Survey of Tenants and Residents (STAR) 2021 results
Background
The national STAR survey, designed by Housemark, asks council tenants their opinion on council landlord services. Commissioned by the Council, an external company, ARP Research, interviewed a random sample of 1,000 tenants during November and December 2021.
Methodology
The survey was carried out by phone for the second time, enabling a better response rate to be achieved compared to previous postal surveys (ie 829 in 2016). The methodology also ensures the sample is representative of the age profile of tenants, as respondents to postal surveys tended to be older. The methodology was the same for the 2019 survey and so the results are directly comparable, although Housemark have introduced some new questions as shown in the table below.
Housemark note that there have generally been significant falls in overall satisfaction, where the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic have been felt across the social housing sector.
The table below provides the main results, trends and benchmarking data. Overall satisfaction with the Housing service decreased from 76% to 70%, however we can see that we compare well against benchmark authorities. The key themes from tenants’ comments were focusing investment on property improvements (55% of respondents) and neighbourhoods (19%), improving cleaning and security in communal areas, delivering new homes, and carrying out repairs more quickly (including catching up on outstanding repairs).
|
% of respondents satisfied |
Benchmark* |
||||
|
2019 |
2021 |
Trend |
|||
|
Service from Housing overall |
76% |
70% |
|
70% |
|
|
Overall quality of home |
71% |
71% |
|
70% |
|
|
Safety and security of home |
New |
80% |
n/a |
79% |
|
|
Last completed repair |
New |
76% |
n/a |
83% |
|
|
Rent provides value for money |
91% |
89% |
|
80% |
|
|
Easy to deal with |
New |
72% |
n/a |
67% |
|
|
Listens to and acts upon views |
67% |
59% |
|
58% |
|
|
Standard of customer service |
85% |
77% |
|
Not used by HouseMark |
|
|
Clean and safe communal areas |
New |
70% |
n/a |
||
|
*Comparison with 11 English councils recommended by HouseMark |
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In
tenants’ own words
Actions to improve performance
· Post-Covid recovery plan is in place to reduce repairs backlog
· Residents involved in ASB review, actions to be shared soon
· Better enquiries and complaints monitoring to improve response times, and Housing Customer Services resumes full phone service in June 2022
· Planned works such as kitchen and bathroom replacements resumed under new contracts in 2021/22
· Major works resuming under new contracts starting in 2022/23
· Increasing council homes – eg 90 delivered through buy-backs during 2021/22
· Converted a former housing office into 10 new temporary accommodation flats
· Installed 16 air source heat pumps which reduce CO2 emissions and lower energy bills
· Targeting fly-tipping hot-spots with new CCTV monitoring
· Assessing factors leading to lower satisfaction among tenants under 65
The full survey report is available on the council website via the following address:
https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/housing/council-housing/survey-tenants-and-residents-star