Bulletin 1st Edition review 010617v2

Housing Staff NewsIssue 1, April 2107Welcome ! Buying more council housesWelcome to the first edition of Housing News. As we lose houses via the final months of the Right to Buy Scheme, we agreed to replenishWe received feedback from the staff survey and the How the stock by buying back ex council propertiesGood is Our Service? (HGIOS) session that communica- or private properties on the open market.tion was a big concern. So we are hoping to keep staffinformed on a regular basis, via the newsletter. The following properties have all been pur- chased for rental.Gas Central Heating Project  2D Hawthorn Gardens, Busby *The Scottish Government asked for bids last October for  8 Brownside Grove, Barrheadprojects that would help us get our properties closer to  7 Lochlibo Terrace, Barrheadpassing EESSH and were NOT already in our 16/17 pro-  28 Carnock Crescent, Barrheadgramme for replacement. This was to:  111 Stormyland Way, Barrhead *1. Help boost the Scottish economy by bringing on  29 Kirkstyle Crescent, Barrhead  34 Rufflees Avenue, Barrhead line new contracts that would not otherwise have  15 Stormyland Way, Barrhead happened this year  5 Polnoon Drive, Eaglesham *2. Focus on energy efficiency / carbon saving work  Flat 37 1/2 Heather Wynd, NewtonTwo issues high on the Scottish Governments agenda! Mearns  4 Robshill Court, Newton Mearns120 homes received new Gas Central Heating, with  5 Robshill Court, Newton Mearnsfunding of £0.338m of Scottish Government CapitalStimulus funding. The properties are now on OHMS and we have begun selecting new tenants for them. ThreeAll social housing in Scotland must meet the Energy Effi- have been let already. *ciency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH) by 2020.It will help to reduce energy consumption and fuel pov- There are currently no plans to purchaseerty amongst our tenants, and improve energy efficiency any more second hand homes.and the emission of greenhouse gases in our homes. If you would like to know about things going on atAt 31st March 2017, 66% of our stock met EESSH with present then email Lisa Burrett and we’ll get youplanning ongoing to achieve 100% compliance by 2020. an update. Inside this newsletter We will have a dedicated mailbox set up shortly for staff to use.  New council properties for ERC  New Tenant Journey  Right to Buy updates  Auchenback Project  Service Improvement PlanHousing Staff News April 2017

New Tenant JourneyThe “New Tenant Journey” Procedures have been in place for some time and we are keen to assess whether theyare working properly or whether adjustments need to be made to make them more effective. A review process isunderway led by Suzanne Conlin and individual members of staff will be involved as the process continues.If you have any specific comments of your own, speak to you line manager. Regular updates will be given at yourTeam Meetings.We currently carry out surveys of new tenants. For last year the results were as follows:33 94% felt NTV 94% also felt 87% satisfied 81% satisfied 85% satisfiedSurvey carried out the NTV was or very with quality overall withResponses satisfactorily useful satisfied of property the processAuchenback Project The Capital ProgrammeLouise McFlynn was recently seconded to The golden years of carrying out capital works in entire streetscarry out a piece of survey work in the Auch- or schemes, has long gone. What happens now is we identifyenback area. properties via APEX, which are due for renewal/repair and bid for funding for those. It can result in a patchwork approach ,butJointly funded with Education Services, the is the best way to use scarce resources,survey took approximately 12 weeks and fo-cused on families with children. As the work includes owners, the job lines are raised against the block. The lines will be for CC-Capital Render or CR-CapitalIssues consulted on included play, attach- Roof. A list will be posted on the intranet shortly, but if it is anment and access to services. enquiry from an individual, check OHMS first.The outcomes of the survey will hopefully If you want detail of the type of work involved ,then speak tohelp to develop services for families in the Janice Graham, Asset Management Coordinator.area. Detail of the window renewal programme for 2017/18 will be New Build houses for ERC this year available shortly and will be made available on the intranet for staff to refer to.Work is underway on identifying a number of sites around the area The end of RTB !to deliver the 120 new council homes which the Council approvedlast year. These will be built over the next 4 years. The Right to Buy stopped in Scotland in July 2016. There has been an increase inTo start building these new homes we also need to appoint a con- applications to buy and sales as a result.tractor to construct the properties, and this is well advanced. Con-sultation with the public is also underway. To date in 2016/17, we sold 46 and have 48 still going through the legal process.Construction of the first of 40 properties will start in January 2018. Of these 20 have signed missives, 28 areElaine McShane, Senior Development Officer is co-ordinating on offer and of these it is estimated 25 willthis project and is now based within the Service Improvement proceed.Team. If you are looking for any updates, Elaine will be happy tochat to you.Housing Staff News April 2017

Service Improvement Plan These have been agreed by the manage-Every year Housing Services must plan out the key ment team and copiesimprovement projects that we want to complete over have been provided tothe next 12 months. each individual member of staff.These tasks form our formal objectives as a serviceand are monitored closely throughout the year, at ser- If you have any ques-vice, departmental and council wide level. tions or want more infor- mation on the 2107/18The action plan required to deliver these projects is Service Improvementagreed with the respective members of the Manage- Plan then contact Lisament Team and forms part of their, and possibly your, Burrett, PrincipalPRD tasks. Housing Officer.This year’s Service Improvement Plan priorities havebeen set out as a “Top 10” for 2017/18.Staffing News Scottish Social Housing CharterRecent retirees from the service were Bill McAnally You might have picked up some talk about the Hous-(Asset Surveyor), Graham Hall (Principal Housing ing Charter and people referring to its previous nameOfficer) and Kevin Anderson (Housing Advisor). of the ARC.Gordon Lennox has recently been appointed as As- Well ever year we are required to provide statisticalsistant Housing Maintenance Manager. data on our performance to the Scottish Housing Reg- ulator. This highlights how we are performing againstJim Murray has also been appointed Commission- the charter in our services to tenants and service us-ing & Assets Manager as part of the Tier 3 review ers. This involves strict criteria and fixed guidelinesof the Change Programme. set by the regulator on the data we must provide.Natalie Sinclair was successful in gaining a tempo- The returns can also be verified by the regulator viarary post as part time Housing Advisor and is now on-site visits and tend to influence their inspectioncovering this alongside her role as Assistant Housing routine in a given year.Officer.Juman Almusawi and Rami Zataari are our recently So you may have been asked for a range of statisticsappointed Refugee Resettlement Officers. recently and saw colleagues having to drop everything to ensure the figures were updated ,double checkedJames Temporal is also recently in post as tempo- and then submitted for the end of May.rary Void Officer. More detail about our performance will be made avail-Colin Watson (Assistant Property Services Man- able to staff in the coming weeks.ager) will shortly leave to take up a post with Lovell. We are looking for staff to tell us if this bulletin wasWe wish him all the best! useful, any ideas you have for improving it ,and the things you want to know more about. Please chat to or email Lisa Burrett or Jim McLaughlin.Housing Staff News April 2017