About Yorkshire Housing
Corporate Plan: 2009-2012
Yorkshire Housing has grown and diversified significantly over the last 10 years. In 2008 we amalgamated all of our charitable activity into a single legal entity, creating a solid platform for providing consistent services to all our customers. This Corporate Plan 2009 - 2012 focuses on achieving excellence in everything we do.
Our Corporate Objectives Are:
- To provide excellent customer service
- To provide great homes
- To support our tenants to make a positive difference to our services and their community
- To be an employer of choice
- To be an efficient business
We will achieve these objectives through a series of strategies and projects, shaping our services around what our customers tell us they want.
Background To Our Strategy
There are three drivers for this strategy. The first is a simple one - that our customers deserve top quality services. We are committed to working closely with our tenant and resident customers to achieve excellence. By delivering this strategy we will have a wider impact in the neighbourhoods where we work.
We aim to do more to support people and their communities and believe that, first and foremost, we have a responsibility to provide excellent core services.
The second is a sound business argument. By 2012, we should be in a better position to look for opportunities to grow. By delivering excellent homes and services at lower costs we will be in a strong position to provide more for people in Yorkshire.
Finally, the regulation of housing and support is changing. We welcome the clear focus on local performance and personal choice by the Tenant Services Authority and the Care Quality Commission. As a major provider we are responding positively to the new approach to drive up standards in housing and support.
In 2007 we were assessed by the Audit Commission as providing a fair (one star) housing service with promising prospects for improvement. The Inspection has helped us improve our service, and this Plan will take us forward to achieve consistency and excellence. As the largest Yorkshire based provider of affordable housing across the region, we believe we will be uniquely placed to support customers, communities and local authorities.
The coming years are likely to prove extremely challenging. The poor state of the economy, with falling housing prices, lack of access to credit and increasing unemployment, is likely to increase demand for our homes and put pressure on our customers.
We believe we will have a role to play alongside our local authority partners and the Homes and Communities Agency to support individuals and communities. This includes continuing to provide new homes for the growing number of people whose needs are not met through the market.
Our long term financial plan shows that we can afford to continue to develop at our current level, invest in our existing homes, improve services and maintain a break-even position. Our Plan includes a number of actions that will make us more efficient, to reduce costs, improve outcomes for customers and create resources for further investment in the future of Yorkshire.
Providing Our Services To Our Customers
| What we will do | How we will measure success |
|---|
| Step up a gear in customer involvement and responsiveness across all our activity |
Achieve top quartile customer satisfaction with participation |
| Be more visible in our neighbourhoods, improving cleanliness and safety |
Achieve top quartile customer satisfaction with the area they live in |
| Improve access to our services by establishing a customer service centre for all our affordable tenants |
80% of customers are dealt with satisfactorily at their first point of contact. 95% of customers are satisfied with the response they receive |
| By 2010 have a clear strategy (including targets) for delivering excellent services in our care and support activity, enabling older people and those with support needs to stay as independent as possible |
Average inspection ratings of "good" (or equivalent) by 2012, moving to "excellent" by 2015 |
MANAGING OUR HOMES
| What we will do | How we will measure success |
|---|
| Focus our asset management strategy (including our investment spend) on making our homes warm, modern and well maintained |
Meet the Decent Homes Standard for all our homes by 2010 and achieve 2nd quartile performance in energy efficiency by 2012 (top quartile by 2015) |
| Improve our repairs service by expanding our in-house teams to provide 90% of all repairs and maintenance by 2013 |
Achieve top quartile customer satisfaction at prices below the sector average |
| Build/buy 800 new affordable homes by 2012 in locations where we already have a strong presence |
Achieve 90% customer satisfaction and deliver on time and to budget |
MANAGING OUR Business
| What we will do | How we will measure success |
|---|
| Build our leadership capability and deliver a culture where all staff support our values and work towards our corporate objectives |
Achieve top quartile staff satisfaction |
| Be efficient and effective in our core housing management |
Achieve top quartile performance in arrears, voids and re-let times, with the cost of managing these services below average for the sector |
Realise the benefits of amalgamation including: - moving to a single brand;
- improving our IT systems;
- reviewing our offices;
- rationalising our homes where they are outside our core business areas; and
- implementing a consistent employee reward framework
|
Deliver overhead costs below average for the sector |
For More Information Contact:
If you have any questions or would like to know more about the Corporate Plan please contact Tansy Hepton, Director of Resources on 0113 200 3311 or email tansy.hepton@yorkshirehousing.co.uk