Agenda item

Housing Star Survey data (Consideration for new inquiry)

To receive updates from officers from the intelligence and policy team illustrating on how Housing Leeds are performing to assist the board begin its considerations for its next inquiry.

 

a)  STAR survey responses - headline findings from the most recent survey covering general needs tenants, high rise and retirement life tenants.

b)  Housing Performance Framework data for 2018/19

 

Minutes:

Frank Perrins introduced himself and explained the scale and premise of the STAR survey. The survey is undertaken once every two years for the purpose of collecting large-scale benchmarking data from tenants covering many aspects of their homes and the council’s service. The survey was conducted in November 2018 and was sent to roughly one quarter (~16,500) general needs tenants, and half of retirement life tenants (~2,000). Additionally, a survey was sent to all tenants living in a high rise block to give a clearer picture of the opinions of that particular group. The survey used a stratified sample so that all areas and demographics were represented proportionally. Using a confidence interval based on the sample size, it is possible to assess which results are statistically significant.

 

JG asked how the responses are differentiated if broken down by ward and area, FP answered that an individual’s response may be counted in each breakdown for city, area, and ward level, and this highlights which issues are important to tenants in each geographic area of Leeds. SBa asked if the surveys work on an anonymous or confidential basis, FP replied that they are confidential as it is important to be able to link a response to the areas of Leeds they concern. JG also asked how the confidence interval is calculated, FP answered that it is a consistent calculation based on the Housemark© recommendation and the same that is used for National surveys.

 

FP explained that the overall satisfaction scores for the city have remained within the confidence interval and so are not considered significant changes, but do indicate where satisfaction levels are rising and falling. Other trends indicate that older people are generally more satisfied than younger people, and those that self-report they are financially comfortable are more satisfied than those that are struggling. The satisfaction for the BAME community is lower than the general result, but this can be explained by BAME respondents being on average a younger demographic than the wider Leeds population.

 

Using more calculations, it is possible to gain an understanding of the issues that drive satisfaction, that is, those that have the most impact on the overall satisfaction score. These issues are:

 

·  Providing an effective and efficient service

·  Repairs and maintenance

·  The overall quality of the home

·  Listening to views and acting upon them 

 

These results correlate with the tenants’ top priorities which are:

 

·  Repairs and maintenance

·  Overall quality of the home

·  Neighbourhood as a place to live

·  Dealing with ASB

·  Value for money of rent and service charges

 

JG queried the wording of ‘rent and service charges’ as it had not been asked on previous surveys, FP replied that it is the same basic question that had been asked before and the wording had just been altered to include service charges.

 

JG observed that the satisfaction scores for East Leeds does not seem to have improved much despite the recent investigation and improvements recommended by the board. FP confirmed that there have been improvements, however they are lower than those of other areas. MH mentioned that despite a repair for her requiring three visits to correct, it was reported as being resolved first time, FP advised that Mears have different criteria for recording repairs, and the results are based on what Mears report.

 

FP noted that there is a trend across most neighbourhood issues that tenants are reporting fewer issues than they had in the previous survey. JG questioned what the definition of a ‘neighbourhood’ is as areas constitute many different types of housing and some neighbourhoods might consist of one or two high rise blocks in a small geographical area and other neighbourhoods may be much larger estates. FP confirmed the neighbourhood will be the subjective view of the tenant, but would not make the results less valid as most tenants in similar areas will hold a similar concept of their own neighbourhood. Car parking remains the most reported issue, and noisy neighbours is the key driver of dissatisfaction in neighbourhoods. JG reminded the board members of the LASBT review highlighting that 60% of ASB reports concerned noisy neighbours. KM added that car parking had previously been commented on by David Longthorpe, who had explained that the issue of parking especially for high rise blocks was due to the significant rise in car ownership over the last 50 years, this being very different from when most high rises were built. JW noted that parking is an issue around Headingley stadium especially on match days, and JG noted the same is true for Elland Road.

 

For those that reported ASB, tenants were most satisfied when the issue was first reported to LASBT, followed then by Housing Leeds, then the police, then elsewhere. FP noted that the number of tenants that reported ASB are relatively low but the figures do paint a picture of the tenants’ satisfaction of how issues are dealt with. JG asked if the results are flawed because the survey only asks for the first report, and some cases are passed from Housing to LASBT to resolve, FP answered that this is again a self-reported question so the figures of satisfaction with cases that are passed on is not available.

 

FP told board members that even though all high rise tenants were surveyed, only a representative sample of the responses from each area were included to not bias the results towards the responses from high rise tenants. The high rise responses will be analysed and reported separately at a later date, and will be available to TSB members when they are finished.

 

JG asked if the figures relating to rent and value for money as well as the self-reported financial status would have been affected by Universal Credit. FP answered that the survey was undertaken just a month following the start of the UC rollout and so it is unlikely that it would have made a large impact on the results in such a short period.

 

There was an open comment section in the survey, of which 1,689 were received. Repairs was the most frequent subject with 295 made, but there were also a significant number of comments that were positive about the council and its service with 169 received.

 

JG asked if there were any questions regarding waste asked in the survey, FP answered that the issue is best reflected in the reporting of rubbish and litter as a neighbourhood issue. JG further asked if the survey will affect policy, FP replied that it does, and the previous survey resulted in a full action plan with heads of service involved in actioning change. 

 

Supporting documents: