Annual Report

2015

WelcomeWELCOME to this year’s Annual Report for Shian Housing Association.

We had a busy and productive year in 2014-15, using the strengths of our people and our organisation to make a real difference in the boroughs we work in.

This year, our Annual Report is a calendar celebrating the areas we work in. We hope you enjoy it!

CEO/Chair’s reportDuring the year, we took the Makeda Weaver project for young ex-offenders back in house. We had hoped to give the project an independent future, but we found it still needed our support. We remain committed to this important area of work.

To improve our effectiveness and efficiency, we changed our staffing structure to put customer service first. We opted to bring in staff with backgrounds in customer service rather than housing. They are now making a real difference – helping us to take a more positive problem-solving approach to working with residents.

We also reviewed and streamlined our processes to speed up our decision-making. This included drawing up a new two-stage complaints procedure in consultation with the Ombudsman.

For the growing number of residents who have access to the internet, we launched ‘MyTenancy’. When you sign up for this service, you can now view your rent account

and repairs issues online. We also made more use of SMS texting – cutting our costs to provide better value for money, at the same time as reducing our impact on the environment. We will develop these services further over the coming year.

We shifted our focus even more strongly towards the community. Our aim is to get more residents involved and to strengthen the projects and volunteering opportunities we offer to the wider community.

In partnership with like-minded organisations including Arhag Housing Association, Westway Housing Association, Tamil Housing Association, Odu Dua Housing Association and Peter Bedford Housing Association, we carried out a joint tender and procurement process for gas servicing and repairs, as well as a joint stock condition survey. We will continue working with partners to help us get better value for money.

We reached some significant development milestones this year as members of the Sanctuary Consortium. We developed our first property for outright sale – a bungalow in Beauchamp Mews, Hackney – as well as our first shared ownership homes, at Joshua Court in Haringey.

We also completed phases seven and eight of our major repairs project – bringing the homes of existing residents up to higher standards.

Overall, we ended the year in a strong and healthy position. We know there are challenging times ahead, but we are fit for purpose and ready to meet them.

A homework club.

We run the Makeda Weaver Project: We help develop communities:

A room with support in one of our hostels or self contained flat.

Life skills training.

Assistance with move-on housing.

Building sustainable communities with residents.

Job search support.

Training and education programmes.

Respite for individuals escaping gang violence.

What we do

407

48

20

14

6

Permanent general needs homes let at social rents.

Flats let at intermediate and affordable rents (80% of market rent).

Self-contained flats for people who are mentally ill or former rough sleepers.

Hostel bed spaces.

Shared ownership flats.

We provide homes:

• Being open and honest• Community focus

• Delivering value• Accountability

• InnovationOur values

Where we operate

Hackney

Haringey

Islington

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His earliest memory: “Playing on the playground slide in Queensbridge Primary School

in Hackney, when I was about five. I loved that place!”

Idris Elba Actor/hip-hop soul musician

(The Wired, Luther)

January 2016

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Repairs to your homeWe added several new contractors to our list, to speed up the time it takes to finish your repairs. We also reviewed our repairs process to make it simpler and more effective. As a result, we succeeded in bringing the beginning-to-end time for the average repair down from four days to three – far quicker than our target times.

We took on an apprentice Customer Service Officer in November. Daniel Idowu takes your calls and chases up repairs. Daniel formerly worked at a mobile phone shop, where having customer care skills came first. His experience has been very helpful to us. Daniel will be with us for a year to start with.

Because we take our repairs responsibilities very seriously, we took our first tenant to court to get an injunction to access her home. The court awarded us £5,000 in costs. We originally wanted access to give her a new kitchen and bathroom – but we ended up sorting out other repairs that the tenant had failed to report.

Our performance on repairs

• We spent £175,372 on everyday repairs.

How quickly we did your repairs

Completed on target 2013-14

Completed on target 2014-15

Emergencies (within 24 hours)

93.8% 98%

Urgent (within five working days)

90% 93.5%

Routine (within 28 days)

98.5% 97.5%

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“I don’t like the way that Islington is stereotyped as a white, posh borough.

I know many people from different cultures and classes. We’re not the

only ones to be stereotyped. Camden is eccentric, Hackney is street. But

why do we have to live in the boring, posh one? … I think that ‘Islingtonites’

are exciting, interesting and fun.”

Keshia Harvey Pupil at Highbury Fields School, quoted in

Highbury & Islington Express

February 2016

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The homes we upgraded• We invested almost £1.5m in our existing homes,

carrying out planned major works and redecorations, and replacing items like kitchens, bathrooms and boilers.

• We completed phases seven and eight of our major repairs programme.

• We replaced 57 kitchens, 63 bathrooms and two showers. Around 60% of our stock now has new kitchens and bathrooms – putting us well above Decent Homes standards.

• We replaced 12 boilers as part of our normal repairs and more through our major repairs boiler replacement programme.

Next year, we will look into redeveloping our offices. We think we could make better use of the space if we revamped the ground floor for Shian Housing and created new homes in the upper floors.

“Dear Charline, Jada, Sam and everyone at Shian. Thank you for giving me the most beautiful kitchen and bathroom. I’m so happy, thank you!”

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“Tottenham is a beautiful place and it doesn’t matter where

you come from. If you believe in yourself, you can made it

happen.”

Chip (Formerly Chipmunk), rapper/songwriter,

who grew up in Haringey and went to Gladesmore School.

March 2016

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New homes, new tenantsWe built our first home for outright sale – a four bedroom bungalow at Beauchamp Mews off the Leabridge Road in Hackney.

We also built our first shared ownership homes, at Joshua Court in Haringey. The 29 flats included:

• 10 with one bedroom

• 12 with two bedrooms

• three with three bedrooms

• four with four bedrooms.

As well as providing homes for new groups in the community, these new homes will eventually raise surpluses that we can plough back into supporting our homes and services for social rented tenants.

We developed these homes as partners in the Sanctuary Consortium. We will develop a further 30 homes with Sanctuary using funding from the programme for 2015-18. The new homes will be for affordable rent, shared ownership and outright sale.

M TT FW S April 2016

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25 26 27 28 29 30 “I am, and always will be, proud to be a Hackney girl.”

Leona Lewis Singer/songwriter (Leona also has

Islington links, as she was born there)

Involving our tenantsThe Scrutiny PanelThe Scrutiny Panel is open to every resident of Shian Housing and we really value the contribution made by around eight residents who regularly attend. You are welcome to join them!

In the future, we hope to empower the Panel to be more independent and to run their own meetings.

Scrutiny Panel meetings are a chance to raise topics that are of concern to residents, but we also involve members when we review our policies. Several residents benefited from a course run by the tenant empowerment organisation, TPAS, two years ago to help them do that effectively.

The key policy we reviewed this year was complaints. Residents helped us to look at the new complaints procedure we drew up in consultation with the Ombudsman. The new process is much simpler – either our frontline staff resolve your complaint within five days, or you can appeal.

The Scrutiny Panel also took part in meetings with our contractors, chose Cable Manor Gardens for our tenant awayday and opted to take the children’s Christmas party to The Snow Queen on Ice at Alexandra Palace.

If you are interested in joining the Scrutiny Panel, please let us know. We can provide you with detailed information and the dates of the meetings, which take place every other month.

Tenants’ associations

We are keen to support tenants’ associations. Some of our tenants get involved in associations that bring together the residents of several landlords at their estate.

If you need admin support or advice on how to set up your own tenant group, call Minara Sultana on 020 8525 7659 or email msultana@shian.org.uk

M TT FW S May 2016

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Where he lives and why: “In Highbury, because I can walk

to the Arsenal stadium, and there are 87 restaurants between here and the Angel, apparently.”

Alan Davies Actor (Jonathan Creek)

Going digitalAs more of our residents get access to the internet, we are adding digital options to more of our services.

Last year, we introduced MyTenancy, so you can view your rent account online, update tenancy information and view repair issues.

We are making more use of SMS texting than ever before, because it cuts our costs and is better for the environment. In the next year, we plan to move from SMS to WhatsApp – we will keep you posted.

Our staff now have iPads, so that they can work away from their desks – for example, when making home visits.

Next year, we hope to introduce an email ticketing system. This means that if you email us your email will automatically get picked up and you will get a message confirming we have received it. The system will reroute your message to the right person and it will be numbered and tracked. We will be able to check how long we take to reply and make sure we handle your email effectively.

If you feel you lack digital skills, we may be able to help. See the reverse of the October page for more details.

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“Haringey is a great part of London to bring up kids as it’s very relaxed,

friendly and packed with families. The vast amount of green, open spaces

means there are lots of outdoor options to keep the kids exercised and happy, while the busy local high streets

make life that much easier for time-strapped parents.”

Emma & Kate Mumsnet local editors

Customer servicesCustomer service was a key priority for us last year. Restructuring our staff and streamlining our processes helped make us much more efficient.

We selected two new members of staff because they had customer service experience. Daniel Idowu joined us as an apprentice Customer Service Officer. Sam Bereket came to us from the leisure industry in May – to start with to provide maternity cover for a year.

Daniel and Sam’s experience is making a big difference. They have stopped us thinking of residents as ‘them and us’. Instead they focus on sorting out each tenant’s query or problem. They have shown this works better all round – for you and for us.

To keep staff up to date with the skills they need, we introduced in-house training bites lasting just 60 minutes each.

Complaints

• We received four formal complaints (compared to nine in the previous year).

• We resolved all of the complaints within our target times.

One resident was not satisfied with our response to their complaint about electrical boilers. They took us to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman found we had done nothing wrong, but we recognised the resident had given us useful feedback. As a result, we introduced annual checks on electrical boilers.

We took the opportunity, in consultation with the Ombudsman, to review our complaints procedure and make it a simple two-step process.

When we received lots of complaints from residents at Joshua Court because their lifts kept breaking down, we learned a valuable lesson. We saw that we lacked the skills in-house to manage lift maintenance. We have now brought in a specialist company – not just to oversee

Joshua Court, but all our properties with lifts. This is a service improvement across all our properties.

Lettings

We let 40 homes.

On average we re-let our general needs empty properties in 34 days in 2014-15 (compared to 55 days in 2013-14).

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“I came to Hackney in 2004. I loved it immediately and felt so

at home, so comfortable. It’s my favourite part of London. It

reminded me of a lot of different places I’ve been to. It’s a place

of its own, a reunion of the whole world in one area.”

Amira Kheir Singer from Sudan (Hackney Voices)

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Life in your communityMinara Sultana is helping us to focus more strongly on our community based work.

During 2014-15, we supported the tenant-led Victoria Community Association based at our new Kingshold Estate in Hackney. We also supported the homework club for primary-aged children living on the Ferry Lane Estate in Haringey, where our Reedham Close scheme is situated. The Homework club was provided by the Chandran Foundation.

Minara is helping residents and others in the community to take advantage of more voluntary opportunities. As well as making a difference locally, this is giving people useful skills for the future.

We launched a £50,000 estate improvement fund last year. We want estates to apply for funding and the Scrutiny Panel will check and approve applications.

Last year, we funded new lighting and fencing at Chatsworth Road. There are also planters on the way. Islington council chipped in to help us pay for safer new electric gates at Moreland Street.

In Nightingale Road, we improved the bin store and installed new lighting.

After surveying tenants about the cleaning and ground maintenance services at their estates, we decided to change the frequency of visits and schedule in an annual deep clean.

M TT FW SS August 2016

The Angel Islington is the third cheapest property on the

Monopoly board… Things have changed a bit since the game was launched in the 1930s!

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How we tackled anti-social behaviourDuring the year, we tackled six cases of anti-social behaviour.

Working in partnership with the police and the local authority, led to us getting a temporary injunction on a woman who assaulted a contractor. The police also told us about another case, but when we investigated, we found it had already been resolved.

We used Callcredit – a business that specialises in fraud checks – to vet new residents and carry out checks on residents we suspected of living fraudulently in our properly.

This year, we evicted six households for gaining a tenancy with us through fraud. They included one woman who had a number of properties she was renting out. She went to prison.

We have got much better at detecting fraud recently – partly thanks to training from Hackney’s Audit and Anti-Fraud Team. It means we are finally catching up with a backlog of residents who got housed by us after giving false information to councils – sometimes many years ago. In some cases, we had been suspicious about people for a long time, without having the necessary proof.

Although it takes us a long time to progress each case and the costs are high, we are determined to track down everyone who should not have a tenancy with us.

M TT FW SS September 2016

“Having been born and raised in Tottenham, I’ve always been proud

of being a Spurs supporter. Not only is the club a great club, it also brings good attention to Tottenham.

It inspires the locals and helps regenerate the area by the business

match days bring.”

Lemar [Obika] Singer/songwriter

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Away for the dayIn August 2014, we visited the wonderful gardens at Capel Manor in Enfield. It was a great day out for tenants and staff.

On 22 December, we were delighted when nearly 100 residents and staff came with us for our annual Christmas outing. This year, we went to see The Snow Queen on Ice at Alexandra Palace and it was great to see so many people enjoying themselves.

We would like to thank our contractors Dial 1st, OmniLedger, Andrew Christie Associates, Easy Parking Enforcement and Bright Light Innovation for contributing to the cost of the tickets and for making it possible for us to provide presents for the youngest family members.

“Thank you for the invite. Both my son and I had a great time. I am really appreciative that you took the time to organise this event for your tenants.”Miss C.H.

“My kids and I had a great time. Thank you to Shian H.A. Ltd.”Ms O.D.E.

“Hi, the event was amazing and one to remember. Our family and our children loved it. Thank you to Minara and the staff that were there to guide us, as it made it remarkable. Many thanks for the evening and we hope to do this again next Xmas.”Mr E.H.

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“Hackney gets a bit of a bad rap, but it’s the only place I’ve ever lived

that felt like a community. I know my neighbours.”

Sharon Horgan Comedian/actor/writer (Catastrophic)

Boosting your skillsSkills trainingDuring the year, we offered courses in our own Training Centre – in partnership with Hackney Council – to give you stronger skills, new qualifications and more opportunities.

Some residents worked towards City & Guilds qualifications in Community Development – learning about how to get people and organisations together for the benefit of their communities.

We offered City & Guilds courses designed to improve your employability – to improve your chances of getting a job, getting on in education, or living more independently.

We also offered City & Guilds Functional Skills courses in Maths and English, from levels 1 to 3.

Access to ITThis year, we are reviewing the way we use the computer room above our offices. We think it could be offering residents more – especially as access to the internet is increasingly important for anyone claiming benefits.

Makeda Weaver We brought Makeda Weaver, our project for young ex-offenders aged 18 to 25, back in house this year. We originally set up the project because we are a BME-led housing association concerned about the life chances of young people from the black and ethnic minority communities who are getting in trouble.

Over the year, we worked with 25 young people. Fifteen were referred by Southwark Council as SERVE cases (Southwark Emergency Rehousing Victims of Violent Enterprise), to stay at one of five Shian properties, usually for a period of 12 weeks. Ten young people were referred to our hostel for a six-month period.

Our aim is to give the young people respite away from gang life. We provide training in life skills, independent living, budgeting, and training and employment search. We also offer mentoring to reduce reoffending, gang activities and alcohol and drugs misuse.

After their stay with us, the young people are moved on by their mentor and council housing officer.

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“Many cultures, one community.”

The Selby Centre near White Hart Lane celebrates the world

at home in Haringey

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Supporting work experienceWe provided around a dozen schoolchildren and college students with a work placement last year.

Our work placements give real opportunities to sample working life. Rather than getting young people to make the tea, we give them someone to shadow and get them involved properly in our work.

Last year, some of our placement students answered the phones and wrote letters for us, while others went out to inspect repairs. One student with a talent for desktop publishing designed a leaflet for us. All the students took part in training sessions and we gave them full supervision.

We also offer year-long apprenticeships with Shian Housing. This year, our apprentice Customer Service Officer is Daniel Idowu.

“Working with Shian has been a great experience. It has helped me enhance my knowledge of working in the housing industry. I look forward to many more years at Shian.”Daniel Idowu is an apprentice in the Shian Repairs Team

M TT FW SS December 2016

“I’m leaving because the weather is too good. I hate London when

it’s not raining.”

Groucho Marx

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Giving you value for moneyOur value for money statementWe have a value for money statement that is aimed at our residents, stakeholders, Board members and staff. It sets out how we will provide an efficient service for all our customers.

The staff and Board of Shian Housing Association define value for money (VFM) as the relationship between quality, effectiveness, efficiency and economy. We judge VFM as high when there is a good balance between all four.

We regularly set out our past performance and future aspirations, so that we remain accountable to our residents, partners and regulator.

VFM work in 2014-15• We worked with five like-minded housing associations

to jointly procure a gas servicing contract, which will deliver improvements to our service.

• We used an energy broker to find better deals on the gas and electricity used in communal areas – and passed on the savings in your service charges.

• We communicated with you better and saved money on postage, by making better use of text messaging.

• We are now investing far more in our cost-effective programmes covering major works, redecorations and replacing kitchens, bathrooms and boilers – and spending less on doing routine repairs. By replacing ageing items before they fail, we expect fewer routine repair calls in future – and higher resident satisfaction.

• We continued to make sure that we are paying low rates of interest on our loans – below the sector average.

• We tackled sector-wide concerns about the possibility of growing rent losses by restructuring our staff to bring in rent arrears officers. As a result, our staff costs have reduced and our arrears losses have not risen markedly and are around the national average.

• We began working with other registered providers to explore jointly procuring human resources, legal services, IT services, training and utility costs.

This year, we want to use what we have learnt about saving money on energy to offer deals on energy to our residents.

How well we performedOur new business plan We recently launched our new business plan, setting ourselves the following strategic aims and targets.

• We are consolidating our organisation, at the same time as aiming to grow gradually, by adding around 10 new homes every year.

• We will continue to deliver services that are responsive to our customers and that provide good value for money.

• We will enhance our reputation as a breeding ground for innovation and good practice around community and housing plus projects.

• We aim to be seen as a partner and an employer of choice.

• We plan to meet and exceed the challenges posed by welfare reform, as well as any requirements brought in by law or our regulators.

• We will seek continuous improvement. • We will identify and secure funds from outside the

organisation, so that we can develop and launch projects to promote the wellbeing of the wider Shian family.

After reviewing our performance targets, we decided to link them more closely than ever to our business plan. We also decided to prioritise some key headline figures to present to the Board and our residents. We can supply more detailed figures on request.

Our key targets

2013-14 2014-15

Rent collected 101.97% 98.2%

Current rent arrears 3.1% 4.82%

Average rent increase 3.1% 3.7%

Rent losses from properties standing empty

0.39% 1.44%

Turnover per dwelling £6,803 £6,905

Maintenance cost per dwelling £2,300 £1,700

Board attendance 82.77% 86.36%

Balance sheet – 31 March 2015

Income and expenditure account – Year ended 31 March 2015

2015 2014£ £ £ £

Fixed assets Housing properties at cost less depreciation 49,040,883 48,369,263Social Housing grant (29,683,286) (29,683,286)

19,357,597 18,685,977Other fixed assets 885,717 913,841

20,243,314 19,599,818Current assetsProperties for sale - 615,207Debtors 389,460 505,430Cash at bank and in hand 1,005,469 658,048

1,394,929 1,778,685

Creditors: amounts falling due within one year (1,718,366) (1,118,508)

Net current (liabilities)/assets (323,437) 660,177

Total assets less current liabilities 19,919,877 20,259,995

Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year

15,796,531 16,910,386

Capital and reservesShare capital 12 12

Designated reserves - 999,315Revenue reserves 4,123,334 2,350,282

4,123,346 3,349,609

19,919,877 20,259,995

2015 2014£ £

Turnover 4,845,558 3,253,899Cost of sales (1,071,453) -Operating costs (2,409,471) (2,345,318)

Operating surplus 1,364,634 908,581Interest receivable 31,751 30,833Interest payable and similar charges (574,830) (505,201)Surplus on disposal of fixed assets - 26,435

Surplus on ordinary activities before taxation 821,555 460,648Taxation (47,818) -

Surplus for the year 773,737 460,648

The board of managementAaron Whitaker Chairman

Aaron has been self-employed since 1991 and is currently Managing Director of an international software company called AgentFile Ltd.

Bolade Odewale Treasurer

Bolade is retired. She previously worked as a Team Leader in a local authority housing needs department. She holds ACIB (Banking) and MBA (Finance) qualifications.

Vernon Clarke

Vernon is retired. He was previously a principal policy officer working in tenant participation. He has an LLB(Hons) qualification and is also the author of Getting Black Tenants Back. Vernon’s work focuses on tenants’ rights and housing management.

Terry Rocque Vice Chair

Terry is a Director with a management consulting organisation. He holds an MBA (Marketing) and a BA in Computing. Terry has previously worked as a housing manager for a local authority and as a director for a Registered Provider.

Lexanna Anderson

Lexanna has a number of years’ experience within the housing sector and currently works in the income management department of a large mainstream housing association.

Anton Kumar

Anton is a civil/structural engineer. He holds an MSc (Structures) in structural engineering and a BE(Civil) degree. He is a Chartered Engineer (CEng) and a member of the Institute of Civil Engineering (MICE) and the Association for Project Management (MAPM).

Dr Bola Odepidan

Bola is Training Director with Housing Advocacy, which is an international regeneration, renewal and training organisation.

Leslie Laniyan Executive Board Member

Leslie has been the Managing Director of Shian Housing Association since 1989. He is one of the most experienced chief executives of a black and minority ethnic housing association.

Vera Tama

Vera worked for a local authority in different capacities, including Race Relations Supervisor, Housing Estate Manager, Homelessness/Housing Needs Officer and Housing Advisor. Vera holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Housing Studies from South Bank University.

Indran Thavendra Executive Board Member

Indran has been Shian’s Finance Director since 1982 and is a qualified Accountant (CIMA). He is the Treasurer of Tamil Community Housing Association and has been on its Board since 2005. Indran is also a Board member of Apna Ghar Housing Association. He is a general Council member for SCOT – a national charity for the Tamil Community.