In 2006 Innisfree Housing Association (Innisfree HA) commissioned the National Housing Federation's Feedback service to carry out a STATUS survey based on a census of tenants. The survey was similar to a previous STATUS survey undertaken in 2003. The results were published in 2007.

Postal surveys are an important way of gauging how satisfied tenants are with service delivery. They provide a snapshot of tenant views at a particular time. The advantage of using the standard questionnaire used by the Feedback service is that the survey can be repeated and results compared over a period of time. Tenant satisfaction at Innisfree HA can also be compared with satisfaction levels at other landlords that have used the STATUS survey.

2. Overall Results

Innisfree HA's tenants are pleased with their homes and the services provided by their landlord. 49% of tenants responded to the survey, which is good for a postal survey. The high levels of tenant satisfaction are demonstrated in the following key findings:

89% of tenants feel that Innisfree HA keeps them well informed.
Over 87% of tenants who had a repair completed in the last 12 months rated all aspects of the actual work as "good" or "very good".
86% of tenants find staff helpful.
83% of tenants are satisfied with their accommodation.
82% of tenants are satisfied with the overall condition of their homes.
81% of tenants are satisfied with the overall repairs and maintenance service.
78% of tenants are satisfied with their landlord overall.
78% of tenants feel they obtain good value for money from their rent.
76% of tenants think that their landlord takes account of their views.
70% of tenants are happy with the neighbourhood in which they live.

3. Tenant Profile

Key findings:-

A fifth of tenants are new tenants, who have not been with Innisfree HA for any length of time - 4% joined in the last 12 months and a further 15% have been tenants for between 1 and 2 years. Nearly half of the tenants have been with the Association for between 3 and 10 years (47%). A third of tenants are long-standing tenants (34%), having been with Innisfree HA for over 11 years.
Half of Innisfree HA households are made up of adult households - people aged under 60 and living in a household without children (49%). Families are found in just over a third of the homes (35%), while a small percentage of households are made up of older tenants (14% over the age of 60).
47% of households have at least one member who has a long-term illness, health problem or disability. Of those tenants who have a disability 78% said that their disability limited their daily activity. 2% of households have at least one member who uses a wheelchair.
Three quarters of Innisfree HA's tenants described themselves as "White Irish" tenants (76%), while a further fifth were either "White British" (18%) or "White Other" (1.8%). According to the Housing Corporation's definition, which includes White Irish and White Other tenants, 81% of households are Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) households. 1.2% of tenants refused to answer the question.
Over a quarter of principal tenants are in employment (16% in full-time employment, 10% in part-time employment and 3% self-employed). More partners or spouses are working (46%). Unemployment is running at 12% for principal tenants and 14% for partners. 43% of principal tenants are outside employment (26% permanently sick or disabled and 17% at home looking after family). 12% of principal tenants are retired, as are 7% of partners
Over half of the households have incomes between £60 and £159 per week (59%); while a quarter have incomes between £159 and £299 per week (25%). Only 11% of households have incomes over £300 per week, 5% are between £400 and £499 per week and 2% over £500 per week.

4. Issues which impact on satisfaction levels

Although the results of the survey represent tenants' views, it is important to recognise that views on quality of service delivery are affected significantly by the profile of the tenant group and by problems in the areas where tenants live. For example, an Association with a large proportion of older tenants will always get significantly higher satisfaction levels than an Association with a high proportion of families and single person households. Tenants living in rural communities will always have higher satisfaction levels than tenants in inner city areas, and inner city tenants often have significantly lower levels of satisfaction than the average national figures. It is also recognised that landlords working in relatively deprived areas (as measured by the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004) tend to receive lower ratings from tenants than those who cover less deprived areas. As just 14% of Innisfree HA's tenants are older tenants and 53% of the Innisfree HA tenants live in the worst quartile of wards (a further 44% live in the second quartile of deprived wards) based on the Index of Multiple Derivation, tenant demographics and environment are likely to have a significant influence on satisfaction levels.

Area differences

Generally satisfaction did not vary greatly between the two subgroups chosen in the survey (Brent and Other Areas). Tenants in both areas awarded similar ratings for overall services, value for money, helpfulness of staff, ability of staff to solve problems, satisfaction with the final outcome of contact, overall repairs service, keeping tenants informed and opportunities for involvement. However there were noticeable differences elsewhere. More tenants in Brent were satisfied with their accommodation (5% higher), condition of the property (7% higher), the neighbourhood (8% higher) and the attitude of the repairs workers (6% higher). More Brent tenants also thought that account was taken of their views (5% higher). Tenants in the Other Areas however found it noticeably easier to get hold of staff compared with those in Brent (11% higher).

5. Comparison with previous survey

Over the past three years there have been some significant changes in tenant ratings of the overall services provided to Innisfree HA tenants. Encouragingly, satisfaction with some aspects of the service are higher than in 2003 - there has been a noticeable increase in satisfaction with some aspects of customer contact (ability of staff to solve problems (4% higher) and satisfaction with final outcome (5% higher)) and the repairs service (information given out (3% higher) and overall quality of the work (5% higher)). Satisfaction with the account taken of tenants views is higher (3%) and the neighbourhood is slightly more popular (4% higher).

In 2006 satisfaction with many key ratings are at similar high levels to 2003 – in particular for landlord overall, value for money, condition of the property and the overall repairs and maintenance service. Satisfaction has fallen slightly in some areas and the concern for Innisfree HA would be if these were to develop into a trend. Only three areas of decline were found in the survey – satisfaction with the accommodation (4% lower), ease of contacting staff (4% lower) and the attitude of repair workers (3% lower).

Having an Irish landlord

While in 2006 a similar percentage of tenants felt that is important to be a tenant of an Irish Housing Association (71%) compared with three years ago (72%), far more tenants now think that it is very important (57%) compared with three years ago (50%).

Developing new homes

The latest survey found slightly more tenant who thought the Association should continue to develop new housing for rent (86% compared to 84% in 2003).

Racial harassment

49 tenants said that they had experienced anti-Irish or any other racial harassment recently or in the past compared to 41 in 2003. While a similar percentage of tenants said that they had experienced harassment in their current home (39% - 41%), the percentage of tenants who experienced harassment in their local area has fallen considerably (27% compared with 46% three years ago). Disappointingly though, more tenants are now experiencing harassment in a completely different place (52% compared to 39% in 2003).

6. Comparison with other landlords

The results of key satisfaction questions in the Innisfree HA survey have been compared with those of eight other housing associations who have undertaken the STATUS survey in the last three years. The landlords in the comparative group were selected to match Innisfree HA as closely as possible – all small, black and minority ethnic housing associations operating in London.

When the results of the survey were compared with the other landlords that have used STATUS, Innisfree HA performed well with virtually all of the ratings higher than average in the group. Overall, the average ratings of landlords in the chosen comparative group were lower than the average found in the National Housing Federation's database of landlords who have used the STATUS survey.

Innisfree HA's performance was above average (5% to 18% higher) for satisfaction with the landlord overall, value for money, accommodation, condition of the property, ease of contacting the right person, helpfulness of staff, ability of staff to deal with problems, satisfaction after contacting their landlord, repairs and maintenance overall, information given about repair, time taken before the repair work started, speed of the repair contractors, quality of the repair, attitude shown by the repair contractors, ability of the repair contractors to minimise dirt and mess, keeping tenants informed, account taken of tenants' views and the opportunities for involvement.
No area of Innisfree HA's performance was average.
Innisfree HA's performance was below average (3% lower) for satisfaction with the neighbourhood.

7. Conclusion and recommendations

The results from the survey demonstrate convincingly that Innisfree HA's tenants believe that the Association is providing a good housing service. Tenants are particularly satisfied with their accommodation, condition of the property, helpfulness of staff, overall repairs service and individual aspects of the repair work and being kept informed. Generally, satisfaction remains just as high, or slightly higher, than in 2003. Innisfree HA tenants are more likely to be satisfied with the services they receive from their landlord compared with tenants at other similar social landlords, in fact some ratings were amongst the top three ratings in the peer group. The results are even more impressive taking into account that the Association has a young tenant population and operates in areas of high levels of deprivation. The majority of tenants think that it is important that their landlord is an Irish Housing Association.

It is clear that the majority of tenants are satisfied with their landlord and the overall services. There are still some areas and opportunities where performance and service delivery can be improved further and Innisfree HA should use the results of the survey to refine service enhancements further and promote the Association.