Have your say on Hackney Council’s Housing Services future priorities
People living in Hackney Council homes are being invited to have their say on what services the Council’s Housing Services provide are the most important to them as part of a major new survey launched today (30 June).
The eight week survey is designed to help the Council shape the future delivery of its housing services to the around 23,000 households living in its homes.
Using a simple interactive online tool, people will be able to allocate a total of 100 points across services provided by Housing Services to highlight what is most important to them. They will also be able to see what their decisions could mean for their future delivery.
As a result of the cap the government announced last year on the amount the Council and other social landlords could increase their rents by, the Council is facing a gap in its funding.
The services councils deliver for people living in their homes are paid for through the rents they collect. The less rent the Council collects the less it has to spend on being able to maintain, repair and improve its homes, tackle issues like damp and mould, or carry out work to enhance its estates.
While the 7% cap on rents helped minimise the impact of the cost of living crisis on those in social housing, with the Council also facing higher costs for things like building materials, fittings and delivering services due to inflation it has a significant impact on its budgets.
As the government has not provided any further funding to cover this shortfall it means the Council is having to find £11 million savings from its housing budget over the next four years. The findings of the survey will help the Council develop its budget proposals later this year.
The Council’s housing budget is split across five main areas:
- Repairs - e.g. general repairs to people’s homes, tackling damp and mould
- Resident and building safety - e.g fire and gas safety, building safety regulations
- Capital works - e.g. replacing kitchens and front doors, improving estates, making homes more energy efficient, maintaining lifts
- Tenancy Services - e.g. rent collections; management of council homes, and tackling anti-social behaviour
- Service Improvement / Complaints - e.g. customer services, managing and monitoring service performance, supporting service improvements and driving up standards.
I know many of our residents would have been pleased there was a rent cap this year. However, we did warn that unless the government provided extra funding to cover the shortfall there would be major long term implications for our budgets.
We have now been left facing stark choices about how we deliver our housing services in the future - which will have major implications on the people living in our homes and on our estates.
It may mean we are unable to carry out the improvements to estates to enhance people’s lives we had wanted to do, people may have to wait longer for things like replacement windows and kitchens, and day-to-day repairs may take longer to carry out than they do now.
The decisions we make will impact the lives of the more than 23,000 households living in our homes. This is why I am urging as many of them as possible to have their say through this tool and the face-to-face conversations our staff will be organising. This will ensure we have as much information as possible about what our residents feel are important areas for us to focus our budgets on going forward.
People taking part in the survey, which is scheduled to end on Friday 25 August, will have the chance of winning £100, £50 or £25 Love2Shop vouchers.
To have your say visit https://hackney-housing-services.prioritysimulator.com/