bringing
you an Annual Report filled
with information about our
continuing improvements
to your housing service.
We are still using what you told us in
our Survey of Tenants and Residents
(STAR) to inform all our service plans
and priorities.
We are working hard to bring you the
improvements you have asked for,
installing new kitchens, bathrooms
and doors throughout the borough.
We’re also tackling rising energy
costs by improving the energy
efficiency and reducing the heating
bills of our older properties and
ensuring that our brand new homes
include fuel-saving measures.
During 2015-16 all of our homes
that require one had an annual gas
safety inspection, so we need to thank
every one of you for cooperating when
we contact you to book a boiler
service appointment.
Going forward we want to make it
easier for you to contact us in ways that
suit you and fit in with your lifestyle.
That means more online services, text
messaging and information that matters
to you on the website.
Please take time to read this report
and you’ll find all the facts and figures
about every aspect of our service, from
our allocations process to supporting
vulnerable tenants and dealing with
Anti-Social Behaviour. You may be
surprised at the number of jobs that
our repairs contractor carries out
every year, how many homes we let
or how many people are on our
Housing Register.
To those of you of you who’ve been
involved in the housing service over
the past year, I’d like to say a big thank
you, we really value your time and ideas
and for those of you who want to be
involved going forward, you can find
out how on page eight.
It’s all in your Annual Report.
Annual Report 2015-16
Page 2

Update: Our promises to you
Our four promises to you for 2015-16 were based
on your top priorities from the STAR survey:
We will continue our new external door programme,
working towards replacing all wooden external doors
✓✓
We have installed 1284 new doors in
2015-2016 (exceeding our target of
1157) and making a total of 4072 new
doors since April 2014
✓✓
We will also continue to replace
UPVC doors not on the programme
when Osborne report that they are
beyond economic repair
✓✓
Our general needs tenants are given a
choice of three styles and five colours
for replacement front doors
We will continue to prioritise new kitchen and bathroom installations
✓✓
✓✓
We have installed 351 Kitchens and
235 Bathrooms – 586 altogether – in
2015-16 (exceeding our target of 314)
making a total of 1400 since April 2014
Kitchen and bathroom replacements now
have an enhanced standard to include
✓✓
floor covering renewal as well as ceiling
and wall decoration
Our Empty Homes Standard now
includes upgrades to kitchens and
bathrooms
We will make further energy-saving improvements to our homes, particularly those without a gas
supply and/or with solid walls, helping tenants to save money and reduce our carbon emissions
✓✓
We installed cavity wall insulation in
another 66 homes, making a total of
101 since the start of Osborne’s total
asset management contract
✓✓
✓✓
We installed extra loft insulation in
another 285 homes
We installed 16 Air Source Heat Pumps,
saving money on tenants’ fuel bills
We will work closely with young single people and families to find out
why they tend to be less satisfied with our services than older residents
✓✓
✓✓
The 2016 STAR survey targeted every
age group to ensure that their views
were fully represented
We are improving young people’s
access to involvement by moving to
digital channels
✓✓
✓✓
We have been working to develop
a new approach to tenant involvement
that appeals to all ages so we can give
everyone more opportunities to
give us their views
We will continue to target young people
and families to improve satisfaction
Annual Report 2015-16
Page 3

1822
Emergencies
21,455
Routine Repairs
Osborne repairs
Appointments
Made
39,234
Total Repairs Completed
23,277
Average time to complete repairs: 11.8 days
38,258
Appointments
Kept (98%)
235
101
roof renewals
properties
on blocks
and houses
105had
a full window
upgrade
new bathrooms
Over
10,000
351
new
kitchens
people on the
housing register

£56
million
collected
in rent
£1.6 million
uncollected
in rent arrears
We invested
£32.5m on repairs
and improvements
to our homes
100%
of properties have
valid Gas Safety
Certificates
2219
involved tenants
and leaseholders
155
people supported by
tenancy sustainment to
stay in their homes
We consulted on
18 issues and made
25 changes as a result
962
homes let
616 General needs
275 Supported Housing
71 Mutual Exchange
71%
of ASB cases satisfied
with the outcome of
their case

New build update
Since the start of our new build programme in 2014, we have
completed 41 new council homes plus a 41-bed homeless hostel.
During 2015-16 we completed six roof-top flats as part of the
refurbishment works at Longlands, Adeyfield and started work
on many more:
✓✓
✓✓
36 flats at Aspen Court, Apsley
(completion summer 2016)
Five new homes at Elizabeth Court,
Queen Street, Tring (completion
September 2016)
✓✓
14 flats at Able House,
Hemel Hempstead Old Town
(completion February 2017)
Wood House
Longlands
In 2016-17 we will start work on:
✓✓
31 new homes for social rent at
Stationer’s Place, Apsley
Aspen
Court
✓✓
✓✓
79 at Wood House, Maylands
(39 flats for social rent and
40 shared ownership)
14 new homes for social rent at
Swing gate Lane, Berkhamsted
Investing in our partnership
Improving your Repairs Service
Our partner Osborne has been working
together with tenants and housing staff
to look at how we can improve the
‘journey’ that our tenants travel when
their home needs a repair.
They held three ‘Journey mapping’
sessions, looking at every part of your
customer experience, from the time
you report a repair right through to the
completion of the job.
Osborne brought together tenants
and our staff to agree which processes
need improvement, and what are the
key points in the journey from start
to finish.
Everyone who took part agreed that
it was very useful. Tenant Debbie said:
“It’s great to see that Osborne and
DBC are interested in tenants’ views
and taking their points forward.”
As a result of tenants getting involved
in journey mapping, Osborne have
introduced many changes and
improvements to communicate
more effectively during the repairs
process and make it easier for tenants
to report repairs.
Valuing our community
Osborne have supported 82 community
initiatives in Dacorum, which have
benefited 5401 local people.
Hundreds turned out at our Northend
Community Orchard planting day, our
summer Fun Day and a series of events
in our sheltered schemes.
Annual Report 2015-16
Page 6

Our Promises for 2016-17
1.
We will continue to invest in providing
new homes and other housing options,
to work towards meeting Dacorum’s
need for more affordable homes
To achieve this we will:
✓✓
Develop a new housing strategy so
we have a positive influence across
all housing tenures in the borough
2.
We will work with Osborne to improve
the replacement programme for planned
works, including kitchens and bathrooms
To achieve this we will:
✓✓
Promote the new five-year planned
works programme and make it easier
for you to find out when your home
is due for improvements
✓✓
Work with housing partners to maximise
alternatives to social rented homes such
as help to rent and self-build options
✓✓
Include information on planned
works within adverts for properties
on the allocations list
✓✓
Continue to promote ‘Moving to a smaller
home’ and offer financial incentives for
tenants wishing to downsize
✓✓
Report on the number of kitchens
and bathrooms that have been
replaced each year
3.
We will develop more opportunities
for tenants and leaseholders to
influence our services
4.
We will deliver a more responsive
service by improving our
communication channels
To achieve this we will:
To achieve this we will:
✓✓
✓✓
✓✓
✓✓
Re-establish the Tenant
and Leaseholder Committee
Create more involvement activities so that
everyone has a chance to have their say
Develop more opportunities for young
people to get involved
Keep you informed about the difference
you made to shape our services
✓✓
✓✓
✓✓
✓✓
Increase our use of social media
and respond to any questions
within three working days
Review our website to make it easier
for you to find the information you need
Develop a ‘contact us’ page that lists all
the teams within our housing service
Develop more ways for you to update
your contact details
5.
We will work with our repairs
and maintenance partners to offer
a positive customer experience
To achieve this we will:
✓✓
✓✓
Continually monitor satisfaction results
and customer experience and investigate
any problem areas
Develop a new Repairs Handbook
to give you a clearer understanding
of the service we offer and your rights
and responsibilities
Annual Report 2015-16
Page 7

Dharini Chandarana
On 8 March 2016 we sadly lost a much loved member of the housing team.
Dharini Chandarana passed away as a result of complications during
a routine operation. Dharini had devoted herself to Dacorum’s Housing
Service for the past eight years, firstly with the homeless service and
more recently as Team Leader, Supported Housing.
Her death came as a huge shock not only to the staff within the service,
but to many others who had worked with her. We received heartfelt
condolences from our partners as well as many tenants, Councillors and
others. Of course the greatest impact has been felt by Dharini’s family,
as she leaves behind her husband and two daughters.
Dharini is pictured (front left of photo) with staff and tenants celebrating
Dacorum’s CHS three-star accreditation in 2014 – the highest possible
award and a great achievement for her and her team.
Get Involved!
Would you like to help shape the housing service?
For more information about opportunities to get involved please see
www.dacorum.gov.uk/get-involved email us at tenantinvolvement@dacorum.gov.uk
or call 01442 228000 and ask for Tenant Involvement.
If you would like more information, want to give us some feedback or would like this
issue in another format such as large print, CD or in another language, please contact us:
email housing.communications@dacorum.gov.uk or call 01442 228000 and ask for
Housing Communications.