Annual Report 2014 / 15

People Places Homes

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SILVER

In 2014/15 York Housing Association has also undergone some importantchanges. The Board agreed to adopt a target of building at least 40 newhomes a year as our contribution to thenational housing shortage. That numbermay seem a drop in the ocean comparedto the estimates of 200,000+ neededannually, but we believe it’s important to continue to make our contribution to meeting housing needs.

So, this last year new Section 106developments for rent and sharedownership homes in both Whitby andNorton, will add to the 50+ homes we will be inheriting from Family HousingAssociation under a Transfer ofEngagements completing in September.Those important changes in the size andscope of YHA’s business have alsotriggered a process of internalrestructuring, so that our staff roles areentirely fit for our mission as an excellentlocal housing provider.

In order to continue to govern theorganisation effectively we recognise theneed to constantly refresh and renew theskills and experience of the Board. So, inSeptember 2014 we said many thanksand goodbye to Jolyon Harrison, whohad served with distinction for nine yearsas Chair of YHA, followed by Rick Elliott,Vice Chair, in May 2015 and RuthBrigham in September 2015 who alsoeach clocked up nine years as Boardmembers. I will also be announcing atAGM the successful recruitment of somenew Board members and Boardobservers who are exploring future Boardmembership. Given that being a YHABoard member is entirely unpaid, I amdelighted with the calibre and experienceof those we have recruited asreplacements.

As YHA continues on its journey ofgrowth, the demands on the time andexpertise of the Board can only increase.So, in July 2015 we undertook our firstever “Stress Testing” Board workshop,looking at the ability of our financial plansto survive the challenging environment in which we now operate - and we wereleft with some ‘food for thought’ about the future.

Twelve months ago was also a differentplace politically, with all the pollsterspredicting another period of coalitionGovernment after the General Election. In the event the Conservatives were ableto form the new majority administration.At the time of writing the sector is lookingcarefully at the implications of some ofthe new Government’s policies, includingrent reductions for the next 4 years,tenants’ Right to Buy their homes, andfurther reductions of £12 billion in thenational welfare bill including the effectson Housing Benefit.

Following another successful year ofdevelopment and growth in 2014/15 we now face even more challengingtimes ahead.

I would like to thank the Board and all ourstaff at YHA, very ably led by Julia Histonand her Executive Team, for their effortsover the past twelve months. 2014/15has been another successful year for usand I hope you find the contents of thisannual report interesting.

from the Chair Kevin McAleese CBE

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How quickly the past twelvemonths have gone!

Foreword

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Conversion of a long standing vacant property into 6 flats and communaland office space in Scarborough for homeless people with complex needs.

New Affordable Homes

We continue to play our part in meeting the demand for new homesfor a range of customers. During the year we developed a mix ofrented and shared ownership properties as follows:

13 new homes in Norton – 6 at affordable rents and 7 shared ownership.

3 new affordable rented homes and 4 shared ownership homes in Whitby (part of anongoing programme to provide a mix of affordable and shared ownership housing).

18 new homes completed in Elvington, York - 12 at affordable rents and 6 shared ownership

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Homes for BritainIn March 2015 YHA joined forces withother Housing Associations across theCountry to lobby all political parties aheadof the election about the need for morehomes to be built. The ‘Homes for Britain’campaign aimed to raise awarenessamongst the public and politicians of thehousing crisis the Country is facing, andparticularly the need for more affordablehomes.

YHA staff and tenants at Auden Househosted Yorkshire Coast Homes as theyhanded over the Homes for Britain baton.The baton was cycled, walked, and runfrom Northumberland to London to raiseawareness, and YHA was proud to playits part in travelling the distance from Yorkto Leeds alongside tenants and staff fromLeeds and Yorkshire Housing Association.

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Long Term Investment

Work on improving and updating tenants’homes continued throughout the yearand we;

Installed 17 new kitchens

Replaced windows to 34 properties

Provided 5 new bathrooms

Replaced 14 heating systems

Carried out structural and damp

proofing works to 5 properties

Installed new fire alarm and

emergency lighting to 4 properties

Fitted 77 smoke alarms

Re-roofed 1 property

Carried out electrical upgrades

to 3 properties

Carried out 38 periodical electrical

inspections

Provided aids and adaptations to

37 properties

Fitted 3 new external doors

Improving what we do

Not wanting to rest on our laurels, we are constantly in touch with tenants to gainfeedback on what we do and use this to improve services. During the year we;

Worked with the Tenant Scrutiny Panel

to review our gardening services and

put in place an action plan to improve

performance

Carried out a thorough review of our

complaints process, empowering all

staff to resolve issues before they

become major problems

Used our estate improvements budget

to re-locate communal bin stores that

were causing inconvenience for

tenants, spruced up courtyards and

communal areas, created new

pathways for better access to

properties, improved estate lighting to

increase safety and security and

provided additional external handrails.

Involved tenants in the procurement

of the new gas contract

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Auden Housecare extendedto 24 hours Residents in our Extra Care scheme atAuden House were delighted when ourdetailed planning with City of YorkCouncil came to fruition and 24 hour carewas introduced early in 2015. Knowingthat there is someone on site to respondto emergencies throughout the day ornight has provided not only our residentswith peace of mind but also their familiestoo. This also means that we are able tohouse people with higher care needs,reducing the pressure on residential care.

Customersatisfaction

Our most recent Tenant SatisfactionSurvey told us that 90% of tenants ingeneral needs housing are happy withYHA as their landlord and 87% of ourolder tenants felt the same way. We willshortly be surveying all our tenants againand will use the results to plan serviceimprovements over the coming year.

Complaints

During the year we received 13complaints. This is higher than previousyears and reflects the fact that we nolonger differentiate between formal andinformal complaints, instead using everyopportunity to record and learn from thistype of feedback. All complaints wereresolved internally, with none beingreferred to the Housing Ombudsman.

Performance During the year wehoused 205 households;

131 OlderPeople

571 Generalneeds; families,couples andsingles

243 SupportedHousing

27 Students 81 Homelesshouseholds/temporaryaccommodation

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52 generalneeds

73 homeless persons/temporaryaccommodation

29 students

24 supportedhousing

15 shelteredand extra care

11 sharedownership

1 rent to buy

Our Homes

YHA now owns 858 homes and managesa further 195 on behalf of other landlords.This brings the total number of homesowned and managed locally to 1053.

We provide homes to a diverse range of customers;

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We provide support services to over 300households. These services have;

Prevented 28 families from being

evicted

Helped 50 people through our

resettlement services to find

permanent accommodation

Assisted 116 vulnerable households

to remain living independently with

long term support

Secured £68,000 in backdated

benefits for customers

SupportServices

Arrears as at 31 March 2.27% l.86%

Rent and service charges collected 98.8% 101.07%

Voids 2.4% 1.57%

Bad debts 0.9% 0.65%

Evictions 2 0

2013/14 2014/15

Our averagerents wereRoom in shared house £62.34

Bedsit £62.53

One Bedroom £76.70

Two Bedroom £91.08

Three Bedroom £111.24

Performance

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Digital InclusionHelping tenants to prepare for the fullrollout of Universal Credit has been a keyfocus of our work this year. This hasincluded ensuring that more of ourtenants are able to get online and thatthey have the skills and confidence to beable to register for benefits and search forjobs. To this end we were fortunate toreceive a grant from City of York Council’sFinancial Inclusion Fund to employ DigitalInclusion Worker, Stuart Gray. To dateStuart has worked with 134 householdsindividually and in groups. Stuart alsoworks with customers who wish toimprove their financial situation by takingadvantage of the cheaper deals availableonline and those who wish to reducesocial isolation by keeping in touch withfamily and friends via email, Skype etc.

“I am so glad that someonelike Stuart is available. Hetakes his time andunderstand people’s needsand he makes you feelgood about what you canachieve on your own. If youneed any advice he is just aphone call or email away”.

“I think it is good becauseif you don’t understandstuff Stuart will go in tomore detail and shows youthe easy way to do it”

MaintenanceRepairs

Maintaining our properties to a goodstandard continues to be a priority. Ourtenants tell us that it’s the most importantthing to them and they value the repairsservice highly. We deliver the servicethrough a combination of directlyemployed Property Maintenance Workersand a range of local contractors.

97% complete on time

99% appointments kept

96% tenants satisfied

97% completed right first time

During 2014/15 our maintenanceservice carried out 2494 repairs

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Window replacement, Dove Street

New homes inWhitby

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Governance

During the year the longstanding BoardChair Jolyon Harrison retired after themaximum 9 years service, and handedover to new Board Chair Kevin McAleeseCBE. Kevin is an experienced Chair whoalready holds a number of Non ExecutiveDirector positions in the region. Two otherlong standing Board Members, RickElliott (Vice Chair) and Ruth Brigham, alsoreached their maximum 9 year terms inMay and Sept 2015 respectively, so wesaid our goodbyes to a lot of history andexperience on the Board over the lastyear.

However, we are delighted to haverecruited Alison Rusdale, CorporateServices Director at 19,000 home ALMOBernslei Homes to join the Board in July2015; and Janet Whipps existing BoardMember has stepped up to the role ofVice Chair. We are also welcoming someBoard observers exploring the possibilityof future Board membership. Whilstlosing established Board members isalways difficult, we welcome the newskills, experience and approach of newMembers and recognise that renewingGovernance enables the Association toremain fresh for the ever changingchallenges ahead.

Tenant Scrutiny

The Tenant Scrutiny Panel continues togo from strength to strength. They haverecruited a new independent tenantsadvisor to support their work, and a newtenant member during the last year. Thescrutiny panel reviews areas of theorganisations operations from a tenantperspective and makes recommendationsfor improvement directly to Board.

During the last year the panel hasreviewed our approach to gardening andgrounds maintenance, and is currentlyreviewing our approach to managingempty properties. This continues to be areally important aspect of ourGovernance of the organisation.

Partnerships

Partnership working remains a keystrategic objective for YHA. During2014/15 we began delivering housingmanagement and financial services toFamily Housing Association (York)Limited, and are delighted that they haveentrusted us to take on all their activitiesthrough a transfer of engagements due to complete by September 2015. We willstrive to continue their high levels ofservice to the customers of their 57homes.

YHA also continues to providedevelopment services to a couple ofother Housing Associations, Sadeh Lokand Hull Churches; and maintenanceservices to almost 400 homes forBroadacres.

During the year we have establishedpositive new partnerships withScarborough based Cambridge Centreand Yorkshire Coast Homes, over thedevelopment and running of NewburnHouse, featured on page 13.

Working in partnership with otherHousing Associations helps us to remainefficient, and brings perspective fromother organisations that enables us tocontinue to improve our own services.

Photos left to right: Jolyon Harrison, Rick Elliott, Ruth Brigham and Alison Rusdale

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Newburn House,Scarborough

Bootham Green, a recent FamilyHousing Associationdevelopment in York

Year to Year to31/03/2015 31/03/2014

£’000 £’000

Turnover 5,980 4,565

Cost of sales (597) -

Operating costs (4,113) (3,848)

Operating surplus 1,270 717

Other income - -

(Deficit) / Surplus on sale of fixed assets - housing properties - 20

Interest receivable and other income 23 11

Interest payable and similar charges (809) (664)

Surplus for the financial year 484 84

FinancialInformation

Income and Expenditure Account

York Housing Association is a not-for-profit organisation, and ourprimary objective is to provide homesand services to people in need. Weaim to ensure that we generatesufficient income to meet our ongoingoperating costs, to maintain all of ourproperties in good condition, and tocontribute to our reserves in order toreinvest in more of our activities.

York Housing Association iscommitted to setting rents andservice charges at affordable levelsand contract prices that offer valuefor money to service commissioners.

The following information is extractedfrom the financial statements of theAssociation which have been auditedby Beever and Struthers, CharteredAccountants and RegisteredAuditors, who gave an unqualifiedopinion. A full copy of the auditedaccounts is freely available from theChief Executive, Julia Histon.

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£’000 £’000

Fixed assets

Housing properties at cost less depreciation 48,940 45,186

Less: Social Housing and other grants (29,082) (27,232)

19,858 17,954

Other tangible fixed assets 1,328 1,377

21,186 19,331

Current assets

Housing properties held for sale 660 -

Stock 5 5

Debtors: amounts falling due within one year 361 446

Current asset investments 2,953 4,437

Cash at bank and short term deposits 729 708

4,708 5,596

Less Creditors:

Amounts falling due within one year (1,528) (1,644)

Net current assets 3,180 3,952

Total assets less current liabilities 24,366 23,283

Creditors:

Amounts falling due after more than one year 17,286 16,687

Capital and reserves

Revenue reserves 7,080 6,596

24,366 23,283

31/03/2015 31/03/2014

Balance Sheet

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2 Alpha Court, Monks Cross Drive, Huntington, York Y032 9WN T: 01904 636061 F: 01904 612623 E: info@yorkha.org.ukwww.yorkha.org.uk @york_ha

A Housing Association with Charitable Status Registered in England under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, Registration No. 16826R. Registered by the Housing Corporation under the Housing Act, 1974, Registration No L1019.

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