Social Housing Improvement Plan Consultation

Overview

UPDATE: THE CLOSING DATE OF THIS  CONSULTATION HAS BEEN EXTENDED.

What is Richmond's Social Housing Improvement Plan?

This plan sets out a clear vision and a road map for driving improvements to existing social housing, centred on putting the resident voice at the heart of decision-making, improving customer service and repairs and investing in building safer, stronger, thriving communities.

Richmond Council is not a stock-holding authority, so our principal role here is in bringing together our housing association partners and forging a new positive partnership with them committed to improving existing social housing. These partners are:

• Richmond Housing Partnership (RHP)
• Paragon Asra (PA) Housing
• Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH)
• London & Quadrant (L&Q)

Together, we have agreed this five-point plan, based on what residents have told us their priorities are. This consultation is another vital stage in the process for social housing residents to give us feedback. We want to ensure the plan captures accurately the concerns and priorities of residents in existing social housing, so please take a moment to complete the consultation below.

Why are you focusing on existing homes, what about the need for new homes?

Just as it is vitally important to build new homes, as existing homes get older investing in improving conditions is vital to drive better health, wellbeing and happiness for tenants, enabling them to live in safer and stronger communities, in sustainable homes that are safe and affordable to heat. Richmond Council wants to ensure that both things are treated with equal importance within the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.

Who is responsible for the investment set out in the Social Housing Improvement Plan (SHIP)?

Housing associations themselves will be directly responsible for investing in improvements to customer services, repairs, tackling disrepair and retrofitting for improved energy performance. The housing associations signed up to the SHIP have all committed to invest in improving these in the ways set out in the plan.

In addition, important priorities in the plan include putting the resident voice at the heart of decision-making, community safety and ensuring good condition of communal areas, streets, playgrounds and parks. We recognise that this is something that Richmond Council and housing provider partners have to work together to achieve in partnership and this plan will guide our commitments and joint investment to enable our work to do that.

The Social Housing Improvement Plan (SHIP) includes five commitments:

How will the Plan be monitored to ensure progress?  

The Council has brought together housing partners and residents to produce this plan and, as such, the Council will play a pivotal role in encouraging and monitoring progress against the priorities set out in the plan every year.

To do this, the Council will invite housing association partners to attend committee to discuss their performance, challenges and workstreams on an annual basis. They will be asked to set out what they are doing to take action on the commitments in Richmond’s five-point Social Housing Improvement Plan and what their progress has been.

To support the clarity of this reporting, the Council will produce a report benchmarking tenant satisfaction measures across the borough. To set these figures in a wider context, the report will also compare these figures to national averages. This is made possible due to changes in national housing regulations (please see below).

How does this plan fit with national housing regulations?

Following the tragic events of Grenfell and the death of Awaab Ishak, new regulatory measures are coming in from the Social Housing Regulator which will measure resident satisfaction across all registered social housing providers, with the intention of driving improved standards. This is further supported by a proposed set of new decent homes standards.

We want to ensure that our Richmond Social Housing Improvement Plan both supports the aims of national regulation and reaches beyond it, to encompass all the things we want to achieve locally. The Council wants to work together on a local level with residents and housing provider partners to develop a shared vision and a plan for investment, and provide a way to monitor progress, so residents can feed into what the priorities are and we can all see what the plans are and how they’re progressing over time.

How has the Social Housing Improvement Plan been developed?

The Council has produced the draft Social Housing Improvement Plan (SHIP) for Richmond Borough in partnership with the four largest housing associations in the borough, based on what residents have told us are their overriding concerns and priorities. These partners are RHP, PA Housing, MTVH and L&Q.

Whilst the Council does not own its own housing, we want to work with housing association partners to improve the lives and experiences of people living in social housing. We want homes in Richmond to be safe and well maintained and we want to ensure our residents’ voices are heard. In addition, the Council wants to work with housing associations to ensure that the aims of other important strategies such as the Climate Emergency Strategy are met, to tackle fuel poverty whilst driving sustainability. 

What is the purpose of this consultation?

We would like to hear from Richmond social housing residents, local groups and any other interested parties about our proposed plan.

We will use consultation feedback to further develop the Social Housing Improvement Plan and make changes where necessary. The Plan will be used to guide investment and strategic decision-making for the Council and its housing association partners.

Have your say

Please give us your feedback by clicking the Online Survey link below. If you need any help completing the survey or if you need a paper copy or a different format, please call 020 8871 8942 or email consultation@richmond.gov.uk

What happens next?

After the consultation period closes, we will consider all feedback received and make any necessary updates before the Social Housing Improvement Plan is published.