Performance 365
2019
Each year we publish our performance figures, so you can see how well (or poorly) we're performing against the standards laid out in the Scottish Social Housing Charter.
Please note that Outcomes 12 and 16 only apply to Local Authorities, so we have intentionally not included any figures in relation to these.
Outcome 01 Equalities
All of our services are available online allowing tenants and other service users to access services when and where it suits them.
Every time someone uses My Home, Homehunt Web or our other digital services instead of calling us, it frees up staff to help people who need more support.
We are: Happy to Translate
Our Offices are: Wheelchair Accessible and have Induction Loop technology
elha.com and My Home are: Browsealoud-enabled and and My Home can be customised for High Contrast
Ethnic breakdown of new tenants
- Percentage of new tenants with a disability 12%
- Medical adaptations completed 49
- Medical transfers 4
"every tenant and other customer has their individual needs recognised, is treated fairly and with respect, and receives fair access to housing and housing services."
Outcome 02 Communication
Almost 2/3 of our tenants now have a My Home account, and around 45% are paper-free.
As it costs an average of over £1 for every letter we send out using traditional methods, tenants who go paper-free are very important to us.
More and more tenants are using My Home to manage their tenancies, the combined visits to elha.com and My Home increased to 82,364 - that's almost 12,000 more visits than last year, and an average of 226 visits per day.
We make it easy to complain through the praise and grumble feature on our website. We publish a quarterly report on complaints on elha.com. This includes case studies and a breakdown of the types of complaint we receive. If you’re not on-line, we can provide a copy of the report on request. As you can see, we received more praise than complaints - thank you!
"tenants and other customers find it easy to communicate with their landlord and get the information they need about their landlord, how and why it makes decisions and the services it provides."
- Tenants with a My Home account 884
- Paper Free tenants 590
- Visits to My Home & elha.com 82364
- Complaints received 128
- Praise received 299
Outcome 03 Participation
Involving our tenants in our work is not only expected by our regulator but is also a legal requirement, and it’s not always easy!
We have a small band of dedicated tenants who work with us and influence the work we do and many more who help by letting us know what they think about particular issues when we ask.
Over the last year our Tenant Involvement Group (TIG) has:
- Overseen the Tenant Participation Action Plan
- Scrutinised the automated phone system
- Collected the 2018 TPAS Best Practice Award for Digital Involvement at the TPAS Conference and AGM
- Met with the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) as part of our accreditation process
- Reviewed the results of all consultations carried out during the year
"tenants and other customers find it easy to participate in and influence their landlord’s decisions at a level they feel comfortable with."
Outcome 04 Quality of Housing
The Scottish Housing Quality Standards (SHQS) was introduced in February 2004, and all social housing landlord had to comply by 2015.
We have a small number of properties which do not meet the SHQS and these are:
- A number of older flats which do not have a controlled door entry system. This is because we do not own all the flats in the common stair, and the owners of the other flats have not agreed to installing a door entry system.
- A small number of properties with older heating systems. This is because the tenants have chosen not to agree to an upgraded heating system.
Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH) encourages social landlords to make sure their homes meet energy efficiency standards by December 2020. We are well ahead of schedule.
"tenants’ homes as a minimum, meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standards by April 2015 and continue to meet it thereafter, and when they are allocated, are always clean, tidy and in a good state of repair."
- New tenants satisfied with the condition of their home 82%
- Number of applicants who refused a property after viewing it 2
- Number of properties with a gas supply 960
- Percentage of gas supplies serviced 100%
- Number of forced entries for gas serving 15
- Percentage of homes which meet the SHQS 97%
- Percentage of homes which meet the EESSH 95%
Outcome 05 Repairs, Maintenance & Improvements
While the average time to complete standard repairs has increased slightly from 5.7 days to 6.4 days, the average time to complete emergency repairs has dropped from 1.5 hours to 1 hour.
We now have a 'renovation update' in our quarterly newlsletter, letting tenants know what improvements are coming up. This was a suggestion from a tenant, who left a comment on the 'Talkback Suggestions' in My Home - great idea, keep them coming!
"tenants’ homes are well maintained, with repairs and improvements carried out when required, and tenants are given reasonable choices about when work is done."
- Number of emergency repairs completed 126
- Number of non-emergency repairs completed 3601
- Average time to complete repairs 6.4 days
- Average time to complete emergency repairs 1.0 hrs
- Repairs completed right first time 90%
- New kitchens installed 24
- New bathrooms installed 71
- New heating systems installed 147
- Repainted properties 92
Outcome 06 Estate Management, Antisocial Behaviour, Neighbour Nuisance & Tenancy Disputes
We are fortunate that we live in a great part of Scotland, and most of our tenants like where they live. But there's also room for improvement.
In the past, we would take complaints about the local area which were not our responsibility and pass them onto the relevant agency, e.g. East Lothian Council's Dog Warden, Landscape & Countryside, Waste Services, and so on, but this lead tenants to believe that it was our responsibility to put things right, and reduced satisfaction with our services when things weren't put right. We now signpost tenants to report any problems to the correct agency, and we hope that by educating tenants on what we can and cannot do will improve satisfaction.
Thankfully, serious antisocial behaviour amongst our tenants is rare. We will always try to resolve problems by working closely with the tenants involved and our partners in the Police and East Lothian Council but if this doesn’t succeed in correcting the behaviour then we will use all courses of action available to us, including ASBO and/or eviction, to ensure that our tenants can live safely in peace.
"Tenants and other customers live in well-maintained neighbourhoods where they feel safe."
How satisfied are you with where you live?
| Tenants surveyed | Tenants very or fairly satisfied | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athelstaneford | 8 | 5 | 63% |
| Bolton | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Cockenzie | 23 | 19 | 83% |
| Dirleton | 4 | 2 | 50% |
| Dunbar | 34 | 23 | 68% |
| East Linton | 5 | 5 | 100% |
| East Saltoun | 4 | 1 | 25% |
| Garvald | 2 | 2 | 100% |
| Gifford | 12 | 9 | 75% |
| Gullane | 4 | 4 | 100% |
| Haddington | 61 | 44 | 72% |
| Innerwick | 2 | 1 | 50% |
| Musselburgh | 99 | 78 | 79% |
| Ormiston | 11 | 9 | 82% |
| Pencaitland | 7 | 7 | 100% |
| Port Seton | 5 | 4 | 80% |
| Prestonpans | 75 | 57 | 76% |
| Stenton | 2 | 2 | 100% |
| Tranent | 61 | 40 | 66% |
| Wallyford | 67 | 56 | 84% |
| West Barns | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| Whitecraig | 25 | 18 | 72% |
- Number of Neighbour Complaints resolved 145
- Neighbour Complaint cases resolved in target 79%
- Number of ELHA tenants with an ASBO 2
Outcome 07, 08 & 09 Housing Options
The demand for housing in East Lothian far outstrips the supply.
Unfortunately we could only rehouse 61 families through relets and 26 through mutual exchanges (house swaps) last year. We also did not have any new builds.
We housed 29 homeless families last year, and housed 4 applicants, who needed either Sheltered or Amenity housing. No wheelchair adapted/designed properties became available during the year, although a number of properties with some medical adaptions were relet (ground floor properties with level access showers).
- Number of households registered for housing 4405
- Number of new tenancies from relets 61
- Number of new tenancies from new builds 0
- Homeless families housed 29
| 1 Bedroom | 2 Bedrooms | 3 Bedrooms | 4+ Bedrooms | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houses | 1 | 9 | 9 | 0 |
| Flats | 12 | 26 | 0 | 0 |
| Sheltered / Amenity | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wheelchair / Medically Adapted | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
"people looking for housing get information that helps them make informed choices and decisions about the range of housing options available to them."
"tenants and people on housing lists can review their housing options."
“people at risk of losing their homes get advice on preventing homelessness.”
Outcome 10 Access to Social Housing
Along with 7 other landlords from around Scotland, we advertise all our available homes with Homehunt, which allocates available properties on a best use and priority pass system. This is a web-based system, with additional paper and telephone support for those without internet access.
At the end of 2018-19 we had 4,405 households registered for housing with us, and the sad fact is that most of them will never be housed by us.
How we allocate homes can be found in our helpful Guide to Homehunt ELHA, which is available as both a download and a printed document for applicants without access to the internet.
"people looking for housing find it easy to apply for the widest choice of social housing available and get the information they need on how the landlord allocates homes and their prospects of being housed."
New tenants
Outcome 11 Tenancy Sustainment
Many of our tenants, new and existing, need support to help them deal with situations that could lead to them having to move or losing their home.
This is particularly true as the impact of Welfare Reform affects more and more people. If we can’t offer the support directly, chances are we know someone who can.
Our Money Adviser is very popular, with her clients typically rating her as 10/10 in all arears. Last year she helped tenants gain an average of over £2,000 each in benefits, social fund claims, and more over the year.
Some of the things they say:
"Anne helped me with my PIP from start to finish. She kept me informed at all points and gave me the confidence to go to the tribunal, and won. Without her I would never have gone through with it. What a wonderful woman she is. Thank you, Anne, my life will be better because of you."
"ANNE IS THE BEST!!!"
"Can't thank Anne enough for all her help. She's been amazing."
There are a lot of expenses moving into a new home. To help reduce the pressure of moving, we provide all of our new tenants with a welcome pack with handy household supplies, and a voucher for decoration materials.
We also offer a garden care scheme, to help elderly, or disabled tenants maintain their garden.
- Referrals to Money Advice 204
- Gains from Money Advice £416,079
- Number of abandoned properties 3
- Number of decorating packs issued 60
- Percentage of new tenants still tenants 12 months later 88%
"tenants get the information they need on how to obtain support to remain in their home; and ensure suitable is available, including services provided directly by the landlord and by other organisations."
Outcome 13 Value for Money
Value for money is a big concern for us – we’re a small non-profit organisation and we are entirely dependent on rent to keep running.
We always have an eye out for ways to provide a better service for a lower cost. The most obvious example of this is our switch away from slow and costly posted letters - at the end of March 2019 45% of our tenants were paper free.
"tenants, owners and other customers receive services that provide continually improving value for the rent and service changes they pay."
- Tenants in arrears helped by the Money Advisor 47
- Reduction in rent arrears for Money Advice cases £40,826
- Average time taken to relet empty homes 24 Days
- Rent lost on properties relet this year £21,762
- Percentage of rent lost on empty homes 0.34%
Outcome 14 & 15 Rents & Service Charges
Rents are set to cover management, maintenance and loan costs - things that every property we own has to pay. Service charges cover things like stair cleaning and lighting, maintaining communal gardens and community alarm costs - things that are unique to particular properties and are charged to around 35% of our tenants. We do not make any money on services; the costs passed on to tenants are the costs we have to pay.
- Rent arrears £190,228
- Arrears as a percentage of our rental income 2.91%
- Court actions raised for rent arrears 15
- Evictions for rent arrears 3
"a balance is struck between the level of services provided , the cost of the services, and how far current and prospective tenants and other customers can afford them."
"tenants get clear information on how rent and other money is spent, including any details of individual items of expenditure above thresholds agreed between landlords and tenants."