Industry News


Huge cost of fire safety work for HAs revealed


The cost of completing fire safety work to England’s entire housing association stock will far exceed £10 billion according to the National Housing Federation, who also warn this could severly reduce the amount of new social housing to be built. The estimated cost includes removing and


replacing all types of dangerous cladding from residential buildings of all heights, as well as implementing the recommendations from the Hackitt Review and the first phase of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. Work on producing a more detailed cost


New tenant satisfaction survey focuses on safety and access


focus on how safe people feel in their homes. HouseMark’s STAR survey is used by councils


T


and housing associations, who between them manage the vast majority of social housing in the country. In recent years the reported very high levels of satisfaction (above 85 per cent) have been challenged by tenants groups as not being reflective of concerns about service levels and their landlords’ performance. Changes to the questions being asked were


expected after the Grenfell Tower tragedy and were the subject of a major consultation exercise last year. Views were sought from 13,000 tenants and leaseholders, and more than 300 social landlords, with tenants now able to complete the new survey online or by text. The new survey consists of three types of


questions: core (which have to be included), recommended and optional. The latter two categories allow landlords to shape the surveys used to the services provided by them. Core questions ask about how happy tenants are


that their landlord keeps their home safe and secure and whether their landlord is easy to deal with. A question asking how satisfied residents are with their neighbourhood as a place to live has been demoted to a recommended question following concerns from landlords that this is not always within their control.


MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS From June the surveys will include a five-star rating system, which is designed to give a clearer


he most widely used tenant satisfaction survey in the social housing sector has been overhauled and relaunched with a stronger


indication of landlords’ performance overall and across key areas. To enable comparisons between landlords, ratings will be weighted based on variables that can affect satisfaction, such as geography, tenants’ age profile and survey methodology. Jenny Osbourne, chief executive of tenant


engagement service TPAS, who assisted HouseMark with consultation events, said: “We know that in the past residents have often been cynical of satisfaction performance reported by landlords. “The new STAR framework offers a valuable


opportunity for landlords to reset their relationships, focus on what matters to tenants, and access meaningful insight to help drive service improvement.” During the consultation exercise, residents listed


the quality of their home as the most important factor in being satisfied with their landlord, with ease of dealing with the organisation also rated as highly important. HouseMark said the data showed that landlords


making interactions with tenants simple and straightforward was likely to have a big impact on satisfaction levels in the future. Jonathan Cox, deputy director at HouseMark,


said: “The Social Housing Green Paper was a catalyst for undertaking the review, and clearly in the wake of Grenfell health and safety is a


big concern. “The review also highlighted the importance of


softer measures like the ease of doing business with the landlord. This is a big driver of overall satisfaction and has been added into the new framework as well.”


calculation of the remediation work and its impact on HA balance sheets is currently underway. The G15 group of large HAs operating in the capital has already estimated it will cost them £6.9 billion to make their tower blocks in London safe for tenants and leaseholders to remain in. Kate Henderson, chief executive of the NHF,


said: “Housing associations are doing everything they can to make their buildings safe as quickly as possible and the sector has led the way in its quick response and co- ordination on fire safety. “However, following the latest advice from


government the potential costs of this huge programme of work are spiralling. The total cost of the building safety work required will easily exceed £10bn.” The NHF has been calling for a central


government ‘building safety fund’ to help cover the cost of the remediation work. Ms Henderson said: “Without this funding there is likely to be detrimental impact on associations’ ability to build much-needed new affordable homes and provide services to their residents and their local community.” The current estimates of safety costs only relates to buildings over 18 metres in height.


Adding to this the cost of removing dangerous materials from the many thousands of low and medium rise blocks below 18m high, will greatly add to the total.


The Hackitt Review has placed a series of


requirements on the owners of tall buildings to ensure the ongoing safety of their tower blocks, while introducing three-monthly checks on fire doors, installing new alarm systems and water sprinkler systems will further add to costs.


www.housingmmonline.co.uk | HMM April/May 2020 | 13


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