Tenant Focus Group Meeting 11th June 2021

Annual return to the Scottish Housing Regulator

A summarised version of the performance indicators submitted to the Scottish Housing Regulator were presented to the members, with a comparison against the National average and a small peer of similar social landlords. There was some discussion on the impact of Covid-19, in particular in relation to repairs and average time to re-let, but there were no areas of concern or data the tenants wished further information on.

Annual report

The annual report will be worked on throughout the summer and The Association would again welcome volunteers from the Tenant Focus Group to provide feedback through the drafting process – some of those present were willing to be involved again. The finalised report will be distributed to all tenants by 31^st October at the very latest.

Level 0 service provision update

Staff discussed The Association road map, and confirmed all services were essentially back to normal in terms of what is being delivered, with additional safety measures in light of appropriate risk assessments. In particular, re-lets, repairs and mutual exchanges were back to ‘normal’, whilst those in sheltered accommodation were benefiting from face to face support also. Tenants were heartened to hear The Association was taking appropriate steps to return services to what they were pre-Covid.

Fuel Poverty & support

The tenants were really delighted to hear of the great work the Financial Inclusion Officer has been doing, and were impressed with the level of finance delivered to our tenants in need (£20,000 to over 230 households). Furthermore, tenants were happy to be reassured that general advice and sign-posting to Citizens Advice Bureau was also taking place, in relation to income maximisation, other funding streams such as the Warm Homes Discount Scheme.

Grow Your Own project update

25 tenants expressed an interest in the partnership project with Turriefield, and tenants are now in receipt of their seeds, compost and instruction packs. Support from the Turriefield team will be on-going throughout the summer, including any additional growing the tenants may wish to undertake.

Tenant survey

Planning is underway to complete an all-tenant survey in the autumn of this year. All tenants will receive a written survey, with options to return either by post or online. Areas that may be included; preferred methods of contact for all future correspondence, fuel poverty information, Digital Exclusion/connectivity, HHA handling of Covid, Annual report

Draft versions of the survey will be circulated to the Tenant Focus Group for discussion.

Policy updates

Allocation Policy review, Mutual Exchange Policy, Short Scottish Secure Tenancy Policy have all previously been circulated to Tenant Focus Group members via email, with feedback, and will be presented to Committee in July. Estate Inspections will happen during the last 3 weeks of July– draft forms to be used were shared on the screen for discussion.

Repairs and maintenance

Tenants were provided with a breakdown of the repairs performance, including further detail on the impact of Covid-19 on the figures as part of the annual return, along with confirmation there are currently 118 backlog repairs. The repairs backlog is being slowly cleared, but a lack of available contractors will mean this will take longer than initially expected.

Development

A summary document detailing the current development schedule, including unit numbers, expected completion dates and cost of each project were shared with the group.

My Tenancy

Work is on-going with our housing management system provider to finalise My Tenancy. At the point of it being ready for testing, we would be looking for members of the group to take part in a trial – members present would be interested in this.

Tenant Information videos

The videos have now been uploaded to our website and social media channels.

Summer Newsletter

A run through of the proposed items to be included in the summer newsletter, which will be published as an electronic document only.

Future meetings

Tenants would be keen for a hybrid approach to future meetings, with face to face option if possible.

Staff relayed their appreciation to the tenants for giving up their own time to help The Association, and look forward to meeting in person when the opportunity allows.

Meeting ended 13.30pm.