Agenda item

In November / December 2016, Housing Leeds conducted a satisfaction survey of its tenants.

This presentation summarises the responses to the survey and compares it to a similar survey conducted in 2014.

The Chair introduced Jackie Fox of the Intelligence and Improvement Team to present the recent STAR survey which Housing Leeds has carried out.

JF explained that Housing Leeds have trend information from 2010 as the surveys are comparable which have been done over the last eight years.

Overall satisfaction has seen a very slight drop of 1% since the previous survey but within this, there has been a large drop in satisfaction in the East area. When looking at overall satisfaction by different groups, it is apparent from the results that the older a tenant is the more likely they are to be satisfied. Also, there is a correlation between satisfied tenants and those who are living comfortably.

Tenant priorities, repairs and maintenance remain a high priority.

When looking at satisfaction within the home, there is a reduction in the satisfaction of tenants in East Leeds, whereas other areas of Leeds have remained the same or improved. A key finding is that heating within the home is improving, but this needs to be set against different property types, as tenants in multi storey flats are less satisfied.

The neighbourhood as a place to live is a core question and shows that East and West Leeds have shown a reduction in this satisfaction. The slide also shows what residents see as problems in their neighbourhood and car parking is seen as a major issue citywide. Garages on estates are an issue and the Chair at this point acknowledged that on their walkabouts this was noted as an issue.

A further breakdown of satisfaction by Ward areas shows that a number of tenants in Headingley are dissatisfied.

Anti-social behaviour, the survey found that tenants recently reporting ASB report low satisfaction with their service, but this is in direct contradiction to the survey which the ASB team carry out after someone uses the service. However, JF explained that on the STAR survey it is not possible to work out if the respondents to this question were the perpetrator or victim.

On customer service, there is a very small shift towards email. Satisfaction remains good and the number of tenants feeling that the annual home visit is useful which is a new question on this survey was at 69%. The customer effort score is the same as the UK average which is a possible.

Again, on a contradiction, there is higher satisfaction when contacting about rent and benefits or repairs. However there is lower satisfaction with neighbour issues or grounds maintenance. 

A further anomaly with the survey was that the results showed that there is a significant drop of tenants reporting they are in financial difficulty.

A map was shown showing the satisfaction by ward areas across the city which showed some of the outer areas of Leeds are more satisfied than some of the inner areas.

MH asked about the returns for the survey and that if 15000 were sent out and only 4000 received was this good for comparisons? JF replied by saying this was a good return for comparison.

JF explained that there are discussions with Housing Advisory Board around how this survey is carried out in future. JG asked if this would be done by an external organisation in future? JF explained the first year the STAR survey was carried out externally and since then we have tried to reduce costs by doing the survey in-house. For example this year we saved £5000 by not sending reminders out.

SB asked if different areas had different return levels. JF wasn’t sure on this but could look to find this out.

JG asked if there is any data from the survey on the out of hours service for repairs. JF explained there wasn’t as the repairs questions were general and don’t make reference to this.

RESOLVED – That Jackie Fox provide information relating to the number of responses to the survey by Ward.