February 2007

Aquila, Cardiff Bay – Sales And Lettings Latest:

All One Bed Apartments Now Sold… A Few Superb Two Beds Remaining

Can You Afford To Miss Out?

You need to be quick if you like the idea of stylish apartment living in Cardiff Bay at an affordable price. At CCHA’s prestigious new development at Aquila (next to Celestia), the one bedroom apartments have now all been sold and the rentals are being snapped up. We’ve now only got a limited number of excellent 2 bedroom apartments for sale; and at £99,400* can you afford to miss out? Interested in finding out more? If so come along to the open day on the 7th February 2007 at Aquila.

* Price subject to final valuation.

Cardiff Community Providing Mainly 'GOOD' Housing Srvices
  
Auditor General releases Cardiff Community Housing Association inspection report
 
 After a wait of over a year, our Wales Audit Office Inspection report was finally published on 23rd January 2007.

Readers of this site, or CHAT, our tenants’ newsletter, will know that CCHA was the subject of an inspection by the WAO during two weeks in January 2006. The Inspection, which covered every aspect of our housing, maintenance and community development services, was completed on the 1st February 2006. 
  
On publishing the report, Jeremy Coleman, the Auditor General for Wales said:

“My report shows that overall Cardiff Community Housing Association is providing a good service to its tenants. And with continued development of the areas I have highlighted, such as routinely evaluating performance, the Association should be able to further improve the quality of its services. I have also identified a number of examples of good practice, which should be of interest and relevance to other public housing organisations in Wales.”
  
The Wales Audit Office’s press release noted that CCHA is providing mainly good services to its tenants, and is rated excellent in the provision of housing. It also says that the Association's approach to securing continuous improvement is raising the level of service delivery for tenants.

A summary of their Judgments is as follows:

• Clear Strategic Direction and Objectives: Yes
• Relationship with residents: Good
• Providing Housing: Excellent
• Rents and Arrears: Good
• Lettings: Satisfactory
• Housing Management: Good
• Maintaining Housing: Good
• Supported Housing: Good
• Equal Opportunities: Satisfactory
• Raising Standards: Yes

Good Practice Praised
 
The report includes examples of good practice at the Association, which can be applied across the Welsh housing sector. These include the Association's Cardiff Young Builders Project (in partnership with the Young Builders Trust) which provides young people with a training programme, self-contained housing with support and the opportunity to secure permanent employment and accommodation when they have completed the programme.

The Association has also worked with its residents to produce a “Welcome Home Pack” which provides attractive, user friendly information on how to get involved in the work of the Association. Other examples of good practice include the Association's approach to dealing with anti-social behaviour, their management of statutory servicing and involving their residents in developing the programme of work to achieve the Welsh Housing Quality Standard.

Room For Improvement
 
The report contains recommendations on areas for further development, including:

• Providing information and advice in an appropriate range of formats and languages and ensuring that all residents have the same opportunities to express their views through Association surveys
• Making it easier for residents to access and make use of the Association's service standards and customer pledge
• Evaluating the impact and effectiveness of the Association's debt prevention services and ensuring that existing tenants are kept aware of the availability of services
• Developing a robust system to ensure that vulnerable residents are identified
• Ensuring that the work of the Association is routinely evaluate

Our View
 
Responding to the report, CCHA said:

“We recognise the report as a fair and accurate representation of Cardiff Community Housing Association. It shows that CCHA has many commendable strengths and, in many ways, is a good landlord that respects its customers. We thank our Team at CCHA for all their hard work, our tenants who so willingly give their time for us, and our voluntary Board members. We are committed to improving and this report has, rightly, pointed out areas where we need to focus our attention. Prior to the Inspection we already had plans in place to address many of the issues highlighted by the Inspectors and we readily accepted the report’s recommendations. We have actually already completed several of the recommendations made by the Inspectors.”

 What Next?
 
The WAO require us to send a copy of the report-summary, produced by the WAO, to all tenants. We have already provided copies of the Summary to the members of our Tenant Representative Council and will send it to all tenants with Easter CHAT. If you prefer, the Report and Summary can be found by following this link: www.wao.gov.uk/housingassociations_1355.asp

We must agree an Action Plan with the WAO showing how we will meet implement the recommended improvements; we have submitted our Plan to the WAO and once it is agreed with them we will make a copy of the Plan available to all our tenants.

NEXT UPDATE: MARCH 2007