A model of tenant engagement

Since it was set up three years ago, Greenfields Community Housing has been working to bring its properties up to scratch and to build strong communities. With its Decent Homes programme now well underway, it is looking to the future and to expanding its horizons into new-build

As a community gateway association, Greenfields is focused around its tenants, as chief executive Phil Adams explains: “It is not about whether or not residents are involved in our business; the question we should be asking is how we can involve them in the work we do?”

As well as having tenants on the board and a community gateway group comprising tenants and leaseholders elected by other residents, Greenfields engages with its communities in various other ways (see below).

As with most of the new wave of housing associations, Greenfields’ area of focus to date has been on its Decent Homes programme. And while Adams is confident of meeting its 2012 deadline, the programme faced a major hiccup when contract partner Connaught went into administration in September.

“It is really unfortunate, as it is not something we could have foreseen when the contract was allocated,” says Adams. “Locally, we have minimised the impact as best we can and have managed to keep going, but it has delayed our programme for a few weeks.

“We had cases where we were half way through improving somebody’s home so we have worked with sub-contractors to complete those homes. In the next phases where Connaught were lined up, we are examining the legal situation now and identifying the next steps.”

The sheltered housing schemes are also undergoing a revamp, with some being remodelled to make them fit for modern-day living, replacing communal bathing facilities and converting bedsit type accommodation to larger flats.

Of course tenants are at the heart of both improvements programmes, and as well as the usual tenant satisfaction surveys, Greenfields will be undertaking surveys with sheltered housing residents about the remodelling process and the quality of the finished product.

“We want to learn lessons from our residents before we move onto the next phase – on both the Decent Homes programme and our sheltered housing remodelling – because they are the people best-placed to tell us where it has and hasn’t worked and where we need to make some improvements,” says Adams.

With its improvements programmes underway, Greenfields is turning its attention to new-build, using cash from the Community Housing and Investment Partnership (CHIP) Fund – a joint £11 million fund with Braintree District Council.

Half of the cash is earmarked for major regeneration projects – which will also tackle unemployment – and half for the provision of affordable housing in the district, with three sites being considered.

“For the first three years we have focused on improving our current stock, bringing nearly 5,000 homes up to standard, and on improving services. We now feel that we have reached the time – and our residents do too – where our services are not perfect but we can actually lift our heads and start
thinking about attacking the need for affordable housing in this district,” says Adams. “Although we are not going to be delivering hundreds of homes over the next couple of years, we will be able to get on and ‘do’, even with the constraints that others are going to be faced with nationally.

But despite the progress that has been made for this relatively young housing association, the results of a recent Audit Commission inspection proved disappointing. Greenfields was awarded just one star by inspectors – a fair reflection of the work done to date says Adams.

“Although we are disappointed with some of the inspectors’ judgements, they have given us a health check if you like, as to where they think we are,” he says. “They judged us as delivering fair services with promising prospects for improvement but our residents have actually told us that they think we are better than that.

“We are going to continue working with our residents, listening to them and responding in terms of improving services, because it is our residents that are best-placed to judge our services.

“Looking forward positively from the inspection, the inspectors have made a number of recommendations. We will be working on those with our residents to ensure they meet their needs, and working with the TSA to make sure we move forward positively and address the inspectors’ concerns, and, more to the point, any concerns that the residents may have, which is where we will focus our attention.”

INVOLVING TENANTS

Greenfields undertake three Community Options Studies a year, which involve talking to tenants and the wider community about issues in their areas – such as a lack of bus stops, lighting and traffic control – then deciding priorities for action and working with the necessary organisations – be it the district council, county council, or police – to come up with solutions. “It is a different way of doing business. It is much more local and fits in with the national localism agenda,” says Adams.

Area Forums are another aspect of the resident involvement framework. The three forums each have an annual budget of £100,000 to invest in improvements identified by local residents and recent projects involved cleaning up a pond in Forest Road, Witham, and building a new play area on Tabor Avenue, Braintree.

Local community groups can bid for funding from Greenfields’ Community Fund, which has an annual budget of £50,000. Cash has been provided for projects helping people into work, to support people with drug and alcohol problems and to provide respite for carers, among other things.

“Once you start talking to people in communities, you very quickly realise what is important to them and what they value and that is obviously all taken into consideration when the bids for funding come in,” says Adams.

its attention to new-build, using cash from the Community Housing and Investment Partnership (CHIP) Fund – a joint £11 million fund with Braintree District Council. Half of the cash is earmarked for major regeneration projects – which will also tackle unemployment – and half for the provision of affordable housing in the district, with three sites being considered.

“For the first three years we have focused on improving our current stock, bringing nearly 5,000 homes up to standard, and on improving services. We now feel that we have reached the time – and our residents do too – where our services are not perfect but we can actually lift our heads and start thinking about attacking the need for affordable housing in this district,” says Adams. “Although we are not going to be delivering hundreds of homes over the next couple of years, we will be able to get on and ‘do’, even with the constraints that others are going to be faced with nationally.

But despite the progress that has been made for this relatively young housing association, the results of a recent Audit Commission inspection proved disappointing. Greenfields was awarded just one star by inspectors – a fair reflection of the work done to date says Adams.

“Although we are disappointed with some of the inspectors’ judgements, they have given us a health check if you like, as to where they think we are,” he says. “They judged us as delivering fair services with promising prospects for improvement but our residents have actually told us that they think we are better than that.

“We are going to continue working with our residents, listening to them and responding in terms of improving services, because it is our residents that are best-placed to judge our services.

“Looking forward positively from the inspection, the inspectors have made a number of recommendations. We will be working on those with our residents to ensure they meet their needs, and working with the TSA to make sure we move forward positively and address the inspectors’ concerns, and, more to the point, any concerns that the residents may have, which is where we will focus our attention.”

GOING GREEN

Greenfields’ green agenda is getting underway, as Adams explains: “The whole green agenda has been around for some time and we want to play a real part in trying to benefit our residents and the overall environment.”

The first social housing BREEAM ‘green show home’ in Essex is currently being converted by G reenfields’ contractors, Higgins Construction, in Halstead. It will initially be used to illustrate many energy efficiency measures, such as PV panels and air-to-water heat pumps, before being let to tenants.

It will be closely monitored for a 12-month period, to see which measures are most effective before Greenfields starts to retrofit its stock.

The organisation has also recently started work with Waterwise, Braintree District Council and Anglian Water to install water saving products such as tap restrictors, shower savers and dual flush systems on toilets in homes throughout the district.