2012
Annual Report for Tenants
Derventio Housing Trust in brief
Derventio Housing Trust is a registered Community Interest Company, established in 2010, which provides good quality housing and related services to alleviate housing problems and end homelessness
Derventio Housing Trust’s mission is: • To alleviate housing problems and end homelessness We provide a variety of services to: • Alleviate homelessness • Support people • Inspire ambition • Improve skills • Enhance creative spirit • Maintain independence Our vision is to: • Enable our clients to lead an inclusive, healthy and happy life in a safe, secure home of their own, with support if necessary • Offer responsive and innovative services that remain flexible to adapt to the changing needs of our clients and partners • Provide cost effective solutions working in partnership with voluntary and statutory agencies • Secure the future of our organisation through capital asset growth and earned income streams that deliver greater financial stability • Deliver targeted support to vulnerable people from minority groups
Derventio Housing Trust CIC Derventio Housing Trust is a company registered in England and Wales Community Interest Company Number: 05886593 Registered Office: 33 Boyer Street, Derby DE22 3TB Contact Number: 01332 292776 Patron Rt Revd Alastair Redfern, Bishop of Derby Board Members Mr R. Gerrard | Ms S. Hernandez | Mrs S. Holmes | Mr S. Phillips
Welcome Welcome to Derventio’s first ever annual report to tenants. This report sets out how we’ve done in the year from April 2011 to March 2012. Although the Tenants Services Authority no longer regulates housing, Derventio will still monitor our housing services through the six standards: • Tenant Involvement & Empowerment • Home • Tenancy
We are extremely grateful to all of the tenants who have agreed to share their stories in this report. It can be daunting to have your name or photo appear in print, so we have changed some names and used stock images wherever requested.
• Neighbourhood & Community • Value for Money • Governance and Financial Viability I’m very pleased with the performance reported in these pages and would like to thank all the tenants involved for their contribution to what we’ve achieved together. I hope you enjoy reading this report. We’d love to know what you think about it, so please do get in touch with your feedback.
Inside
Sarah Hernandez Managing Director
Summary of our Services
4
Tenant Involvment & Empowerment
5
Home
10
Tenancy
13
Neighbourhood & Community
15
Value for Money
17
Governance & Financial Viability
18
Summary of our Housing Services Quick Outline
People Helped in 2011/12
Level of Support
SmartShare
Shared, supported homes for people who have experience of homelessness.
340
Medium
SmartSteps
Shared, supported homes for people with high support needs, including former offenders and care leavers.
48
High
Rooms4Two
Two people aged between 18 and 34 are matched to live in a home with some support.
36
Low
SmartLets
Tenancy support for people who have struggled to find a home of their own.
424
Low
4
Tenant Involvement & Empowerment Standard
Tenant Involvement & Empowerment Tenant involvement Tenants play a very important role in helping us improve our standards and performance. Our tenants influence the way we deliver housing and and support. Your involvement and feedback is key to helping us meet our commitment to providing excellent services.
How tenants can get involved We encourage all tenants to participate in the variety of activities we have on offer.
Volunteering
Activities & Learning
From maintenance to cleaning to fundraising, volunteering is a great way to gain experience and build CVs.
Our wide range of skillbuilding and learning opportunites include cooking, woodwork, cycling and art.
Organic Farm
Our working organic farm is a brilliant and fun way for people to get stuck in and learn new skills.
Feedback
We welcome and encourage feedback about everything we do. This is used to shape our services.
To find out more about any of these opportunities, ask your support worker.
Our tenant panel in Ilkeston We are setting up a brand new tenant panel to help inform the use and development of our new community building in Ilkeston in Erewash. A number of local tenants have already signed up to have their say in how we can best use the building to meet their needs. If you are interested in joining the tenant panel or would like to find out more please give us a call on 01332 642167.
5
Tenant Involvement & Empowerment Standard
Satisfaction Survey Results We’re are committed to giving tenants the chance to have their say in all aspects of their service. In 2012 all of our tenants were given a questionnaire. Here is a summary of the results.
What tenants said about their experience using the service How safe do you feel when you’re in your house or flat?
How happy are you with the quality of your home?
Very safe
Very happy
Mostly safe
Happy
Sometimes
Unhappy
Never safe
Very unhappy
How would you describe your support worker?
How easy is it to get hold of Derventio housing staff?
Approachable
Very easy
Professional
Easy
Well-informed
Not easy
Could be better
Impossible
Do you feel you are given enough support?
How happy are you with the service on the whole?
Always
Very happy
Mostly
Happy
Sometimes
Unhappy
Never
Very unhappy
6
Tenant Involvement & Empowerment Standard
What tenants want from the service and how we are responding You said... that you would like to see your support officer every month (45%) We... have made it easier for tenants to get in touch with us whenever they need to,
introduced an emergency on-call number for all of our services, and SmartShare residents have house meetings with their support worker every week.
You said... that you would like the chance to take part in activities (49%) We... offer a range of activities, from cooking, computers, arts & crafts, music and farm work.
will continue to promote these activities and encourage our tenants to take part. These opportunities will increase in 2013 with the launch of our new centre in Ilkeston and increased activity on our organic farm.
You said... that you would like the chance to learn new skills and gain qualifications (57%) We... have been awarded funding to run new learning opportunities in 2013. Learning, skill-
building and personal development are a key part of our services and we will continue to seek funding for this type of activity.
Make your voice heard in 2013 by joining the panel
7
Apply today by speaking to your support worker or calling 01332 292776
We
Tenant Involvement & Empowerment Standard
Compliments and Complaints Derventio takes complaints seriously. Complaints give us the opportunity to put things right and lessons learned can often shape what we do. All comments and suggestions, both positive and negative, have an important part to play in ensuring that we are meeting needs appropriately and continually striving to make improvements in everything we do. We have made it a priority to make sure that our tenants are aware of their right to complain if they are dissatisfied in any way. Our Comments, Compliments & Complaints leaflet is displayed in Derventio’s public areas and copies are easily available. Please contact your support worker, email info@derventiohousing.com or phone 01332 292776 if you would like a copy of the Comments, Compliments & Complaints leaflet. We received ten complaints over the year, all of which were resolved within the stated time frame. Here is a breakdown of the initial causes of dissatisfaction:
Anti-social behaviour Housing management Repairs Staff
8
Tenant Involvement & Empowerment Standard
Diversity To provide high quality services we need to understand the diverse needs of our tenants. A recent profile of our tenants shows exactly who uses Derventio’s housing services.
Key Findings
65%
35%
Male
Female
23%
Black and minority ethnic
Age Group 0 to 17
20%
18 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64
Disabled
9
Home Standard
Home Our Properties We have a total of 342 properties all over Derbyshire. We have also expanded into Broxtowe and are looking to expand futher into Nottinghamshire in the near future.
High Peak
Chesterfield
Bolsover
Derbyshire Dales
38 Derby
291
Amber Valley
11
Erewash
2 South Derbyshire
10
Home Standard
Tenant Story
Sally and Dija are now friends for life “It’s like we’re sisters” Dija (20) and Sally (27) have different backgrounds, and met less than a year ago. Now that they are sharing a Rooms4Two home they feel like they’ve known each other all their lives. Dija was born in East Africa and moved to Derby as a baby. “Because my mum’s from Africa we have different cultures and beliefs. I wasn’t allowed to go out, go clubbing or meet my friends. When I turned 19 I met my first boyfriend. In my mum’s culture, you’re not allowed to associate with boys before marriage. We fell out and I started to sneak out at night. But one night she found out. It ended in a massive argument and I moved out.”
Sally is from Derbyshire but spent the last 10 years living in Yorkshire with her partner. When the relationship ended she moved back to her parent’s home in Derby. “It wasn’t suitable. They only have 2 bedrooms and my 16-year old brother’s there too. I phoned the council and they suggested Derventio. They took my details and about a week later phoned me back and said they had somewhere for me. I was shocked that it happened so quickly.” Since Dija and Sally have been matched to share a home, they have got on brilliantly, and both girls are moving on with their lives. Dija will be starting university this year to study nursing, and her mum visits regularly. Sally is looking for a job; she’s not used to being out of work. She sums up, “If we stay here or not, we’ve got a friendship out of it. Derventio have been a big help to both of us. I’m genuinely grateful for how quickly they’ve housed me. They’ve made me feel so settled and relaxed.” Dija agrees: “If it wasn’t for Derventio I don’t know where I’d be.”
11
Home Standard
Property Types
160
179
1
2
House
Flat
Maisonette
Bungalow
Home Size
10 127
10 136
10 44
10 23
12
1-Bed
2-Bed
3-Bed
4-Bed
5+ Bed
12
Home Standard
Maintenance & Repairs How much did we spend on maintenance? 2010 / 11
2011 / 12
Routine Maintenance
£241,790
£257,122
Planned Maintenance
£38,318
£19,702
What repairs did we carry out? Derventio’s in-house Maintenance Team carried out more than 1,250 individuals jobs. Approximately 700 were for work on SmartShare and Rooms4Two properties.
Type of Repair
Number of Jobs
Timescale
Emergency
42
Within 24 hours
Urgent
250
Within 3 working days
General
450
Within 14 working days
Our dedicated Housing Standards Team also make regular health and safety visits to our shared accommodation properties. Faults are recorded and reported to the Maintenance Team and are then dealt with within the appropriate timescale. The key inspection areas for these visits are: • Fire detection equipment • Obstruction for fire evacuation • Security
13
Tenancy Standard
Tenancy Lettings Summary Percentage of rent lost through homes being vacant 2010 / 11
2011 / 12
SmartShare/ Steps
7.95%
5.82%
SmartLets
3.22%
6.13%
Rooms4Two
5.67%
10.13%
My Role Emma | Senior Financial Services Officer “I deal with all of the Housing Benefit suspensions and appeals for our tenants. I also handle any queries that come in from landlords and tenants that relate to housing benefit and domestic bills. It’s a varied role as no two queries are ever the same! “Recently a tenant had lots of problems with claiming their Housing Benefit. We had to do a big appeal to the council. The appeal was a success and the tenant was awarded his back-dated rent. “That’s my favourite thing about this job — working through issues that tenants have and resolving the problem so everyone’s happy.”
14
Tenancy Standard
Average rent per week (SmartLets) 2010 / 11
2011 / 12
Per House
Per Room
Per House
Per Room
1-Bed
£89.17
£89.17
£88.22
£88.22
2-Bed
£106.52
£53.26
£104.03
£52.01
3-Bed
£122.09
£40.70
121.43
£40.48
4-Bed
£230.70
£57.68
£197.43
£49.36
5+ Bed
£455.34
£67.52
£451.37
£74.30
Average re-let time
11 days
SmartLets
48 hours
48 hours
Rooms4Two 15
SmartShare/Steps
Neighbourhood & Community Standard
Neighbourhood & Community Our Community We are committed to promoting inclusive and accessible neighbourhoods and communities for our tenants to live in. Here are some of the ways we work with our tenants and the people living in local neighbourhoods to achieve this:
Neighbour Queries
Neighbours are welcome to contact us with any concerns or complaints about our tenants. We take all neigbour comments very seriously and always take appropriate action to resolve the issue.
Emergency Numbers
All of our tenants are given our emergency numbers. These can be used to reach staff at any time of night or day to deal with any urgent issue. 01332 642151 07929 503 960
Late-Night Visits
We periodically carry out random late-night visits to some of our properties. This is an effective way to ensure that tenants are behaving appropriately and not causing disruption to neighbours.
Health & Safety
We have a dedicated Housing Standards Team that carries out regular health and safety checks on our shared housing properties. We also carry out regular fire safety checks.
16
Local Area Co-operation
We work in close partnership with the police, Local Authorities and other local agencies to promote safe and inclusive communities.
Forums & Meetings
Derventio staff regularly attend local panels and meetings including homelessness and neighbourhood forums. These are a key way to keep up to date on local issues.
Neighbourhood & Community Standard
Anti-Social Behaviour We take anti-social behaviour very seriously and aim to respond quickly to any anti-social behaviour complaints made against our tenants. Derventio also tackles anti-social behaviour through the high level of support that we provide to tenants who have behavioural issues.
Tenant Story
Remarkable transformation for a troubled teen When she came to Derventio, Rachel was a very troubled 17-year-old. Her SmartSteps support worker identified a history of sexual assault and domestic violence, heavy use of drugs and alcohol, and gang connections. She had lived in at least 15 homes in the 9 months since leaving care, and had been evicted from them all. Just one year after Rachel started on the scheme, there is a remarkable difference in her behaviour and attitude. Today Rachel lives in a onebedroom flat and needs little support. Her alcohol intake is less than half what it used to be. Her attitude has greatly improved and staff say that she is a delight to be around and have a conversation with. Her violent and aggressive behaviour has stopped and she no longer takes drugs. Rachel is also attending college and volunteering with Derventio. There are still some issues to overcome, but thanks to her hard-work and persistence, Rachel can now look forward to a happy future and her neighbours can enjoy their trouble-free community.
17
Neighbourhood & Community Standard
Community Engagement Derventio’s services help people who have been excluded or isolated from society. As part of our support programme, we promote and encourage our tenants to get involved in their communities. This could be anything from volunteering, joining local groups and clubs or making use of local amenities such as sports centres or libraries. These types of engagement can all help to improve confidence, build independent living skills and help people to feel more settled and comfortable in their new home.
Tenant Story
Mick is getting involved in community life “You can always find satisfaction in life” Last August Mick was offered a new full time job. He was preparing to move to a new home when he failed the medical test at his new workplace. He found himself homeless at 58. Mick was put in contact with Derventio and within hours was moving into a shared SmartShare home. He has now settled into his new life in Duffield. “The staff at Derventio have encouraged me to join in with village life. At the moment I play darts and dominoes for the local pub team in the winter and skittles in the summer. I am joining the village art group. My art is quite unique as I decorate duck and goose eggs, and have had them displayed in Duffield and Belper libraries. “The main love of my life is wildlife, especially instects and I am in the process of recording all the insect life for the local nature reserve. “I think it only fair to say that no matter what situation you find yourself in, with encouragement you can always find satisfaction in life and it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. “Without the help of Derventio I don’t know where I would be (I think most of the good park benches have already been claimed). If I have a chance to repay them in any way, I will.”
18
Value for Money Standard
Value for Money Value for our Tenants We strive for continuous improvement across our activities and expenditure, and are always looking for efficiencies — not necessarily the lowest cost, but the best value: • Staff expenses | All staff expenses, particularly transport, are reviewed and options are compared to ensure best value for money. • Staff events and training | We take advantage of free and discounted training for staff and volunteers wherever possible. • Efficiency savings and redundancies | This year we have had two rounds of efficiency savings and redundancies to save costs for the organisation. • Mobile phones | All front-line staff have been provided with a mobile phone. This means they can access email and speak to tenants while out of the office, and communicate with tenants via text message. This makes their day-to-day work much more efficient and cost-effective. • In-house maintenance and health & safety | We have internal teams to carry out maintenance and repair work on our properties, saving us significant money on outsourcing and contracts.
My Role Jill | Business Support & Finance Director “I am responsible for the financial control of the whole organisation. This includes dealing with rent losses, budgeting, management accounts, funding bids, statutory accounts and reporting to our regulator, the Homes & Communities Agency, as well as business support for all back office functions. “The finance and housing teams work closely together to deal with any voids, arrears or bad debts. Once a house is empty, the money is lost forever, but we always strive to engage with tenants who are in arrears so we can support them to get up to date with their payments. “I really enjoy working in the not-for-profit sector and have no desire to work for a private company. I like to think that what I’m doing is making a difference to the client group. I know I couldn’t work as part of the front-line, but I like to work in the back office to help colleagues deliver our essential services.”
19
Governance & Financial Viability Standard
Governance & Financial Viability Derventio’s Governance Structure Derventio is governed by a highly committed Board who possess wide-ranging and highly specialised business skills and expertise relevant to the organisations needs, including community focused company management, finance, homelessness, family and child welfare and business acumen. The day-to-day operations for each of our key service areas are overseen by experienced and professionally qualified operational directors. The management team have a profound dedication to improving the lives of those affected by homelessness and housing problems. Additionally Derventio Housing Trust has: • An experienced and talented staff team of more than 45 people, working in the areas of housing, support, learning activities, maintenance, human resources, finance, fundraising and communications. • A specialist team who supports all human resources, recruitment and retention functions to ensure that we maintain the highest quality staff team • Full induction procedures, including basic training regarding organisational policies and procedures and equality and diversity issues • Excellent staff terms and conditions • High quality supervision and management for staff • A full and comprehensive training and development programme
Our Board Members
Richard Gerrard Sarah Hernandez 20
Susan Holmes
Spencer Phillips
Governance & Financial Viability Standard
Future Plans Meeting the needs of our tenants is at the heart of Derventio Housing Trust. For 2012, 2013 and beyond we plan to carry on delivering and developing our core services so that they continue to meet the everchanging needs faced by people in Derby and Derbyshire. We are also working to expand some of our services, such as Rooms4Two which has been expanded to the Amber Valley and Erewash areas, and our Rooms4Two service for people with complex needs, which is now delivered in Derby. The coming months will see the launch of our brand new centre in the heart of Ilkeston. We have plans to transform our newly acquired former factory building near the town centre into a hub for learning and personal development.
In nearby Amber Valley we are working in partnership with a Derbyshire land owner to run services on an organic farm. The project is its infancy, but our ultimate vision is to create a place of nature where individuals can develop their skills through on-site training, volunteering opportunities and learning facilities. The project will eventually become a social enterprise producing food products for sale. It will also offer specialist residential rehabilitation programmes for people with mental health problems, alcohol and/or drug addictions, people leaving care and people who want to break free from offending lifestyles. Further work is underway to develop our maintenance and cleaning teams to become social enterprises. With all of these plans in the pipeline it is important not to lose sight of our aims. Our ultimate goal remains the same: to continue to work with the community and our partners to provide genuine solutions to the problem of homelessness.
21
Governance & Financial Viability Standard
Income & Expenditure Account for the year ended 31 March 2012 2012 (ÂŁ) Turnover Operating costs Operating surplus Interest payable and similar charges Surplus on ordinary activities before taxation Tax on surplus on ordinary activities Surplus for the financial year
22
2011 (ÂŁ)
3,776,488
3,249,575
(3,707,628)
(3,166,491)
68,860
83,084
(27,176)
(33,106)
41,684
49,978
9,609
(17,383)
51,293
32,595
Governance & Financial Viability Standard
Income & Expenditure Account for the year ended 31 March 2012 2012 (ÂŁ)
2011 (ÂŁ)
Fixed assets Housing properties
635,032
643,294
Other public grants
(93,724)
(93,100)
Net book value of housing properties
541,308
550,194
Tangible fixed assets
278,489
252,390
Total fixed assets
819,797
802,584
Debtors
412,933
358,410
Cash at bank and in hand
267,313
148,316
680,246
506,726
(578,462)
(424,912)
Net current assets
101,784
81,812
Total assets less current liabilities
921,581
884,398
Creditors: Amounts falling due after more than 1 year
(709,801)
(734,004)
Provisions for liabilities
(113,370)
(103,277)
98,410
47,117
98,410
47,117
Current assets
Creditors: Amounts falling due within 1 year
Net assets Capital and reserves Income and expenditure account
23
To learn more, or to support our work, contact Derventio at: Derventio Housing Trust 33 Boyer Street Derby DE22 3TB Phone: 01332 292776 Fax: 01332 292776
Milestone House 93 Green Lane Derby DE1 1RX Phone: 01332 642167 Fax: 01332 297493
info@derventiohousing.com
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