HOUSING ASSOCIATIONrebuilding communities

2 0 0 8 / 2 0 0 9

ANNUAL REPORT

The year 2008/2009 sees my second full year as Chairperson of the Association. A lot has been happening, in our world here at Thenew, in the housing environment in which we operate and of course in the economy, as we find ourselves in the middle of a global recession. All I can do here in the space allowed is to touch on a few of the key and memorable highlights.

On the physical side of things, for the first time in many years we have not completed any new housing developments. This is purely coincidence and has nothing to do with the recession. We are currently on site building 24 new houses in Ruby Street in Bridgeton. This £3.8 million development will be complete by the spring of 2010. The photograph top left shows our ‘site start’ at Ruby Street in March 2009. I am accompanied by our three Elected Members George Redmond, Ruth Simpson & Alison Thewliss, and fellow Committee Members Charlotte Levy and Anne Scott.

Our 24 unit, £3.6 million ‘shared equity’ development at Park Court in Carmyle, was almost complete by the year end, and although sales of these modern flats started slowly, they certainly picked up towards the end of the year. Other developments in the pipeline include London Road and Monteith Place in Calton, Dunn Street in Bridgeton and Elmbank House in the west of the city.

Building new homes and replacing old, damp and poorly designed and insulated properties will always be important to us. What will always remain equally as important is maintaining all the propeties we own. We have been very pleased with the quantity and quality of what we have achieved this year. We have spent nearly £1.1m replacing 168 sets of windows and 162 central heating systems. Alongside things like roof anchor maintenance, gas safety and fire alarm systems, door entry controls, painter work and gutter cleaning, this shows that we take the maintenance side of things very seriously. Our reactive maintenance contractor is Carillion PME, and once again we have achieved more than our expectations on this side of the business. We carried out more than 11,000 repairs

con

tents

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6

7

8

9

12

14

facts & figures

development

wider role

allocations & supported

accomodation

around our communities

finance

our people, our future

Ch

ai

r’ s

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to our tenants’ homes; overall 98% were completed on time. For the fourth year running we have driven down the average unit cost of each repair. The figure is now less than £112 per repair, and the graph below shows the downward trend over the years.

backdated awards, £129,000 of additional disposable income was created. That is, on average, a massive £1,455 per case.

The state of the wider economy is certainly reflected in the proposals from the Scottish Government to water down its unpopular plans to give housing grant to a handful of lead developers. Ministers proposed last year to put most of the Government’s £644 million housing investment cash in the hands of a select group of associations, each acting as lead developer for several local authority areas. The Government suggested splitting the country into five investment regions for this purpose, but ministers have now said they will not impose a regional investment structure. They have also decided against imposing competition on the sector by requiring landlords to propose themselves as lead developers to build homes for others. Instead, the Government will focus on how they can incentivise organisations to form development consortia to build 35,000 homes a year by 2015. The Government is now drawing up the standards which Thenew and all housing associations will have to meet to qualify for development funding. Three year budgets will be awarded to associations and coalitions.

There are many success stories throughout this annual report. In addition to those that I have touched on here, there are in-depth stories, news and features that support all the work and achievements of the year, including the Care Commission and the Scottish Housing Regulator’s inspections, our new Allocations policy, our Financial Inclusion Service and all the work of our Area Teams. None of this would be possible without the hard

work of all our staff and the support and direction offered by all the Management Committee members. I would like to thank each and every one of them. Pages 14 and 15 of this report mention all of them by name. The picture on the previous page shows me being presented with a Scottish Qualifications Award in Governance in February 2009. The story behind this is also covered on the same pages. I very much hope that the whole annual report will prove to be a genuinely interesting and enjoyable read.

Finally, as an Association, we are now into our 30th year. Thirty years of rebuilding communities. We do, and always will have growth aspirations, but we see these growing and developing deeper roots into all of our communities. We see ourselves as not just building and maintaining bricks and mortar – but helping to deliver the aspirations, hopes and dreams of all our communities. We see ourselves as the social glue that keeps our communities together.

Yvonne McShea

£160.00

£140.00

£120.00

£100.00

£80.00

£60.00

£40.00

£20.00

£0.002006

(7,167repairs)

Average costs of each repair

2007(8,820

repairs)

2008(11,086repairs)

£153.69 £150.78 £113.51

2009(11,025repairs)

£111.88

The wider economy is a big factor for us as we always try to keep affordability, viability and comparability in balance and we were very pleased at the end of the year to be able to agree very low rent increases. Our 1.9% certainly compared very favourably with rent increases elsewhere - which averaged 3.3% throughout the housing association sector. Our Financial Inclusion Service goes from strength to strength. Last year, on average, between additional new benefits and

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which we re-let a house is important to us, because on average, for each week a house is empty, we lose nearly £60 of rental income. On average it takes us 31 days in between tenancies. At any one time, there are always more than a thousand people waiting on our housing list. The graph below left shows the picture over the past five years and shows that we could never have enough houses to satisfy demand.

Key to our success here is re-letting our empty houses quickly. We let 1 in 4 within two weeks and 2 out of 3 within four weeks.

The number of our tenants that rely on Housing Benefit to pay their rent is substantial and a consistently high proportion of our customers, at 73%. Our overall rent arrears figure for the year stood at £560,000, (down from £607,000 last year).

Fa

ct

s

&

Fi

gu

re

s

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%2009

Other Referrals

Section 5 Referrals

Waiting List

Existing Tenants

1%

28%

52%

19%

1,800

1,600

1,400

1,200

1,000

800

600

400

200

0

1,289

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

821

1,084

1,255

1,604

10%

8%

6%

4%

2%

0%2008

(£607,350)

3.6%

0.8%

3.2%

2009(£559,957)

3.2%

0.7%

2.6%

Non-technical

Housing Benefit

Former Tenants

That was the year that was – our last

year in facts and figures.

Our financial year runs from April to

March, and this section shows what

we achieved in the past year to 31st

March 2009.

Managing our houses

At the year-end we owned and managed nearly 3,250 properties, over a variety of locations, with the majority being in the east end of Glasgow. We are pleased with our overall performance over the past 12 months, but in a couple of instances, could not match the previous year. However, we have a culture of continuous improvement, so we never rest on our laurels.

In the 12 months, we let 182 properties. For the first time in many years, we did not complete any new housing, but our progress with new developments for the future is highlighted elsewhere in this report. The graph left shows how those people came to us. Two factors are important this year; the number of our existing tenants that we re-housed is double the previous year; the number of ‘homeless’ referrals at 27% is significantly greater than last year’s 16%. The speed at

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figures takes into account either planned or cyclical maintenance or any of our development projects. In financial terms we spent the following maintaining, improving and developing our properties.

�������������

��������������

������������

48%41%

11%

Completedwithin time

98%

98%

96%

100%

98%

Category of repair

Emergency

Urgent

Routine

Repair byAppointment

Overall

Response time

2 hours

3 working days

15 working days

Within 2-hourslot

12,000

10,000

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

02009 (212 every week)

2,553

2,883

2,439

3,150

Emergency

Urgent

Routine

Appointment

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

Emergency Urgent Routine Appointment2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

97%98%96%

91%

96%93%

96% 97%100%98%

88%90%

98%

90%94% 92%93%

98%

Reactive Repairs

Planned & Cyclical Maintenance

Development Expenditure

£1,233,531

£987,515

£3,457,000

This is made up of former tenant arrears, (£276,000), current tenants’ arrears, (£226,000) and arrears that occur because of payments still to be made by Housing Benefit, (£58,000). In percentage terms, (the percent of arrears measured against our total rental income), this is 6.5%, and the graph on page 4 shows the make-up and year-on-year improvements that we have achieved.

Maintaining our properties

Over 11,000 reactive repairs were completed, which averages 212 every week. We aim to complete all of these within set times, and our performance is shown on the rest of this page. We are particularly pleased with our reactive repairs performance over the years, because we have been getting gradually better, as we strive to be more responsive to all our tenants across all categories of repair. We have been really pleased again, with our ‘repairs-by-appointment’ service which is proving to be very popular. None of these

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pm

en

t

This year saw the site start of our first new build project in Bridgeton.

The two sites, at Ruby Street / Baltic Street and Albany Street were purchased from the Council and work started on site in February 2009.

The two sites will accommodate 24 units including 1 wheelchair unit and will provide a mix of 2, 3 and 4 bedroomed two storey houses.

In March 2009 the Association also received grant offers to allow the development at Green Street / London Road to progress. This exciting development will provide a mixture of flatted accommodation, new family houses and new offices for the Association. Included within the development is a new facility for the Aberlour Child Care Trust which will provide 12 flats with ancillary accommodation to replace the existing facilities, one in Castlemilk and one in the West End, which are no longer suitable.

An Open Afternoon in February attracted over 70 residents to see the proposed plans submitted for Planning Permission.

In the West of the City the proposed development for Crossreach ‘Rainbow House’ received an offer of funding which would allow for the provision of a new 17 bedspace hostel to replace an existing facility.

The Association’s first 100% New Style Shared Equity Housing in Carmyle Avenue went on site during the year.

This development providing 24 flats in a mixture of 2 and 3 bedrooms is being marketed as part of the Government’s ‘New Style Shared Equity Scheme’ where buyers can purchase between 60 – 80% of the property with the remaining equity being held by Scottish Ministers.

The Association’s major repair programme continues to work towards bringing all our properties up to the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS).

This year has seen the start of a major programme of window renewals as well as continuing investment in central heating renewal.

Our new style 3 star gas servicing contract along with the yearly gas service visit has been successfully introduced.

Our cyclical programme of painterwork continued with investment in all areas except Baillieston, with gutter cleaning in Bridgeton, Dalmarnock, Castlemilk and Cranhill.

Routine work associated with landscaped areas and backcourts continued throughout the year.

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Wi

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Ro

le

Our Financial Inclusion service was developed only two years ago in 2007, and demand for advice has continued to grow. Originally the post was grant funded but following consultation with our tenants in June 2008, and the success of the project, we agreed to make this post a permanent one. Willie Sinclair continued to advise tenants on welfare rights and assisted tenants to access increased benefits of over £250,000 in the two years. As expected, due to the current economic climate, more and more of our tenants are facing increasing levels of debt, and to date Willie has helped local people deal with over £500,000 of debt.

We have been pleased to take part in the development of a new qualification in Housing and Community work. This new bespoke qualification is the first of its kind in Scotland. The course was based on the existing HNC: Working with Communities, and incorporated the Professional Development Award (PDA) in Housing Law Advice. From September 2008, Meg Browne from Calton was on placement two days per week with us at our Bridgeton office, and completed her HNC successfully.

We continue to develop a wide range of projects, covering all ages - from our Silver Surfers to young people. We work in partnership with many organisations, for example, in June 2008 we appointed Urban Fox to develop services for young people in the Holmbyre & Netherholm area.

We provide staff time and expertise to other organisations also – staff sit on the Board of Directors

for projects such as Bridgeton Community Learning Campus and Cranhill Community Project .

Finally, we provide grants to local organisations who wish to undertake a range of social and community events and projects themselves. While these are too many to mention individually they have included bus trips, youth projects events, gala days, dance group competitions and community football sponsorship.

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Scottish Housing RegulatorIn February we participated, along with five other Housing Associations and Glasgow City Council, in an inspection to measure our performance in delivering our homeless services. The inspection was undertaken by the Scottish Housing Regulator and focused on three main themes – how we assist Glasgow City Council; our processes for helping tenants to make a success of their tenancy; and how we deal with preventing homelessness. While we await the final report, initial indications suggest that we are performing well and are providing a good service in this area. The inspection provided us with a useful opportunity to review our processes and develop our performance to ensure that we continue to make a meaningful contribution to the homeless provision in the city.

Review of How We Allocate Our HousesThe summer months saw us beginning our consultation over our new Allocations Policy. We started with a series of workshops at our Community Conference in June and during July and August we carried out a survey of our applicants along with consultation events in our office. This culminated in our new policy being approved by our Management Committee in November and implemented in April 2009.

Supported Housing Partnership AgreementFollowing a period of discussion, we entered into a lease agreement with Glasgow City Council in February to take over the tenancy management and maintenance responsibilities for four properties in Glasgow.

The ten residents are provided with packages of support provided by three care agencies - Choices Care, Real Life Options and Key Housing Association who are approved and commissioned by the Council.

We were delighted to be part of this new partnership agreement with the Council to add to our existing supported housing services. Managed from our Head Office, we own or manage 28 properties, housing approximately 200 residents which meet the needs of a range of client groups including residents, with a learning or physical disability, those who are young, single and homeless or homeless adults with addiction issues.

Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour

2008/09 saw our first year of our investment in services for Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour with Glasgow Community Safety Services (GCSS). This has proved to be an extremely successful partnership. For many years we, like other landlords, lacked the resources and means to effectively tackle anti-social behaviour in our communities. With the assistance of GCSS (and Strathclyde Police) we have now taken effective action to resolve or significantly reduce the impact of some long standing anti-social behaviour in our communities.

Housing M

anagement

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GCSS provided two Community Safety Patrol officers for the Calton area. These two officers patrol the local area regularly, taking notice of any anti-social behaviour and issuing fixed penalties for offences such as dog fouling.

Calton Area Association The Area Association’s AGM was held on 27th November 2008 at Thenew Housing Association’s Offices in Green Street. A new committee was elected and Betty Cosgrove took over as chair as Betty McAllister, decided to step down due to ill health. Betty McAllister, who had worked for many years to improve the Calton area, sadly passed away in May 2009.

Calton Issues Working GroupDuring the year a working group was set up to discuss Calton issues around the Bain Street area. This group was made up of local residents and Councillors. As a result, the area at Bain Street Square has been improved and many of the other issues have been highlighted to the Police and Glasgow Community Safety Services.

Local eventsGarden Competition. Congratulations to the Garden Competition winners, who braved the wet weather and produced beautiful gardens that are a credit to them and the area they live in.

Friends of the Weavers gathered groups of school children from St James Primary School along with Glasgow City Council in a clear up of the Abercromby

CALTON

Community SafetyDuring the year, we highlighted to the Community Police Officers & Glasgow Community Safety Services (GCSS) that there were issues of anti-social behaviour in the Saltmarket area.As a result, action was taken in the area to address graffiti and problems associated with drinking.

Working with GCSS, we targeted the local youths who were involved in gang fighting in Glasgow Green. Most of them were taken to Court and issued with daily curfews that meant they were confined to their homes between certain times of the day and night.

Street Cemetery. The children learned about local history and enjoyed a fun quiz before donning protective clothing and their grab sticks and getting to work.

St Luke’s Dance Group continues to go from strength to strength. The Wednesday night dance group competed and won several awards in Blackpool.

Youth Activities in Calton. GCSS ran some activities including mobile football and street dance. Despite the problems in finding a suitable fixed venue these activities were well attended showing the desire in the area to find things for local kids to do.

CRANHILL

With the introduction of the GCSS service we have seen a marked increase in the reporting of anti-social behaviour. Working with GCSS, we have dealt with a number of cases and have issued a number of Acceptable Behaviour Contracts and Unacceptable Behaviour Notices. At the time of writing, legal

9

action, in the form of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, is being considered for two families in the Cranhill area. In addition to this, further measures have been put in place to exclude perpetrators of anti-social behaviour from Thenew/Cranhill Area Association organised trips.

We are pleased to note a marked reduction in our rent arrears this year. While we will take the strongest action against those who ‘can pay but won’t pay’ we are keen to assist those facing difficulty in paying their rent and are pleased that so many of our tenants make use of our Financial Inclusion service.

Work has started on a joint Estate Action Plan which involves representatives from the community, the Council, the Police and Councillors Docherty and Dunn to tackle common issues of graffiti, dog fouling, open spaces/disused buildings and common landscaping.

On a lighter note, last year’s Cranhill Fun Day proved to be a great event. The sun, as will now be expected every year, was shining and the activities organised for

the day were a big hit with the 800+ who attended the event. Thanks to all who participated and contributed to this much looked forward to annual event. The Water Tower was lit again this year. Local dignitaries attended this well publicised event which saw youngsters from the local primary schools switching on the lights after nine years of them being out of commission.

BlackhillAs with our other areas our priority has been to reduce rent arrears and with this in mind the Money Advice Project was extended to March 2009. At the year end though, the continuation of this service is doubtful.

Staff continued to meet with Molendinar Community Council on a monthly basis, and jointly, have

successfully campaigned to see the introduction of the ‘Operation Reclaim’ project in place around the City, which provides supervised activities for all ages in the evenings.

BailliestonWith only 19 properties

left in our ownership, there is very little activity in this area other than our core housing management functions. It should be noted that if the remaining tenants living there are interested in setting up a tenant’s group, staff would be more than happy to facilitate this.

Around our Communities cont’d

BRIDGeTON & DALMARNOCk

In Dalmarnock work began on the eagerly anticipated National Indoor Sports Arena (NISA) and Velodrome with the erection of the boundary fence on Springfield Rd. The outcome of the planning application is eagerly awaited.

NISA will be a world-class project providing not only a venue for some of the events at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, but also superb community sports facilities and a lasting legacy for Dalmarnock.

The impact of the imminent East End Regeneration Route also began to take effect in the area. Work commenced on the removal of the redundant under bridge that once carried the Switchback line on Dalmarnock Road.

All of this work is the beginning of significant improvements which will change the face of Dalmarnock forever.

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Bridgeton Cross, one of Glasgow’s most famous and historic landmarks is set to undergo massive change in 2009, thanks to a £1m plus investment from Clyde Gateway.

Both Thenew staff and local residents have been working closely with the Clyde Gateway team and are involved in a project group which is working on an investment strategy for anticipated Bridgeton Cross improvements.

The main focus of the Cross – the shelter and clock, more commonly referred to as the Umbrella – will remain firmly in place, but the road layout, streetscape and lighting that surrounds it will all be transformed.

Yet again successful Gala Days were held in both communities with activities for all ages to enjoy.

ab-seiling, canoeing and even archery, were arranged for the young people during all periods of the school holidays – The young ones loved it . . . long may it continue!

Castlemilk Gala DayThe annual Castlemilk Family Fun Day took place at the end of May, and boy what a scorcher!

Not only did the sun shine on the people of Castlemilk . . . they had a ball !

Representatives from both our community groups, assisted staff in ensuring that everyone had a great day – looking forward to next year’s already!

Christmas CompetitionCongratulations to Emma Baranyovits (age 8) and Connor McBride (age 13) who were the winners of our Christmas competition.

Panto TripIn January, after the buzz of the Christmas period, Committee members and tenants from both Netherholm Area Association and Holmbyre LHO, enjoyed a great evening out at the Kings Theatre . . . where they laughed their ‘ruby red socks’ off with ‘The Wizard of Never Was’ !!

CASTLeMILk

During 2008 the Castlemilk Team were involved in a variety of activities, in and around the Netherholm and Holmbyre areas.

Community SafetyThroughout the year staff regularly meet with Netherholm Area Association to report on all housing management issues in the area. They discuss not only the actual performance of the area team but look at issues affecting the area in general, such as crime and youth disorder.

Because of this, and our close working relationship with GCSS, the local area was given a higher focus from all agencies (Police, Environmental Officers, Fire Brigade, Youth Workers) and was in fact designated as an ‘action area’ for a period of six months.

This resulted in a number of youths being identified for anti-social behaviour. Some of them, with their parents/guardians, engaged further with agencies in order to address their behaviour.

CCTV was also brought into the area temporarily and Environmental Enforcement Officers issued fines for fly-tipping and dog fouling. Though this was a ‘time restricted’ plan, it has enabled us to forge strong links and to continue to work closely with the agencies involved.

Urban FoxThis year’s youth diversionary work was provided by Urban Fox. Many activities, including rock climbing,

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Fina

nce The Association’s Accounts for the

year ended 31 March 2009 show a

surplus in the year of £1.64m.

Total income generated in the year inclusive of development allowance income totalled £9.35m. Of this, £2.21m was spent on maintaining the housing stock. An additional £1.05m of expenditure on major repairs was also capitalised in the year.

The Association’s reserves remain strong at over £9m with cashflow remaining healthy at £3m of cash in bank.

Capital investment in our housing properties totalled over £83m at March 2009, of which £57.3m has been funded by way of grant from funding bodies, with the balance funded from private finance and own resources.

Rent & Service Charges (net of voids) £8.404m (89.8%)

Shared Equity House Sales £0.187m (2.0%)

Gain on Sale of Other Houses £0.123m (1.3%)

Other Income £0.120m (1.3%)

Bank Interest Received £0.149m (1.6%)

Wider Role Grant £0.020m (0.2%)

Supporting People Grant £0.099m (1.1%)

Development Allowance Income £0.205m (2.2%)

Factoring Income £0.047m (0.5%)

Staff Costs £2.222m (28.8%)

Repairs £2.214m (28.7%)

Cost of Shared Equity House Sales £0.187m (2.4%)

Loan Interest Paid £1.034m (13.4%)

Depreciation on Housing Properties £0.718m (9.3%)

Office & Corporate Overhead Costs £0.567m (7.4%)

Service Costs £0.332m (4.3%)

Other Estate Costs £0.292m (3.8%)

Other Costs £0.145m (1.9%)

INCOMe: (Total: £9.35m)

eXPeNDITURe: (Total: £7.71m)

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TANGIBLe FIXeD ASSeTSHousing Properties – Gross Cost (cost to build & buy the houses, flats & hostels less depreciation)

Less: Social Housing Grant/Other Grants (grants received from Communities Scotland/Other bodies towards building costs)

Other Fixed Assets/Investments (value of the office premises, computer equipment, furnishings and share capital held in subsidiary)

CURReNT ASSeTSDebtors (sums owed to the Association)Cash in Bank and on Hand (surplus funds held in bank accounts)

CREDITORS(sums owed by the Association)Amounts falling due within one year Creditors – Other Development Overdrafts

NeT CURReNT ASSeTS(current assets exceed current liabilities by this amount)

TOTAL ASSeTS LeSS CURReNT LIABILITIeS

CReDITORS DUe AFTeR ONe YeAR(loans outstanding on housing stock & offices)

PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIeS AND CHARGeS (other Liabilities)

NeT ASSeTS

CAPITAL AND ReSeRVeS

Share Capital

Designated Reserves (set aside to fund future planned maintenance)

Revenue Reserves (surplus generated from the Association’s operations)

Negative Goodwill (arising on acquisition)

31.3.09£m

83.86

57.29

26.57

0.68

27.25

3.373.076.44

3.440.003.44

3.00

30.25

(20.14)

(0.70)

9.41

0.01

7.01

0.87

1.52

9.41

31.3.08£m

81.62

55.56

26.06

0.47

26.53

1.102.823.92

2.803.716.51

(2.59)

23.94

(15.42)

(0.75)

7.77

0.01

5.58

0.66

1.52

7.77

Balance Sheet for the Year ended 31 March 2009

13

Across the organisation, we employ 62 staff.

Our employee costs are 25% of turnover which

equates to 36% of our total expenditure. Total

staff turnover was low at just 6%, and days

lost through sickness absence were also low

at 3.6%. This is the third year running that we

have seen this reduction, as the graph bottom

left shows:-

Staff who left during the year were, Andrew Paterson, Thomas McAuley and Barbara Cunningham, and Isabella Wiseman, Carol Lingard and Claire McClymont, joined the organisation. Sheree Greenhorn made the transition from being one of our Modern Apprentices, to our full-time Receptionist in our Green Street office. Meg Browne started with us as HNC Youth Work Student. Iona Taylor and Marie Clare Rafferty were both successful in becoming our Technical and Development Managers respectively. The year also saw us participate in the Government’s ‘Cycle to Work’ initiative.

Our Management Committee, is made up entirely of people volunteering their time, energy, experience and commitment to the Association. They come from a variety of different backgrounds, and our Annual General Meeting in September saw us welcome Catherine Martin and welcome back Kitty Chalmers. Although only 18 people can participate on our Management Committee, we are always keen to welcome anyone with a positive attitude and who can give us some of their time. During the year, each of the following people contributed by participating on either our full Management Committee or on one of our Sub-Committees: -

• George Alexander

• Aileen Christie

• Caroline Shepherd

• Stuart Hashagen

• John Jackson

• Charlotte Levy

• Anne McIver

• Margaret Vass, OBE

• Kitty Chalmers

• Yvonne McShea

• Janice Hamilton

• William McQuillan

• Colin Porteous, OBE

• Willie Redmond

• Ann Scott

• Jimmy McLelland

• Catherine Martin

• Martin Waters

• Gordon Barbour

• Linda Fletcher

• Tom Duncan

• Lou Rosenburg

• Barry Dalgleish

• Pat Bradley

• Owen Stewart

• John McFarlane

8.0%

7.0%

6.0%

5.0%

4.0%

3.0%

2.0%

1.0%

02007 2008 2009

6.3%

4.4%

3.6%

Ou

r Peop

le,Ou

r Futu

re14

We manage houses on behalf of Glasgow Housing Association in Holmbyre, Castlemilk and have additional volunteers that form our local committee to manage our housing services there. We are working hard to achieve a ‘second stage transfer’. Those people that have contributed to this area of our work during the year are: -

• Frank Soutar

• Joan Soutar

• Janette Randall

• Janette Lynch

• Frank Soutar Jnr

• Amphon Soutar

• Kim Campbell

• Lynn Gourlay

• Karen McCrohan

• Annie Friel

Over the year, the attendance at committee meetings was a very high 74%, with 35% of our Members attending the Annual General Meeting. We are very pleased with this as it demonstrates the individual commitment, not to mention the work that everyone puts in between meetings.

A sad note to end our year and our annual report, is that we were all saddened to hear that Betty McAllister, Community Activist and former Chair of Calton Area Association, (pictured right with two other Calton Area Association members, Betty Cosgrove and Cathy Martin) passed away. Betty was well known in the area and full of wonderful stories about the history of Calton. A formidable opponent, she created many a stir when championing Calton’s causes and will be greatly missed. Betty received recognition for her work in the community when she was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1980 and the title of Scotswoman of the Year in 1984 from the Evening Times - but to many of us, she’ll be remembered for her fighting spirit and love of the Calton and its people.

Our Chairperson, Yvonne McShea is Scotland’s first person to gain a new qualification - the Governance of Scottish Housing Associations. SHARE, (the training organisation for housing associations), developed

‘Governance of Scottish Housing Associations’ which is a customised qualification for governing body members of housing associations in Scotland. Successful completion of the qualification leads to the award of a Certificate recognised by the Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA). Yvonne, one of seven members of a pilot project that started in March 2008, is the first person to have completed and passed the qualification. The qualification consists of three units and the candidate proves their competence by building a portfolio of evidence. Well done and congratulations to Yvonne for being the first.

We are committed to rebuilding sustainable communities by developing and maintaining a range of affordable housing. We work with our communities to maximise participation in decision-making and we involve all our partners in promoting social inclusion.

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HOUSING ASSOCIATIONrebuilding communities

Registered and Calton Area Office83 Green Street, Calton, Glasgow G40 2TGT: 0141 550 3581 F: 0141 550 2433E: admin@thenewhousing.co.uk

Bridgeton Area Office2 Main Street, Bridgeton, Glasgow G40 1HAT: 0141 554 5245 F: 0141 554 5758E: bridgeton@thenewhousing.co.uk

Castlemilk Area Office49 Blaeloch Drive, Castlemilk, Glasgow G45 9QJT: 0141 634 7000 F: 0141 634 7077E: castlemilk@thenewhousing.co.uk

Cranhill Area Office14 Ruchazie Place, Cranhill, Glasgow G33 3HAT: 0141 774 3030 F: 0141 774 3366E: cranhill@thenewhousing.co.uk

www.thenewhousing.co.uk