Envisioning Sefton's future

Sefton-based One Vision Housing was formed in October 2006 – it has made a good start

When the LSVT finally occurred, making One Vision Housing a reality, it was – as the chief executive Roy Williams admits – “…as if the shackles had come off.”

The new organisation was free of the binds and limitations inherent in a traditional large municipal housing department. In late 2006 the organisation was breathing the ‘free air’ with high hopes – but it still had to complete the transformation to autonomous housing association. The

manner it took to ferment this cultural metamorphosis was to seek and win the Charter Mark for customer service.

“Our view, and the approach we’ve taken, is that our tenants are first and foremost paying customers. They are the consumers of a service just like any other and we need to ensure that we provide the sort of service that offers them value for money and that they would choose to buy,”

Williams said.

“[So,] we used that first year to establish the organisation and put down what we considered a good foundation to take us forward,” Williams said. “We agreed with our staff and customers – the tenants – that we’d use Charter Mark as a tool to help us effect a cultural change. The Charter Mark is about the way we provide services; a direct reflection of the individuals in the organisation, and the teams, as to how we provide our services directly to the paying customer.”

One Vision took over 11,500 properties from Sefton Council and of these 66 per cent was found to be non-decent in the stock conditions survey. Despite the organisation’s late start vis a vis the 2010 Decent Homes deadline (its flexibility notwithstanding) the organisation is confident of bringing its stock up to standard by the original deadline, having successfully completed over 1,800 homes to date.

Over the next two years, it will be spending £200 million. Indeed, over the coming year it will be spending £1 million a week to improve the condition of its properties. But One Vision Housing is looking to exceed just the basics.

“We want to make sure that we don’t just provide people with new windows, central heating, bathrooms, kitchens and that kind of thing, but that we build communities where people want to live,” Williams said. “Our mission is to be the landlord of choice in Sefton, We want people to choose to buy from us, to want to live in our homes.”

It’s quite a laudable vision – that social housing should become tenure of choice.

“There are more people on the list than we’re able to house at any one time,” Williams added, “but one of the things we can do in the future, and we have some ambitions there, is to build new homes. That’s something that the local authority couldn’t do. The council wasn’t in a position to build new homes, whereas One Vision Housing will be, but first we have to focus on bringing our existing homes up to Decent Standard.”

Alongside this, the organisation is determined to create sustainable local employment. To that end, it works with local schools and it has also forged an agreement with its contractor partners that 75 per cent of their workforce will be employed locally.

“There’s some added value there,” Williams said. “It’s not just about bricks and mortar; it’s about working with communities to sustain them, because we only have a business in the future if people want to live in our properties.”