Daventry & District Housing staff have been hitting the streets to seek tenants’ views as the organisation marks its first birthday.
The not-for-profit housing association was launched in November 2007 after tenants of Daventry District Council voted to transfer their homes to a new landlord.
To celebrate the milestone, staff from across the organisation called at a random sample of over 1,000 tenants’ homes and asked for feedback on the services they receive.
Hayley Davies, executive director at Daventry & District Housing, who also took to the streets to hear tenants’ feedback, said: “We were really pleased with the comments we received as they highlighted the improvements we’ve been able to make in a relatively short time.
“The exercise was a great opportunity for us to get out into the community and find out what our tenants think of our service first hand. And we will be using the feedback received to further improve our services.
“Before transfer we made a set of promises explaining what we would achieve for tenants within the first five years. We pledged to complete 32 of these by the end of March 2009 and we have made good progress to complete 23 already and are on track to achieve all 32 by our target date.
“From the outset we have ensured our customer-first focus means our tenants are at the heart of the decision-making process and are not simply bystanders.
“We want to encourage tenants to keep telling us what they like and don’t like about what we do as that’s the best way for us to ensure we get things right.”
In the last year Daventry & District Housing has launched a £43m home improvement programme with refurbishments now well underway in both town and rural areas.
Other key achievements include an improved repairs performance, increased opportunities for residents to get involved and the launch of an environmental improvement programme that allows tenants to suggest community projects which would benefit from funding.
To celebrate its first birthday, Daventry & District Housing also held a party for tenants at Daventry Community Centre, in Ashby Road, while each of its sheltered housing schemes received a birthday cake so they could join in with the celebrations.
If you are a Daventry & District Housing tenant and have any feedback, please contact the community development team on 01327 707500 or email getinvolved@ddh.org.
