Tenant Survey Results

Our Tenant and Leaseholder survey included satisfaction and profiling questions, so we could find out what tenants thought about the service they receive and find out important information about who are tenants are.  Similar to the census, the survey included questions about income, nationality and who lived in the property.  This is a summary of the key findings from the survey results.

The primary aims of the survey were to:
1. Collect information about our tenants and their families
2. Measure satisfaction of the services we provide
3. Improve how we communicate with our tenants and leaseholders
4. Recruit new tenants to engage with

How many tenants took part?

The Tenant and Leaseholder surveys ran from August 2012 until the end of October 2012 with 3,651 of 16,056 tenants (23%) and 210 of 1,338 leaseholders (16%) had responded to our survey. This represents a 22% combined return rate for both surveys.

How we conducted the survey
The survey was conducted largely by postal questionnaire, with a freepost envelope and a scannable QR code, to allow people to complete the survey by mobile phone. It was available online, and we offered a hotline number for people to call and request a call back to do the survey over the phone. Sheltered housing tenants in Canterbury had the opportunity to complete the survey with their Sheltered Housing Officer.

We also offered an incentive - a chance to win a home makeover.  You can read about the winners in our Tenants News.

Key findings of the survey

About our tenants who took part in the survey
The information from our tenant survey tells us the general profile of East Kent Housing tenants is likely to be:

• Older people on low incomes
• Predominantly from a white ethnic background
• A significant proportion having a long-term disability or health issue

It also tells us that we are ‘missing’ meaningful data on certain groups, particularly non-white ethnic, non-Christian religious, and non-heterosexual tenants.

Calling us question results:

• Most respondents to the survey found it reasonably easy to get hold of the right person when they last called us, and most calls were about repairs issues.
• On the whole, tenants were satisfied with the way they were treated by our staff, how staff dealt with their request and the length of time it took.
• Comments from tenants that were not satisfied highlight lack of availability of staff to deal with calls, and unresolved repairs issues.

Satisfaction with home and neighbourhood:

• Most respondents said they were satisfied with their home and neighbourhood as a place to live and with the overall service provided by East Kent Housing.
• The main problems highlighted were litter, dog fouling, car parking and noisy neighbours.

Satisfaction has improved in all areas and in all categories since the last status surveys (2008-09), and puts East Kent Housing in the top quartile overall when compared to other ALMOs:

EKH compares favourably with other ALMOs, being in the upper quartile for all key satisfaction questions. However, tenants at Thanet are less satisfied with their neighbourhood as a place to live and with their service charges.

• Comments from dissatisfied tenants related mainly to homes and communal areas being in disrepair and repairs taking too long.
• Suggested improvements were generally divided between the home (better kitchens/ bathrooms/better) and neighbourhood (better play areas/better parking/better grounds maintenance).

How we contact tenants and provide them with information

• Most respondents said they preferred traditional forms of communication (letters/leaflets/ newsletters etc.) and the majority of tenants (87%) also found our newsletters helpful.
• Just over a third of respondents use the internet and have an email account. Although some said they would find it helpful to check their balance and make payments on line, most did not.
• Over half of respondents indicated a particular need or preference in the way we contact them, such as calling before we visit and having documents in easy-to-read formats.

Involving tenants in their housing service:

• In general, most respondents felt EKH were good at keeping them informed and providing opportunities to express their views, and that we are fairly good at listening to them.
• A small proportion said they would like to help us improve the services we provide.

Notable exceptions

• Thanet residents on the whole are less satisfied with their neighbourhood as a place to live and have considerably more problems in their neighbourhood than in the other areas. However, this has not affected their satisfaction with the overall service provided by EKH.
• Thanet residents have the most mental health issues, but are also the most computer literate and have shown the most interest in getting involved with improving the service.
• Shepway residents are the least satisfied with the length of time we take to respond to requests and with the way we deal with them when they call us. They are also less satisfied with the way we deal with repairs issues and with the overall service provided by EKH.
• A higher proportion of Shepway residents also indicated a particular need or preference in the way we contact them

Statistical validity and confidence levels
Based on the way the STAR survey calculates its surveys, for stock of between 15,000 and 20,000 we need 975 responses for our survey to be considered statistically valid.

Using the same methodology to calculate confidence levels we can say that, based on stock vs. number of responses, the confidence level of our tenant survey is 95% with a +/- 3% margin of error. This means that a reported satisfaction rate of 89% is not likely to be higher than 92% or lower than 86%.