December Survey Results 2022
Do both sides believe the same to be true?
Do both sides believe the same to be true?
Well the short and (if we are honest) expected answer is no.
However if we ignore the two extremes (strongly agree and strongly disagree) under the assumption that they are responses from overzealous HA staff who must be bored silly working for HAs’ that exceed at every level, or very upset residents who may have reached the end of their rope a while ago, and just focus on the middle three: agree, neutral, and disagree. It’s reassuring to see that most results sit firmly within the neutral zone, the closer we are the better, starting out on an agreement saves us all a lot of time.
It is also noteworthy that the split between people who work for a Housing Association and residents was 57% HA and 43% residents.
My Housing Association provides a great place to live
As providing ‘a great place to live’ is another popular term used on many Housing Association websites it’s clear we have a difference of opinion here, although again it is reassuring to see we are somewhat aligned on neutral.
In my view, this comes down to semantics. What do we mean by “a great place to live”? Your opinion of ‘great’ may differ widely from mine.
If your opinion of “great” means a home close to school and local shops, it would be in stark contrast to someone who wants to live at the end of a very long country lane.
‘Great’ can be negatively impacted by influences beyond the remit of the provider; a faulty fire alarm on a neighbouring property, litter from a busy path, traffic, or a car parking dispute.
Perhaps you’re stretching too far by attempting great, perhaps your aspirations (however noble) are setting you up for a fail.
My Housing Association provides value for money
This one was always going to contentious, especially when we consider the current cost of living crisis. As a shared ownership resident who sees a constant increase in service charge with an equally constant reduction in service, as someone who cannot warrant the fee for the grounds upkeep (as an example) it’s perhaps obvious why so many residents strongly disagree.
If we put ourselves (as we should) in the mindset of a family on a limited income struggling to fund a family, a family forced to chose between heating or food, then this question of value becomes even more pertinent.
My Housing Association provides excellent customer service
I’m a defender of the customer service team. It is my belief that they take the reported issue and pass it on to the relevant team with the understanding that the ‘relevant’ team will then resolve the issue. As we all know, this is not always the case.
Being on the frontline is difficult, and as such, I would have rated this service somewhere between agree and neutral. This would move fairly quickly to disagree when repeated calls reveal that notes had not been taken, or issues had been incorrectly and prematurely closed.
I’ve also discovered since starting this endeavour and reporting issues on behalf of frustrated residents that many customer service representatives have taken on the role of ‘gatekeeper’. Residents are unable to speak to supervisors, senior leaders, and CEOs, with communication plans used to prohibit residents from raising valid issues. While these practices might curry favour with the senior leadership team and allow for inaccurate (yet favourable) reporting, it comes at a heavy cost to the reputation of your customer service team, the very team we should all be supporting.
My Housing Association provides excellent Grounds/Building Maintenance
We all have concerns when it comes to grounds and building maintenance, and it should be clear to us all that a failure here will negativity impact all of the above. As we seem to be in an agreement with 60% of people who work for a Housing Provider scoring neutral or less, perhaps this is where focused is needed.
The issue with my own provider is a lack of trained staff local to the area. As Housing Associations merge and cover a wider area geographically, they lose the ‘local touch’, they cease to be connected to the very communities they purport to serve. In order to reduce costs, ground and maintenance teams are employed (usually) local to the head office. This cost saving exercise now involves travel costs and travel time, as well as usually requiring multiple visits.
My Housing Association puts its residents at the heart of everything they do
This result should also cause concern as so many Housing Associations claim to put the resident at the heart of everything they do, yet only 40% of people who work for a Housing Association believe this to be true, whilst 67% of residents strongly disagree.
This slogan might sound great but it can never be true. Like the aforementioned ‘great place to live’ slogan, it was created by a team who are not part of customer service team, who are not involved with grounds maintenance, and probably only make up a small percentage of the senior leadership team.
While there is nothing wrong with having aspirations, when these aspirations are used as dogma yet remain largely unobtainable, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of all residents. If the resident was at the heart of everything you do and you were providing a great place to live, there would be no need for a complaints team. If this was the case, there wouldn’t be a need for a site like this, and we really do put the customer at the heart of everything we do.
My Housing Association is invested in building great homes to support the growth of great communities
The most agreeable statement yet. I too believe that the Housing Sector plays a crucial role in the development of communities. However, a failure to properly maintain properties will inevitably lead to the creation of slums. I have seen firsthand the increase in criminal activity when CCTV cameras were left broken with doors that didn’t lock. A failure to provide functioning bin stores has seen widespread issues with litter and fly-tipping.
The ownership of this sits with the residents as well. We need to reinstate ‘pride of ownership’. Houses are not homes until we make them our home. How many routine housekeeping and ground maintenance duties could be completed by a resident local to their community?