Council Housing Services – listening to
What you said about the services you receive from us:
Responses show that across all tenures you were most positive about the following:
• Value for money of rent: 66% satisfied
• The neighbourhood as a place to live: 64% satisfied
• Overall quality of homes: 63% satisfied
• Satisfaction that home is safe and secure: 62% satisfied
• Satisfaction with service for last repair: 61% satisfied
In contrast, you were not so happy with:
• Satisfaction with repairs to communal areas: 40% satisfied
• Housing Services listening to views and acting upon them: 33% satisfied
• Handling and outcome of ASB cases: 32% and 16% satisfied respectively
• Handling and outcome of complaints: 33% and 21% satisfied respectively
We know that we don’t always get everything right and can see that satisfaction has dipped since we carried out our last survey but we are committed to listening to your views and being accountable. We now have our Resident Engagement Strategy in place which details how residents can get involved and be at the centre of everything we do it also gives you information on how you as an individual can take part.
Housing Resident Engagement Strategy 2022 - 2025 | The London Borough Of Havering
If you would like to read the full satisfaction survey report please follow the link onto our website. www.havering.gov.uk/housingsurveyresults
Our Senior Housing Managers
Did you know?
Since the pandemic, staff are now hybrid working which means that staff across all council services do a mixture of home and office working and are no longer based in a Council building every day. In Housing our front line staff are out and about on the estates and visiting residents in their homes, the rest of the staff are working from home.
This does not mean that you cannot contact us. All staff have been provided with the equipment needed to be able to work at home just the same as if they are in the office. Staff can receive and make telephone calls, they can also receive and send emails to and from you and update the system after they have visited or spoken to you.
If you are unsure of who the officers are for your area please call the contact centre on 01708 434000 and a Customer Service Champion will be able to give you that information.
Patrick Odling-Smee –Director of Living Well
Garry Knights –Assistant Director of Property Services
Katri Wilson –Assistant Director of Operations
Darren Alexander –Assistant Director of Housing Demand
James Hunt – Head of Housing Strategy and Service Development
residents and acting on what they say
Below are some of the issues you highlighted in the survey and what we are doing to improve things for you.
Contacting us
You said you are having to wait a long time for the phones to be answered and you didn’t like having to go through all the number options before you can speak to a Customer Service Champion. We have now set up a specialist repairs contact centre, so it is now easier to report your repairs. You will still need to ring the same telephone number, 01708 434000 but when you select the repairs option (option 1) you will be transferred straight to the Mears team or K&T teams. You will then be able to report a repair and book an appointment for an operative there and then. A property surveyor will also be available every day for the Mears Operatives to consult with for the more complex repairs. We will let you know how well the repairs contact centre is performing in our next bulletin.
For all other Housing queries please continue to use the other options when ringing 01708 434000.
Did you know? Feedback
The management of Estate Services has been transferred from the Neighbourhood Services back into housing. A review has been undertaken to identify any gaps and new ways of working. We are currently trialling new technology to enable the Estates staff to collate and report issues more accurately and in real time, e.g. communal repairs, fly tipping etc. We’ll give you more information in our next update.
You said we don’t listen to your views and act upon them. We will continue sending out regular ‘You said – We did’ updates so you can read about what we are doing to improve our services to you. This time we will be emailing it out to all those that receive the online version of At the Heart, but we will also be providing some printed copies in the community hubs, local libraries and the lounges in our sheltered schemes.
In addition we will also publish key performance information in future editions of At the Heart so you can regularly see how we are doing.
Did you know?
All housing staff have been invited to briefing sessions so they can hear first-hand what you have told us, good and bad, in the STAR satisfaction survey. Staff were originally given a presentation giving an overview and then separate sessions in more detail for each service area. They have also had the chance to give their comments and suggestions on how we can improve our services to you, these will feed into your comments and help produce our service plans for this year.
Mould and damp
You said that your mould and damp issues are not being dealt with. We will now visit every home that makes a report of mould or damp to discuss possible solutions with those residents. We understand that some of our properties were not built to accommodate the way we live now and their design may lead to some mould problems, but, where appropriate, we will carry out a series of mould washes and provide advice to residents to help them manage the issue, alongside undertaking the relevant work to help provide longer term solutions where possible.
Did you know?
Central Government are introducing Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) for Housing providers to report on. These will be used to measure how well we are doing against other boroughs. There will be 12 questions that we need to report on but we will need your help. Over the next few months we will be surveying residents specifically on these questions, please take part if you are able to. The results will be reported to the Government with our annual returns and to Housemark, who are a data insight company specialising in housing. Housemark will gather information from a number of Housing providers and let us know how we compare against them. We will publish this information in a future edition of At the Heart.
Sheltered Housing Schemes
You said that you so not see your Scheme Officer enough and they have too many schemes to look after. Those living in our sheltered housing may remember receiving a survey asking you specifically about the service you receive in your scheme. The results of these have fed into a review of the Sheltered Service. Director of Living Well, Patrick Odling-Smee and Assistant Director of Operations, Katri Wilson have met with residents to share the finding. One of the outcomes is that we need to increase the number of scheme officers.
We will be recruiting additional officers increasing the time they can spend with residents.
Did you know?
Did you know we are working in partnership with AgeUK and Mears to provide a free service, called The Energy Doctors, to help you save money on energy bills and stay warm and well by providing professional advice and making adjustments and small repairs to your homes.
The Energy Doctors are energy experts committed to saving you money by visiting your home to carry out an energy assessment and providing expert tailored advice on how to make savings. While visiting you they will also make small repairs and adjustments as required, such as fitting draught excluders and replacing inefficient light bulbs. This will help you reduce energy consumption and save money on your bills.
The Energy Doctors service is free of charge and is available to all residents in Havering.
For more information, or to make a referral for yourself or someone else, please contact the Energy Doctors on 0208 981 7124 or by email: energydoctors@ageukeastlondon.org.uk
There will be lots more things we will be introducing over the next few months and we will tell you about them in our regular bulletins. If you would like get involved in what we do there are a number of ways you can. From filling in surveys, to attending meetings or coming along to one of our events there is an option available for everyone.
For more information, please contact the resident involvement team on getinvolved@havering.gov.uk
If you would like to contact us, please do so on:
01708 434000
Some of the comments made in the survey
I would like it to be easier to report a repair or problem and to ask a question.
I am very happy with Housing Services and have no problems, I have been extremely happy with the repairs and new boiler, all Mears operatives are so hard working, I am very grateful and thank Havering council for an excellent service. Contractors and sub contractors have been absolutely brilliant and very professional.
I never get a call back, despite leaving a message
Thank you for giving me a home. Better communication and relationship between housing officer and tenants The ground workers and cleaners for my estate are amazing.
