Housing’s finest

Business transformation of the year - sponsored by Capital Insight

Wheatley Group/Glasgow Housing Association: Think yes

Glasgow Housing Association’s ‘think yes’ initiative has trained all staff to solve tenant issues more constructively and creatively. A partner intranet site was launched for the 45,000-home landlord’s staff to anonymously share details of any problems - as well as the solutions.

The organisation says the approach has ‘revolutionised’ GHA, with more than 60 tenant problems being solved since July.

Among the new initiatives to be introduced are new coinless washing machines at one high-rise scheme, which as helped save tenants money and increased ease of use. And dumped rubbish is now being sold back to scrap merchants - raising £5,000 for charity.

Staff satisfaction has increased under the scheme by almost a quarter to 85 per cent, while customer service satisfaction has increased from 82 to 87 per cent.

Judges praised think yes for delivering clear, demonstrable service improvements, and felt the organisation had been innovative by empowering housing officers to become key decision-makers.

Community-led initiative of the year - sponsored by Isos

Housing People, Building Communities: Sweat equity: home partners, volunteers and trainees

Housing People, Building Communities enables people in Liverpool’s deprived Princes Park ward to build their own homes, while equipping unemployed people with professional qualifications.

Future homeowners invest at least 500 hours building their house, which counts as a £10,000 contribution. Home partners can then obtain a mortgage, or take out a shared equity loan.

In total, 110 residents have attended HPBC’s construction training programme, with a further 60 expected to benefit in 2014. And since January 2013, more than 1,000 volunteers have contributed in excess of 7,000 hours to the project, gaining new skills and work experience.

Nine homes have already been built, with a further 23 to be funded by housing association Sanctuary Group.

According to the judges, the sustainability of this project set it apart from others. They felt it had great potential to have a long-term impact on the community.

Innovation of the year - sponsored by Your Housing Group

North Tyneside Council: Supporting independence, improving health and well-being for tenants

Emergency hospital admissions and the length of hospital stays have been reduced for more than 1,400 of North Tyneside’s vulnerable and elderly tenants. The council’s sheltered housing team has been trained to make direct referrals to NHS staff qualified to treat minor injuries and illnesses at the patient’s home, within two hours of a call.

Housing officers were also taught how to recognise common illnesses, while a dedicated activities co-ordinator now supports better health and well-being through health and fitness classes.

The initiative could save the NHS £365,000 a year - according to an analysis by Northumbria University - and allow tenants to remain in their home.

Following a successful pilot in January 2013, the project has been rolled out to all 26 of North Tyneside’s sheltered housing schemes, and could be implemented in other NHS trusts.

The judges praised the council for addressing the need for better links between housing and health, and said the innovation was, ‘a positive solution that could be replicated by others’.

Campaign of the year - sponsored by Campbell Tickell

Wellingborough Homes: FISH

With people in Wellingborough, in Northamptonshire, hit hard by austerity, Wellingborough Homes wanted to create something which would benefit the whole community.

The 4,500-home landlord refurbished and opened the FISH (free impartial support and help) shop in the town centre as a one-stop shop to tackle financial and social exclusion, get more people into training and work, and enhance the work of local support organisations. An eye-catching piece of street art, regional news coverage and a dedicated website helped to capture people’s attention.

Since it launched in December 2011, FISH has supported residents with debt totalling £7.5 million, for example, by working out payment plans or putting in a debt relief order. The service has handled 18,700 queries, secured unclaimed benefits worth £5.3 million, helped 764 people get into training and employment, and won 1,000 appeals and tribunals on behalf of residents.

Judges praised the campaign’s clear message and strong brand, and felt it had successfully refreshed an approach to dealing with some of the core issues affecting the community.

Development of the year (large schemes) - sponsored by H+H

Cardiff Community Housing Association: Regeneration of Loudoun Square

Cardiff’s Loudoun Square had remained largely untouched since the 1960s and the area was in serious decline. Located in the centre of a tight-knit multi-cultural community, the site previously consisted of derelict and boarded-up housing, a block of dilapidated shops and a rundown health centre providing only rudimentary services.

Today, Loudoun Square is a very different place. Sixty-one affordable homes sit alongside a vibrant parade of 11 retail units, a health centre, culture and media centre, three social enterprise units, a community hub housing council information services and a landscaped public square.

The project has helped to boost the local economy and support local jobs and training. More than 2,000 people were involved in the construction, seven apprenticeships were created for local people and local firms were recruited for the supply chain. The project was funded by £4.8 million from the Welsh Government’s social housing grant, £4.8 million from Cardiff and Vale Health Board, and £3.4 million of private finance from Cardiff Community Housing Association.

The judges felt that the scheme addressed economic, community and housing issues in a holistic manner, which achieved some really significant outcomes.

Development of the year (small schemes) - supported by Savills

Wales & West Housing: Redevelopment of historic Vulcan House

Grade II-listed Vulcan House was built in Merthyr Tydfil in the 1820s, when the Welsh town was at the epicentre of the industrial revolution.

However, the building had fallen into disrepair, and there was little evidence of its history as a meeting place for the Chartist political movement.

Others had tried and failed to develop the site, but in 2007, Merthyr Tydfil Council asked 9,000-home Wales & West Housing to get involved.

The housing association spent the next six years carefully converting Vulcan House into 15 two-bedroom flats for local people who had previously been homeless, renting privately, or were affected by the government’s welfare reform programme.

The judges felt the challenges of this complex development had been overcome in a way that addressed both the needs of residents and the wider community - and said there was good evidence of positive community gains.

Strategic local authority - supported by Ocean Media Group

Hull Council: Housing and neighbourhood renewal strategy

Despite huge cuts to funding streams, Hull Council has been able to identify £30 million to continue its regeneration of the city.

Following the demolition of poor-quality housing in the Ings area, the council successfully bid for £3.3 million of transition funding - which has helped contribute to a £10.4 million housing building and improvement programme.

Funding of £6 million from the empty homes programme will bring 265 private sector homes back into use, with five local groups refurbishing a further 134 homes - some as housing for vulnerable groups.

Hull Council has secured £8 million from the regional growth fund, as well as £118 million of private sector investment over the next 12 years, to ensure the continued renewal of the Newington and St Andrew’s area.

Judges said Hull was a ‘big council with big ambitions’ and praised the council for helping to shape the city which is on its way up again.

Specialist landlord of the year - supported by Altair

Riverside ECHG: Homeless care lifeline

Launched in 2013 Newton House, Riverside ECHG’s unique homeless domiciliary care centre in Gloucester, provides tailored care for homeless people who have addiction or mental health issues and severe physical health problems.

With homeless people twice as likely to have long-term physical health issues - 60 per cent compared with just under a third of the general population - the service has already prevented at least 294 hospital admissions, saved more than £32,000 and stopped people going back on the streets.

The team supports clients in 20 adapted rooms, and over the past year has provided specialist care to 98 homeless people.

ECHG said it wants to ensure that homeless people have the same access to health care support, including intensive and end-of-life care, as anyone else in society.

The judges said the centre not only demonstrated real savings and benefits, but also a pragmatic and effective approach. They added the centre is a great, yet deliverable, achievement.

Sustainable landlord of the year - supported by Mitie

Walsall Housing Group: A sustainable future for all

Walsall Housing Group’s commitment to sustainability has reduced its annual carbon emissions by 100,000 tonnes - the equivalent of removing 66,000 cars from the roads.

Some 2,500 of the 19,000 homes it owns have benefited from eco-refurbishments, with plans to help another 10,000.

By switching its properties to a green energy supply and installing smart lighting systems in communal areas, the 19,000-home landlord has reduced its energy consumption by more than 1 million kilowatt hours since 2011.

An enormous 97 per cent of all waste generated by the landlord is now recycled; an increase of almost 60 per cent in three years.

The improvements have made a huge difference with tenants savings a total of £386,000 a year.

A project to insulate to more than 800 cavity walls and 750 lofts will further reduce annual carbon emissions by 560 tonnes, and create additional savings of £535,000.

The judges said the impressive statistics made the entry stand out. They were also swayed by the example WHG provides to its tenants, particularly through its huge increase in recycling.

Small social landlord of the year - sponsored by Higgins

Cunninghame Housing Association

This north and east Ayrshire landlord has showed great innovation in its approach to community regeneration. After discovering that more than half of Cunninghame Housing Association tenants cut back on food to pay for fuel, the 1,739-home organisation created Citrus Energy - a housing association-led energy broker. It provides impartial, ethical assistance to domestic households, housing associations, charities and fellow social enterprises to find the best energy prices.

Citrus Energy’s £259,000 grant from the Big Lottery support and connect fund and the Scottish Government’s people and communities fund, has been combined with income earned in commission from energy companies when clients switch suppliers.

Since its launch in October 2013, it has saved tenants £11,692, local businesses and charities £192,264, and secured grants for new boilers and insulation to the value of £23,310.

The judging panel described the impact of Citrus Energy ‘staggering’, and were particularly impressed with the high levels of savings.

Large social landlord of the year - supported by Keepmoat

The Wrekin Housing Group

The Wrekin Housing Group says it is the first and still the only social landlord to deliver a same-day repairs service to its 11,530 affordable homes.

The Shropshire and Staffordshire-based group invested £9.8 million in 2012/13 to ensure its properties meet the decent homes-plus standard and is building more than 1,600 homes within the next five years.

Last year, the group opened the £2.9 million Cambrian Care Hotel, which provides respite care for adults in 16 hotel-style en-suite bedrooms.

In addition, the landlord prevented 469 people from becoming homeless by housing people who had left prison or hospital or were dealing with debt, street homelessness and relationship breakdown, or preventing eviction. It supported 270 social enterprises, created 55 jobs and 15 apprenticeships - and all this while achieving a 12 per cent reduction in operating costs, saving £3.8 million.

The judges said Wrekin’s was ‘comprehensively the best submission’, adding that the group is trailblazing, and consistently high-performing.

OVERAL WINNER

Landlord of the year - supported by the Chartered Institute of Housing

Cunninghame Housing Association

Following an ambitious improvement plan, Cunninghame Housing Association’s stock has grown by 35 per cent over the past six years, from 1,650 to 2,227 tenancies. At the heart of this is its flagship Vineburgh regeneration initiative which, by the end of 2014, will see CHA build 287 homes in five years, investing more than £33 million into one of North Ayrshire’s most deprived communities.

Consultants from Glasgow-based Social Value Lab found that for every £1 invested in the scheme, £3.25 of social value was created. The landlord has also created 43 jobs over the past 12 months.

With the bedroom tax affecting 15 per cent of CHA’s tenants, the landlord created a financial inclusion team to enable residents to access a credit union, debt management and budgeting support; to date, no tenancies have been lost as a result of welfare reform.

The judges praised the huge range of positive outcomes across CHA, and were impressed by the landlord’s keen focus on performance.

Lifetime achievement award - supported by Inside Housing

Jean Haley

Jean Haley has lived on Lambeth Living’s Central Hill estate since it was built 40 years ago.

The 84-year-old has campaigned on a number of high-profile issues. In 1987, she presented a selection of knives, collected in a weapons amnesty and bought in local shops, to then MP for Norwood John Fraser, inspiring

Lambeth Council dubbed her the ‘asbestos queen’ after her unstoppable lobbying on the issue was responsible for the setting up of a Lambeth asbestos commission, which then created a borough-wide asbestos register.

Ms Haley was instrumental in raising more than £250,000 to establish the Berridge Road Estate Resource Centre. She has been chair of her tenants’ and residents’ association since 1983, and in 2005, received an MBE.

The judges were amazed at the sheer scope of what Ms Haley has achieved, and hugely impressed by her campaigning commitment and determination.