Investing in your community - Have your say on options for next year Consultation on rent levels 2020/21
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Better homes, better lives Investing in your community Have your say on options for next year Consultation on rent levels 2020/21
Dunedin Canmore Housing
Listening to you,
and responding
Thanks to all of you who have given us Proposals for next year’s rents
feedback on services in your community over We set out three options for next year’s rent
the past year. levels, explaining how each option would
affect the improvements we could carry out
By listening to you and understanding in your area as well as the wider services and
what’s important, we’re able to invest in your support to tenants.
priorities and make sure our services are right
for you. Shaped by focus groups
The booklet has been shaped by tenants’
Based on what you told us, we’ve continued to feedback from 20 focus groups held as part
invest in our repairs service, upgrade kitchens, of our consultation on rents for 2020/21.
bathrooms and heating systems, and improve
neighbourhoods. You can read more about Have your say
this on page 4. Please take time to look at the options on
page 8 and have your say on rent levels for
Tenants have again told us they want us to 2020/21. You can find out how to give your
keep investing in homes and neighbourhoods. views on page 11.
They have also told us the repairs service is
the most important service for them.
This booklet looks at how we can continue
investing in homes and neighbourhoods,
maintain and further improve the repairs
service and keep providing all the other
services which support our tenants and their
families.
What’s inside?
3 What tenants tell us
4 What you helped deliver last year
6 How your rent was spent last year
7 Challenges for the year ahead
8 Your choices, have your say
10 Ways we can save you money
11 How to make your voice heard
2Rent Consultation 2020/21
What tenants tell us
At Dunedin Canmore we want to deliver what Tenants have consistently told us that:
tenants tell us is important to them.
Dunedin Canmore should continue with
improvements to homes like new kitchens
We engage with tenants in lots of ways
and bathrooms
including through focus groups, local
community events, customer panels, surveys, we should look at more investment inside
social media and conversations with housing homes
officers. We listen to all the feedback and use
helping communities stay safe is important
it to shape what we do and the services we
deliver. we should continue to work on keeping
neighbourhoods clean and tidy
repairs is the most important service.
We want to keep delivering the improvements
you tell us you want.
3Dunedin Canmore Housing
What you helped
deliver last year
Last year you helped us deliver a huge range Improving neighbourhoods
of improvements to homes, neighbourhoods Tenants also let us know they wanted us to
and services. This was in line with what we continue to do more to keep neighbourhoods
set out in our five-year plan Investing in safe, clean and tidy. Wheatley’s Community
our Futures, which was shaped by tenants’ Improvement Partnership continued to work
views, and the local plans you also helped with Dunedin Canmore communities to tackle
develop. You can see these plans at www. anti-social behaviour, crime and fire safety.
dunedincanmore.org.uk
Here are some of the things delivered last
year.
Improvements to homes
Tenants told us how much they want to
see continued investment in homes and
communities. We invested £7.6m in our
£7.6M
tenants’ homes and communities including invested in our tenants’ homes
fitting new kitchens, bathrooms, front doors,
windows, heating systems and improving fire
safety.
New homes
218
Tenants told us they wanted to see more
affordable homes for rent. Dunedin Canmore
built 218 new homes over the year - 150 for
social rent for social rent and 68 for mid-
new homes built over the year
market rent.
4Rent Consultation 2020/21
Repairs service
We continued our mission to improve our
repairs and maintenance service. We were
delighted that tenant satisfaction with the
service remained at 93% for the second year
in a row. Also, 97% of repairs were completed
right first time.
Supporting our customers
Tenants tell us they value the range of
wraparound services and support we
provide, particularly as Universal Credit poses
challenges across our communities. Our
services helped tenants with welfare benefits
and money, cut fuel bills and find jobs and
training opportunities.
97%
of repair appointments kept
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5Dunedin Canmore Housing
How your rent was
spent last year
Here is the breakdown of how each Investment and maintenance can
pound was spent in 2018/19
include responsive repairs, planned
maintenance and larger scale
improvement work.
Responsive repairs:
boilers and heating;
showers and taps;
lighting;
controlled entry doors; and
much more.
52% Investment and maintenance Planned repairs:
21% Staffing and administration
26% Funding new homes lift maintenance;
1% Activities supporting communities gutters;
common stair painting; and
stair lighting renewal.
Improvement projects:
roofs and wall insulation;
kitchens and bathrooms;
new windows and doors;
new lifts; and
environmental improvements.
Adaptations:
handrails; and
level access showers.
6Rent Consultation 2020/21
Challenges for
the year ahead
Every year we work hard to become more How we compare with others
efficient and deliver the best value for money
we can. But like most social landlords we Lower than average rents
face challenges such as rising inflation which Average rents at Dunedin Canmore are
pushes up the costs of goods and services. 1% lower than the average for social
landlords in Edinburgh. Our average
We also want to be able to keep delivering rent is almost £9 lower than the City of
improvements to homes and communities Edinburgh Council’s average rent.
which tenants have told us they want and to
1 %
improve important services, such as repairs,
which is one of our largest costs.
Traditionally rents have gone up by the Retail
Price Index (RPI) plus 1%. Based on the
August rate of RPI of 2.6%, that would mean
an increase of 3.6%. However, we have been
working hard to reduce costs in recent years
with our management costs now lower than Lower operating costs
the Scottish and UK averages. This means the Our operating costs per home are
rate of increase needed to keep delivering all below the Scottish median.
our services, taking into account rising costs,
is 3.4%.
Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction with Dunedin
Canmore stands at 87%.
87 %
7Dunedin Canmore Housing
Your choices,
have your say
Here we set out a number of 1. Increase rents by 3.4%
options for proposed rent levels Increasing rents by 3.4% would mean we
could keep delivering all the services we
together with what these options provide to you and your family, carry out
would mean for services and all investment work already planned for
improvements. homes, keep communities clean and safe
and provide a range of support for tenants
who need it. We would also continue to offer
24/7 customer service and carry out further
improvements around fire safety which will be
required by law.
£98.26 3.4%
Dunedin Canmore Would enable us to deliver all
average weekly rent. services and planned work.
Average weekly rent would go up
by £3.34 per week.
8Rent Consultation 2020/21
2. Increase rents by 3.9% 3. Increase rents by 4.4%
Increasing rents by 3.9% would mean we Increasing rents by 4.4% would mean we
could keep delivering services and all the could keep delivering services and all the
investment work already planned. In addition investment work already planned. In addition
we would also be able to carry out further we would also be able to carry out a much
improvements to homes and neighbourhoods. wider range of the additional improvements
These improvements would be based on outlined in option 2 in more homes.
what tenants tell us are priorities. They could
include: Giving your views
In the attached survey, you can tell us which
new doors
option you support and what your priorities
new floorboards and skirtings for investment would be. The survey also
gives you an option to let us know if you don’t
better lighting or paving round homes
agree with any of the options. Our Board
upgrades to backcourts and bin stores would take account of this, together with
the need to continue delivering services and
anything else tenants thought was a
improvements, before making a final decision
priority.
on rent levels.
If option 2 or 3 went ahead, we would gather
tenants’ views on their priorities for additional
3.9% investment. Our Board will listen to that
feedback before deciding how the funding
is spent.
Would enable more improvements
based on tenants’ priorities.
4.4%
Average weekly rent would go up
by £3.83 per week (an additional
49p per week on option 1).
Would enable a much wider range
of additional improvements.
Average weekly rent would go up
by £4.32 per week (an additional
98p per week on option 1).
9Dunedin Canmore Housing
Ways we can
save you money
Keeping on top of bills and running a home Universal Credit advice
can be hard. But don’t worry, we can help you We help tenants make a Universal Credit claim
save money and keep a roof over your head. and offer support until the money comes in.
We also help tenants get online, set up an
Check out the many ways we can help tenants email address, manage money and open a
save money: bank account.
MySavings Budget planner
Tenants who sign up for an online account Do you know how much it costs to run your
can enjoy savings of up to 10% on everyday home? How much is left over after paying
shopping bills. Register for MySavings and get rent? Our household budget planner can help.
money off everything from food and clothes
to cinema tickets, gym membership and Work and training
takeaways. Want to apply for work, but struggle to fill
in online forms or write a CV? We can help
Fuel advisors you get ready for work. We also have great
Worried about rising gas and electricity prices? training and job opportunities for people of
Don’t stress. Our fuel advice service helps all ages. In 2018/19, Wheatley Group created
tenants get on to the lowest tariffs, arrange 788 jobs, apprenticeships and training
low-cost repayments and, in some cases, get opportunities.
debts written off. Last year tenants across
Wheatley Group saved more than £500,000
on their energy bills.
Welfare advice
Our welfare benefits advice team helped
tenants across Wheatley Group claim more
than £8.1m last year in benefits and tax
credits they were due. We can help you too.
10Rent Consultation 2020/21
How to make
your voice heard
You can have a say on rent levels for next year What happens next?
by completing our online form. But that’s not We will collect all the views from the survey,
the only way to make your voice heard. the community events and the other
conversations with tenants.
You can also:
The Dunedin Canmore Board will consider all
Visit www.dunedincanmore.org.uk/
the feedback before making a final decision
consultations to fill in the form online
on rent levels for 2020/21.
Email us at talk@dunedincanmore.org.uk
We will let you know the results of the
Have a chat with your housing officer
consultation and the final decisions made
with your feedback
about spending priorities and rent levels on
Come along to one of our community our website www.dunedincanmore.org.uk
events – see www.dunedincanmore.org.uk and in your magazine ‘Connect’. We’ll also
for details. report on the progress of the work carried out
through the year.
We will let you know what your new rent for
2020/21 will be by letter. Your new rent will
be due from April 2020 onwards.
11Wheatley Group, Wheatley House, 25 Cochrane Street, Glasgow, G1 1HL www.wheatley-group.com
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