Tenant’s views lead to housing improvements
A survey carried out by tenants is starting to
lead to improvements for the Councils 
housing service. The tenant
survey was completed by 700 tenants in order to measure tenant’s
satisfaction with the service provided by the Council. The
questionnaire focused on satisfaction with the Housing Services,
contact with Tamworth Borough Council, repairs and the
opportunities tenants felt they had to get involved. The survey was
sent out randomly to 1500 tenants for their opinions.
The headline statistics from this
survey are:
- Almost half of tenants (45%) are satisfied that their views are
being taken into account.
- Satisfaction with the final outcome when contacting the housing
service has increased over the last two years from 54% in 2006 to
56% in 2008.
- Satisfaction with the ability of staff to deal with a tenant’s
problem has increased from 66% in 2006 to 68% in 2008.
- There has been a small decrease in satisfaction of tenants with
the overall service provided by Tamworth Borough Council from 66%
in 2006 to 65% in 2008.
- Satisfaction with the repairs and maintenance service has
declined in the last two years from 60% in 2008 to 56% in
2008.
”Thank you to everybody who completed the
survey, the results are extremely important to us, to help ensure
that we deliver a service that meets your needs” said Councillor
Mary Oates, portfolio holder for Quality of Life. “The level of
satisfaction of tenants in the housing service has remained stable,
and this is something which we hope to continue to maintain and
improve. As a result of the findings tenants and staff were invited
to a workshop to consider the findings and determine priority areas
for further action. The group identified various actions to improve
satisfaction and work is already underway to begin addressing some
of the areas our tenants felt were a priority.”
The top three most important housing services
to tenants are:
- Repairs and maintenance
- The overall quality of their home
- Dealing with anti-social behaviour
Tenants rated the following as the biggest
neighbourhood problems:
- Rubbish or litter
- Car parking
- Disruptive children / teenagers
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Priority area
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Actions
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Repairs and maintenance
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An appointments system was introduced in
December 2008 so that tenants know when operatives will be
calling.
All Morrison repair operatives attended
customer service training to help improve customer relations.
Customer research is currently being carried
out to find out how satisfied tenants are with the introduction of
the appointment system.
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Communication and
information
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A new tenant involvement strategy is being
launched setting out how tenants can get involved in the management
and maintenance of their homes’.
More up to date information is now available
on the Council’s website about the housing service.
An improved range of information leaflets
about the housing service are available.
More regular customer satisfaction surveys
will be carried out to help explore and address important
issues.
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Dealing with anti-social behaviour
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Positive communication campaigns will help to
demonstrate the outcome of how the housing service has dealt with
real life anti-social behaviour scenarios/case studies.
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Young people and families
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More targeted communications aimed at children
and younger tenants will be made available.
The development of new projects and activities
aimed at children and young tenants will be carried out to make
sure they have a say about the delivery of the housing
services.
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If you would like further information about
this survey or would like a full copy of the report then please
contact Emma Collett, Tenant Participation Officer, on 01827
709448.