Strategic plan 2015

From Good to GreatGreenfields Community Housing

2015 - 2020

INTRODUCTION OUR VISION

OUR VALUES

OUR THEMES

We are proud to be a Community Gateway Association which truly puts residents at the heart of everything we do.

Working together with residents we have articulated our vision for the future, re-affirmed our values and put together our plans until 2020 that we strongly believe will see us go from being a really good housing provider to a great one.

Working together to provide the best homes & services for people in our communities.

Define who we are and how we do things:

Customer firstWe will be there when our customers need us.

Can doWe will take ownership, find acceptable solutions and be accountable for our actions.

One teamWe will work together, communicate well and trust each other.

RespectWe will respect each other, all our people and our communities.

IntegrityWe will be open, honest and transparent in all that we do.

Our priorities for the next five years are grouped together in to four themes:

1. Home2. Service3. People4. Community

1. HOMEOur future is different from our past. But what we care about is the same and what we do and how we do it is as important as it has always been.

The home remains truly at the heart of our residents’ needs & wellbeing.

Between 2015 and 2020, we will:

1. Increase the homes that we own and manage by building on our own land or through other opportunities, taking the total to 9,000 by 2020. We will ensure they remain affordable and suit their location, and we will explore alternative methods of construction.

2. Take a robust approach to managing our assets, driving further improvements in cost, quality and value:

Cost

• Reduce routine maintenance costs from £1,000 to £800, per home

• Reduce the cost of repairing empty homes to the average benchmark.

Quality

• Increase residents’ satisfaction with the quality of their home from 92% to 94%

• Increase residents’ satisfaction with our repairs service from 90% to 94%

• Increase our Home Energy Performance (SAP 2009) from 65 to 72.

Value

• Improve the value of our homes by 25%

• Reduce unsustainable homes from 3% to 1%

• Generate £1.6million to acquire more homes, through our Homes Disposal Strategy.

3. Continue to provide our residents with an excellent Repairs and Maintenance Service; spending £85million over the next five years and achieving top quartile performance across all measures.

4. Continue to invest in our homes to exceed the Decent Homes Standard and maintain 100% compliance.

5. Continue to tackle fuel poverty and invest £7million to install technology in 1,800 homes.

6. Continue to improve our estates and communal areas. We will create the best environments for our residents through Neighbourhood Action Plans, and increase residents’ satisfaction with their neighbourhoods from 90% to 92%.

7. Modernise our older persons’ accommodation and provide adaptations to enable our residents to live independently. Two schemes will be reviewed and recommendations will be addressed.

8. Work with Braintree District Council to use our joint Community and Housing Investment Partnership Fund to purchase land and build new homes.

2. SERVICEDelivering the highest quality of service that is responsive, flexible and offers great value for money remains a priority for us. We want our residents to experience exceptional customer service.

Between 2015 and 2020, we will:

1. Provide exceptional, flexible services that offer excellent value for money:

• Aim for service performance and resident satisfaction levels to be top quartile, whilst keeping our costs below average

• Maintain Customer Service Excellence accreditation

• Maintain Housing Quality Network accreditation for services that are most important to our residents e.g gas servicing, aids & adaptations and income management.

2. Support our residents through ongoing Welfare Reforms.

3. Develop more services to help support our residents, enabling them to fulfil their potential and live independently:

• Develop & deliver a Community Support Service that is based on need and aimed at our 600 residents that are over 85-years-old

• Make technology available for residents to manage their own independence & wellbeing, such as an “I’m ok” button in schemes

• Promote the benefits of having a care-line facility for residents.

4. Work to increase digital inclusion to improve services, ensuring our residents have ‘online access’ and are provided with the skills and support to be able to use these to retain their independence:

• Aim to double the number of digital transactions with our residents/customers each year

• Reduce the number of residents who lack basic online skills to less than 15%.

5. Explore opportunities to broaden our range of services to support our vision of providing the best homes and services for residents in our communities.

6. Review how our area office network is managed and service is delivered.

7. Maintain our strong financial viability.

3. PEOPLEOur plan is all about people; people living in our communities, people working for us and people who support us as volunteers and as partners. We are committed to making positive changes to people’s lives by providing the opportunities & support for them to have influence, learn skills, gain experience, secure employment and develop careers.

We recognise that we have a significant local profile and we aim to support local employment and prosperity.

Between 2015 and 2020, we will:

1. Support people by employing up to 50 new apprentices and interns.

2. Support our residents with employment opportunities, providing information and advice.

3. Enhance our engagement with our residents, encouraging involvement from all.

4. Continue to promote effective and meaningful membership with:

• Overall satisfaction with services being greater for members than all tenants combined (currently 93%)

• Satisfaction that views are listened to and acted upon being greater for members than all tenants combined (currently 81%)

• Satisfaction with membership to be surveyed separately and to be at least 85%.

5. Champion investment in our people by providing high-quality training and development opportunities to help them fulfil their potential.

6. Continue our commitment to health and wellbeing, through a range of programmes for residents and staff.

• Retain our Investors in People Health and Wellbeing Good Practice accreditation

• Have at least nine staff Health Champions to take forward our health and wellbeing activities

• Hold 20 health promotion-related activities.

7. Continue to support the wider business community:

• We will spend at least £1million each year with local businesses.

8. Maintain strong governance.

4. COMMUNITYWe pride ourselves on being ‘more than a landlord’ and recognise that we have a significant stake in our communities. This drives us to ensure that our residents and their families are empowered and have the capacity to make the best of their

situation. We want to help residents to grasp the opportunities that will enable them to live healthy & happy lives in safe & vibrant communities.

Between 2015-20, we will:

1. Continue to demonstrate our commitment to Community Gateway, by:

• Completing and implementing the actions from the Community Gateway Group Review

• Developing a new Community Empowerment & Investment Strategy

• Producing and publicising what it means to us to be a Community Gateway organisation.

2. Generate employment and volunteering opportunities for residents, including supporting and promoting social enterprises, by:

• Providing 250 work & volunteering opportunities

• Funding the development of a furniture & white goods reuse & recycle project.

3. Continue to support our residents and their families to improve their health & wellbeing, by:

• Working with partners on at least five projects, including: dementia, falls prevention, tackling obesity, social prescribing and helping residents to manage long-term health conditions.

4. Support our residents to create “edible estates” and encourage them to care for the natural environment, by:

• Creating 15 areas in our communities and supporting residents to grow their own fruit & vegetables

• Running five projects with local schools to encourage young people to care for the natural environment.

5. Continue to offer financial support to our residents, by:

• Providing 300 residents with benefits advice and related support, per year

• Securing £2million in additional benefits for our residents, over the next five years.

6. Support a range of voluntary and community groups and projects, by:

• Giving £750,000 in grants to the community & voluntary sector in the district.

7. Continue working with our residents to give them the power & funding to improve their communities, by:

• Spending £1.5 million on Community Improvements and Neighbourhood Action Plans.

Call:01376 535 400

Visit:www.GreenfieldsCH.org.uk

Email:[email protected]

Our Vision

Working together to provide the best homes & services for people

in our communities

Greenfields House, Charter Way, Braintree, Essex CM77 8FG