Industry news
Almost all Welsh social homes now meet Housing Quality Standard
Standard, with full compliance expected within two years. Official figures show that at the end of March 2018, 91 per cent of homes owned by housing associations and councils in the country complied with the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS), up from 86 per cent last year.
M
ore than nine in 10 social homes in Wales meet the Welsh Government’s Housing Quality
Housing associations achieved 99 per cent
compliance, while councils reached 77 per cent. The Welsh Government has a target to reach 100 per cent WHQS compliance by 2020, with £108m available to social landlords each year for improving their stock. The WHQS measures homes on 42 factors
covering state of repair, fuel efficiency, and kitchen and bathroom facilities among other categories. Rebecca Evans, Welsh housing and regeneration
minister, said: “I am clear that there is more to do, but these figures show our investment is paying off. Good-quality housing is a Welsh Government priority because it is crucial to our health and well-being. “Public Health Wales’ work tells us that poor
housing costs the NHS £67m a year, so this investment is an investment in people’s health, an investment to tackle fuel poverty and an investment to improve people’s lives.”
East Anglian HA given governance downgrade
A 4,000-home housing association has been warned by the social housing regulator that it needs to strengthen its risk management and internal controls after its governance rating was downgraded. Orwell HA manages properties across Suffolk,
Norfolk, Cambridge and Essex. It was hit with the downgrade following an in-depth assessment by the
regulator, who said the association’s board needed to be strengthened. The regulator said: “To support continued
effective delivery, the board needs to strengthen its capacity to review and challenge its own governance arrangements. It needs to ensure that it reviews its governance performance in a rigorous and evidence-based way.”
It noted that Orwell has “reviewed its internal
audit framework and is making changes in response to the findings and recommendations”. In a separate judgement, the regulator upgraded
its rating for the 7,000-home housing association Castles and Coasts - formed last year from the merger of Two Castles and Derwent & Solway, in the north west.
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