We have some important information we need to share with you about our WHQS priorities – how we will invest in improving your home.
WHQS stands for the Welsh Housing Quality Standard – a legal standard set by the Welsh Government that we must meet and maintain regarding the condition of your home.
In a nutshell, the WHQS is designed to ensure that you have the opportunity to live in a good quality home, that is in a good state, is safe and secure, affordable to heat, comfortable and with facilities that are suitable for modern life.
We take WHQS very seriously, and know the condition of many of our homes is not where we would like them to be. Whilst we prioritise investment in maintenance, it is sometimes difficult for us due to historic funding arrangements dating back to when we were formed as a stock transfer housing association in 2003.
We are the only housing association in Wales that does not receive an ongoing maintenance fund to invest in our homes (known as a dowry), and the limited time dowry we did receive was significantly less than what other stock transfer associations formed after ours managed to negotiate. That’s meant that compared to others in our sector, we have received £56million less in funding since 2003. So we have to think differently about how we manage and invest in your homes.
As a result of careful fund management, loans and grants, we are pleased to commit £172million to invest in bringing your homes up to standard over the next 10 years.
This will be a large programme of works across the majority of our 6,000 homes, and we will be prioritising work that ensures your home is safe, warm and dry.
We want to be honest with you – this means some of our planned improvement works may unfortunately be delayed. We will be making sure your home is safe, warm and dry before we move on to cosmetic improvements or upgrading things (like your kitchen and bathroom suite).
We will be dealing with safety and well-being concerns first. Things like damp, mould and condensation; poor heating or insulation that causes you to be excessively cold or struggling to pay your bills; fire safety issues such as smoke alarms and escape routes; structural issues like damaged roofs or walls; and places where you could trip or fall – for example, your stairs, garden steps or low garden walls.
Our focus will then turn to modernising and upgrading features like kitchens and bathrooms (when they are due for renewal, according to our records).
We understand that this may be disappointing, especially if you have spoken with us about cosmetic improvements or upgrade work in your home. If we have your details on record, we will get in touch to give you a clearer picture of when you might expect this work to be done.
Importantly, we want to reassure you that we are focused on ensuring your home is safe, warm and dry, so that you can live comfortably in a home you can enjoy and afford.
If we haven’t already, we might be in touch with you soon to arrange a survey of your home to look at it from top to bottom (something we call a ‘whole home survey’) – this will help us identify what works your home needs to bring it up to the Welsh Housing Quality Standard.
If you are worried or concerned about anything in your home you feel might be unsafe, please don’t wait for us to contact you – report these concerns to us as soon as you can on 0300 123 2100. If you need to contact us out of hours, call the same number and you will be put through to an emergency response line.
Thank you for your patience and understanding – we aim to make things right, before we make things better.