Press Release

HFI joins the ALMO elite with 3 stars!

September 2008

The Audit Commission has issued its report on HFI following its inspection of the organisation late last year.

The Audit Commission has awarded HFI the maximum three stars (Excellent Service) and also rated it as having excellent prospects for further improvement. Since HFI’s first inspection in 2005 the Audit Commission has found that standards have not only been maintained but there have been strong and lasting improvements putting it amongst the highest performing housing organisations. It also judged that HFI has an ambitious set of plans that it is successfully implementing to the benefit of residents.

The report outlines a series of significant strengths:

• Offices are easy to access, telephones are answered well and customers have access to a lot of good quality information.
• Vulnerable tenants are well supported.
• Repairs are easy to report and are usually delivered in one visit to a high level of customer satisfaction.
• Empty properties are turned round quickly.
• Performance on collecting rents is high while eviction rates are low.
• HFI provides a well co-ordinated and effective response to antisocial behaviour with an out of hours service increasing residents sense of safety
• Leaseholder service charges are relatively low with good collection rates.
• Major works are well planned and delivered, resulting in high satisfaction.

“Performance indicators and indications of resident satisfaction are showing almost universal improvement. This is achieved while costs are reducing resulting in an overall improvement in value for money.”

The inspection team highlighted HFI’s strong provision of service to diverse and vulnerable communities and found that HFI has an effective and tailored approach to meeting residents’ needs. HFI also ‘actively seeks feedback from residents, responds positively and engages residents in the development of ideas and strategies’.

For the future, the Audit Commission believes that HFI had excellent prospects for further improvement because:

• Performance shows consistent improvement and satisfaction ratings have risen significantly
• HFI has a constructive and productive relationship with the Council
• The HFI Board has commitment, enthusiasm and drive
• Improvement planning is effective, challenging and addresses key weaknesses
• HFI has a well structured approach to performance development, strong management skills and effective training

Eamon McGoldrick, HFI’s Chief Executive said: “This has been another excellent report for HFI, which gives us the maximum award from the Audit Commission, and puts us amongst the highest performing ALMOs. The report has highlighted the big improvements made in levels of service, satisfaction from residents and value for money. It is a tribute to the hard work of the staff and Board at HFI and their commitment to making sure that the residents of Islington get high quality services.

The “excellent prospects for improvement” rating confirms that we have a track record of delivering on our commitments and that service improvements made in recent years are going to be maintained.

“We will not be easing up though. We recognise there are more improvements to be made. We will be particularly focusing on improving satisfaction levels for leaseholders and ensuring that the improvements we have recently made to tenant’s homes are sustained. We will continue to invest in Islington’s housing stock to deliver the Government’s Decent Homes Programme by 2010 and continue to meet residents’ priorities by dealing with issues such as antisocial behaviour.”

Cllr Terry Stacy, Islington Council’s Executive Member for Housing and Communities said: "Housing demand in Islington is rising and so are tenants' expectations of their housing providers. So it's extremely pleasing to know our ALMO partners HFI are doing such a great job for tenants in providing an excellent housing service in Islington - HFI, Islington Council and our tenants can take pride in that."

Adrian Brown, the Audit Commission’s Lead Housing Inspector for East London said: “Islington is a challenging inner-city environment and the ALMO has risen to the challenge. The services have improved year-on-year to make a real difference to tenants. A successful £100m a year improvement programme is meeting tenants expectations, repairs are easy to report and quickly carried out, usually in one visit. Resident involvement is extensive, including 25 different tenant organisations managing 10% of the stock. Strong leadership is making an impact and raising standards.”

ENDS

For media enquiries please contact James Asser in the HFI communications team on 020 7527 4379 or for urgent out-of-hours enquiries 07904 051 622 or email james.asser@homesforislington.org.uk

Notes for Editors

1. Homes for Islington, one of the UK’s largest arms length management organisations (ALMO), which began operations in April 2004, is charged with managing council housing stock throughout the borough. It is owned by Islington Council and managed by a board of directors, made up of Islington tenants and leaseholders, council representatives and independent members.

2. The Audit Commission is an independent body responsible for ensuring that public money is spent economically, efficiently and effectively and delivers high-quality local services for the public.

3. HFI was award 2 stars with excellent prospects for improvement (out of the maximum three stars) at our previous inspection in 2005.

4. Click here to read the full report by the Audit Commission on HFI.