Reports highlights Perth & Kinross Council’s housing performance

Councillor Peter Barrett

Perth & Kinross Council is performing well against a number of housing service areas, a new report has highlighted.

A Six-Month Performance Summary presented to the council’s housing and communities committee, provided information on how housing & environment has performed between April and September 2018 against its agreed targets and aims.

The report outlines successes including:

  • The tenant satisfaction survey showed the highest level of tenant satisfaction for a Scottish local authority housing service this year.
  • The council’s new build programme continues to have a very positive impact in tackling both overcrowding and improving outcomes for families.
  • The multi-million pound capital investment programme has improved the quality of existing housing stock.
  • Through the Buyback Scheme 20 ex-council properties were purchased in areas of high housing demand.
  • Through the innovative Home First approach the council continued to reduce the number of days people spend in temporary accommodation to 74.4 days, well below the Scottish national average of 103.2.
  • In partnership with SSE the council was successful in bidding for funding from the Warm Homes Fund (£1.2m). This forms part of a total investment of over £2m to replace central heating systems.
  • The council assisted 74 households through its Personal Homeless Budgeting approach. This enables staff to respond quickly to people who are faced with a homeless or crisis situation.
  • It became only the second council to sign up to the Chartered Institute of Housing’s “Make a Stand Pledge” to support people experiencing domestic abuse.
  • The council completed a programme of improvement in two sheltered housing complexes at Strathmore Street and Carpenter Court.
  • The council developed a new tenant welcome pack which will support tenants to sustain their tenancy.
  • Its compliance with the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) in 2017/18 was 96.15% which compares favourably with the Scottish average of 94.2%.
  • The report also notes an increase of 9% in the time taken to complete non-emergency housing repairs to 9.37 days on average, although this has been in the face of a 12% increase in demand.

    Committee convener, Councillor Peter Barrett, said: “I welcome this six-month update on performance, which shows that broadly we continue to deliver high-quality service for our tenants and residents. We are always striving to improve our services, and that why it’s important that we review performance regularly.

    “A full annual report with detailed progress against all targets and actions within Housing and Environment Business Management Improvement Plan will be produced at the end of 2018/19.”

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